From Newsgroup: alt.folklore.urban

Not a historian or anything, but how cool is it to respond to a 25-year old post!
In "Gentleman's Book of Etiquete" by Cecil B. Hartley (published 1860), in Chapter II - Politeness, it says:
rCLThere is no country in the world where the absurdities of etiquette are carried to so great a length as in Spain, because there is no nation where the nobility are so proud. The following anecdote, which illustrates this, would seem incredible were it not a historical fact:
'Philip the Third, king of Spain, was sick, and being able to sit up, was carefully placed in an arm chair which stood opposite to a large fire, when the wood was piled up to an enormous height. The heat soon became intolerable, and the courtiers retired from around the king; but, as the Duke DrCOUssede, the fire stirrer for the king, was not present, and as no one else had the right to touch the fire, those present dared not attempt to diminish the heat. The grand chamberlain was also absent, and he alone was authorized to touch the kingrCOs footstool. The poor king, too ill to rise, in vain implored those around him to move his chair, no one dared touch it, and when the grand chamberlain arrived, the king had fainted with the heat, and a few days later he died, literally roasted to death.' rCY
I don't know how much of this is true but it's silly that even in 2021 it seems difficult to find the cause of a king's death. For anyone interested, the whole book is here: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/39293/39293-h/39293-h.htm
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From Newsgroup: alt.folklore.urban

On Sun, 29 Nov 2020 18:26:04 -0800 (PST)
Nan Elizabeth Jorgensen <nancybetsjorgy@gmail.com> wrote:

What the heck!?? Taking a class at Berkeley on Spain and Portugal up
to the 17th C. Where the h do these "Surely II.V" and such come
from? Even from the explanation of the differences between Spain and Portugal's numbers, I meanrCorCowhere?

It was SPAIN'S Philip III for god/goddess's sake, folks. He died in
1621, an untimely 43 years old, which considering his long reigning
father and grandfather Charles ( Carlos) V was a bit of a shock.
You're damn lucky you didn't have to keep track of the Alfonsos ( Afonsos)!!!! Peace out ~~~~NJ

On Sunday, November 10, 1996 at 12:00:00 AM UTC-8, Simon Slavin wrote:

In article <32847a24....@news.iol.ie>,
spal...@iol.ie# (Nick Spalding) wrote:

san...@think.com.nospam (Daan Sandee) wrote:

So the guy who got roasted was actually Philip II.5.

Surely II.V?

There's nothing special about base ten. YM "II/". HTH.
The '/' means 'half', should be smaller and represents a
broken stick. Broken sticks link to fascists one way and
Nazis another way: useful information in case anyone ever
wants to terminate a thread -- not my intention in this
case.
Simon.
--
... or, here's a thought, why don't we talk about SF for a while?
-- Simon van Dongen <sg...@pi.net> on rec.arts.sf.written
Simon Slavin -- Computer Contractor Ordinaire. Junk email not
welcome here. Will administer ISO 9000 and year 2000 certification
tests for food.

i think i shouldnt consider portugal and spain's numbers as the same
thing
- dsh
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