Ari asks: who’s the most important historical figure about whom most people know nothing? (Hat-tip: popping up all over the place, but as teofilo notes below, there’s a good discussion going on at Unfogged. Unless they’ve moved onto the cock jokes by now.)
The emphasis in blogs I’ve seen so far tends to be American and modern - what do the medievalists and early modernists think?
I think I’m going to be bloody-minded and nominate Edward Bushel.
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I think the modern American emphasis is largely because that’s the kind of history that Eric and Ari focus on. The thread at Unfogged covers much broader ground (though modern Americans still dominate to some extent).
Depending what’s meant by “most people,” I’d nominate Richard Mulcaster, whom we can thank, in large part, for referees, “football” (the name for and the acceptance of the sport), standardized curricula, and the academic conference.
[...] discussed in the comments section of his own blog, and then picked up by others and given the old internet [...]
Reginald Brett, Lord Esher, 1852-1930.
What makes him so important? Wikipedia isn’t telling.
He managed to invent much of the modern British tradition of ancient pomp and circumstance, and the Committee of Imperial Defence.