Contrary to the popular image, Joan of Arc was not a shepherdess and displayed a degree of class consciousness about it. During her trial, she insisted she was a spinner and sewer—a more respectable trade—and challenged the court women to match her skill, revealing a pride in her higher-than-lowest-peasant status.

Contrary to popular belief, 'Bushido' (The Way of the Warrior) is not an ancient code. It was largely invented in the post-samurai era of the late 19th century, fusing Japanese traditions with Western ideas like the English gentleman ideal and European chivalry.

Great civilizations are frequently built on powerful myths or "lies," from the Babylonian god Marduk to the American Declaration's concept of "natural rights." The power of these ideas for social cohesion is independent of their objective truth, which is often not even believed by later generations.

The powerful Minamoto and Taira samurai clans originated as a solution to an overabundance of imperial princes. Emperors removed these sons from the succession by giving them surnames and sending them to the provinces, where they formed powerful warrior clans.

During the peaceful Tokugawa Shogunate era, the samurai class functioned primarily as civil administrators. Despite the lack of warfare, they were legally obligated to maintain military readiness and wear armor, effectively role-playing as the warriors their ancestors had been.

Upstart Italian rulers, lacking noble lineage, adopted Roman art, architecture, and scholarship as propaganda. This created an aura of classical greatness and stability, making them seem like legitimate successors to the Caesars rather than mere tyrants who had seized power through a coup.

The word 'samurai' did not originally mean warrior. Its literal meaning is 'a vassal, a subordinate, a person who is in service to a great lord.' This reflects the early medieval period when warriors were considered low-class outsiders by the ruling court aristocracy.

Taira no Masakado, hailed as the first samurai, was not a commoner but a member of the imperial family. His turn to provincial warfare was driven by a bitter sense of being snubbed by the central court, culminating in him declaring himself a new emperor in the east.

Unlike in medieval Europe, the ruling class in Japan's imperial court in Kyoto valued arts like poetry over military prowess. Warriors were seen as uncouth and vulgar. This cultural contempt for violence led the aristocracy to neglect military power, enabling the rise of the samurai.