This LL Study Guide ranges from the Vatican to Versailles and from West Africa to the English turf. You’ll see how the papal name Pius links three of the nine popes who reigned during the 20th century, explore Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun’s prolific portraits of Marie Antoinette, and trace jollof rice back to Senegal’s historic Jolof (Wolof) Empire. We’ll also look at horse racing’s long royal history at Ascot—nicknamed the “sport of kings”—the swing‑era stardom and mysterious wartime disappearance of bandleader Glenn Miller, and the religious phenomenon of glossolalia, better known as speaking in tongues, across Pentecostal, charismatic Catholic, Sufi, and Afro‑Caribbean contexts.

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Study Notes

Question 1: Papal Naming Patterns in the 20th Century

Of the nine popes who served the Catholic Church during the 20th century, three of them shared what papal name (and were X, XI, and XII overall)?

The nine popes whose reigns fell at least partly in the 20th century include Leo XIII, Pius X, Benedict XV, Pius XI, Pius XII, John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I, and John Paul II. Three of these—Pius X (1903–1914), Pius XI (1922–1939), and Pius XII (1939–1958)—shared the papal name Pius, making them the 10th, 11th, and 12th popes with that name.

In the Catholic Church, a newly elected pope chooses a papal name, often honoring a previous pope or saint; a Roman numeral is appended to show how many popes have used that name (X = 10, XI = 11, XII = 12). Pius X is remembered for his opposition to theological “modernism” and for encouraging frequent Communion, Pius XI for signing the 1929 Lateran Treaty that created Vatican City, and Pius XII for leading the church during World War II, a role that has been debated heavily in later scholarship and film.

Connections

  • Vatican City’s creation: The Lateran Treaty between Pius XI and Mussolini in 1929 ended the “Roman Question” and established Vatican City as a sovereign state—an event that often turns up in European history and diplomacy questions.
  • World War II and film: Pius XII’s wartime choices are dramatized in Costa‑Gavras’s film Amen. and referenced in the TV movie The Scarlet and the Black, both of which depict Vatican–Nazi tensions.
  • Saint Pius X in everyday life: Because Pius X was canonized, many parishes and schools worldwide bear names like “St. Pius X,” which can be an indirect way players encounter this papal name in daily life.

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Question 2: Vigée Le Brun and Marie Antoinette

Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, who was one of the highest-paid artists in Europe for a time before her death in 1842 at age 86, painted more than 20 portraits of what subject, who herself died in 1793?

Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun (1755–1842) was a French portrait painter who became Marie Antoinette’s favored artist at the court of Louis XVI, producing around 30 portraits of the queen and her family over just six years. Marie Antoinette, born an Austrian archduchess in 1755 and queen of France from 1774, was executed by guillotine in Paris on October 16, 1793 during the French Revolution. Contemporary and modern accounts describe Vigée Le Brun as one of the most sought‑after and highly paid portrait painters of her era, working for courts across France, Italy, Austria, and Russia.

Vigée Le Brun’s portraits helped craft Marie Antoinette’s public image—ranging from official state portraits in elaborate court dress to more intimate images emphasizing her role as a mother, such as Marie‑Antoinette and Her Children. One of her most controversial works, a 1783 portrait showing the queen in a simple muslin “chemise dress,” scandalized contemporaries but later influenced fashion historians’ view of Marie Antoinette as an icon of informal, romantic style.

Connections

  • Fashion and politics: History writers note that Vigée Le Brun’s portraits—especially the chemise dress image—became flashpoints in debates over royal luxury, shaping both the queen’s reputation and later fashion trends.
  • Film and costume design: Sofia Coppola’s 2006 film Marie Antoinette consciously riffs on Vigée Le Brun’s pastel, candy‑colored aesthetic; costume pieces for Kirsten Dunst were explicitly modeled on specific Vigée Le Brun portraits.
  • Rock‑album cover art: A Vigée Le Brun portrait of Marie Antoinette appears on the cover of Hole’s 2010 album Nobody’s Daughter, showing how 18th‑century royal portraiture still circulates in modern pop culture.
  • Re‑evaluating Marie Antoinette: Recent exhibitions and scholarship argue that Vigée Le Brun’s images can be read as attempts to soften the queen’s public image, paralleling a broader historiographical shift away from the simplistic “let them eat cake” caricature.

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Question 3: Jollof Rice and the Jolof Empire

Friendly debates among people in Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, and other West African nations center on whose version of what tomato-based rice dish is best? Typically cooked in one pot with onions, peppers, and spices, it descends from Thieboudienne and takes its name from a powerful historical West African state.

Jollof rice is a one‑pot dish of rice cooked in a spiced tomato‑based stew with onions, peppers, and other flavorings, widely eaten across West Africa from Senegal to Nigeria. Food historians trace it back to the Senegambian dish thieboudienne (Wolof ceebu jën), a national dish of Senegal consisting of fish, broken rice, vegetables, and tomato sauce cooked together. The name “jollof” derives from Jolof/Wolof, referring to the medieval Jolof Empire—also called the Wolof Empire—which was a powerful 14th–16th‑century state centered in what is now Senegal and extending tribute networks into parts of Mauritania and The Gambia.

In Wolof, ceeb means “rice” and jën means “fish,” so ceebu jën or thieboudienne literally means “rice and fish,” highlighting its origins as a fishermen’s dish in coastal Senegal. Over time, versions that swapped in meat and simplified the ingredients spread inland and along trade routes, evolving into the tomato‑rice dish now famous as jollof.

Connections

  • The “Jollof wars”: A friendly but intense rivalry—especially between Nigerians and Ghanaians—argues over whose jollof is best, a dispute widely dubbed the “Jollof wars” in media and scholarship.
  • From cuisine to sports: The Nigeria–Ghana football rivalry has been nicknamed the “Jollof derby”, explicitly linking soccer bragging rights to the rice‑dish rivalry.
  • Pop music shout‑outs: The song “Ghana Jollof” by Sister Deborah playfully celebrates Ghanaian jollof and references the broader Jollof wars, showing how the dish has become part of pop culture and national branding.
  • Soft power and gastronationalism: Political scientists use jollof as a case study in gastronationalism—how states project identity and soft power through food—because multiple countries claim and promote their version globally.
  • World‑record spectacle: In 2025, Nigerian chef Hilda Baci reportedly set a Guinness World Record by cooking an enormous 8,780‑kg pot of jollof rice, underscoring how the dish now features in high‑profile media stunts as well as everyday meals.

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Question 4: Horse Racing and the “Sport of Kings”

What sport has existed in England since at least the 12th century and has enjoyed—particularly in Ascot, Berkshire—long royal patronage, hence its popular nickname?

Organized horse racing in England can be traced as a professional sport to at least the 12th century, when knights returning from the Crusades brought fast Arab horses that were bred with English stock for racing. Over subsequent centuries, English monarchs such as Henry II, James I, Charles II, and Queen Anne fostered race meetings, with Charles II in particular promoting Newmarket and earning racing a reputation as a royal pastime. Because of this strong association with kings and aristocracy, horse racing acquired the enduring nickname “the sport of kings.”

Ascot Racecourse in Ascot, Berkshire—founded by Queen Anne in 1711—is especially linked with royal patronage; Royal Ascot, the June race meeting attended by the monarch, is a centerpiece of the British social calendar and famous for its strict dress code and ceremonial carriage processions. The 1910 Royal Ascot meeting, when attendees wore black in mourning for Edward VII, even inspired Cecil Beaton’s iconic “Ascot Gavotte” sequence in the film My Fair Lady, which stages an ultra‑stylized day at the races.

In this question, recognizing that a centuries‑old English sport with deep royal ties and a Berkshire focus is being described points you toward horse racing and its nickname, the sport of kings.

Connections

  • Royal Ascot as social theatre: Royal Ascot is marketed as the highlight of the British summer social season, with several hundred thousand spectators over the week and high visibility for the royal family, making the racecourse as much a fashion and society story as a sporting venue.
  • My Fair Lady and class satire: The My Fair Lady “Ascot Gavotte” sequence uses the stiff, monochrome spectacle of Royal Ascot to satirize upper‑class English manners; it’s a memorable cinematic reference point for Ascot even if you’ve never watched actual racing.
  • Monarchy and the turf: Modern pieces on British racing emphasize the centuries‑long bond between the monarchy and horse racing—from Queen Anne’s founding of Ascot to Queen Elizabeth II’s lifelong involvement and King Charles III’s role as a patron—reinforcing why the phrase “sport of kings (and queens)” persists.

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Question 5: Glenn Miller and Big‑Band Standards

“In the Mood”, “Little Brown Jug”, and “Moonlight Serenade” were hit records (the last serving as theme song) of what Iowa-born trombonist and bandleader, who disappeared at age 40 over the English Channel while serving as an orchestra leader in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II?

Alton Glenn Miller (1904–1944) was an American trombonist, arranger, composer, and big‑band leader, born in Clarinda, Iowa; his orchestra became the best‑selling recording band in the United States from 1939 to 1942. During World War II he joined the U.S. Army Air Forces, eventually leading the Army Air Forces Band to perform for troops; on December 15, 1944, his small military aircraft disappeared over the English Channel en route from an airfield near London to Paris, and neither he nor the plane was ever recovered.

Several of Miller’s most famous recordings match the titles in the question. “In the Mood” is a swing‑era jazz standard; Miller’s 1939 arrangement and recording turned it into one of the defining hits of the big‑band era. His orchestra also cut a hugely successful 1939 version of the 1869 song “Little Brown Jug,” with a new arrangement by Bill Finegan that became a popular swing chart. “Moonlight Serenade,” composed by Miller, was recorded in 1939 and adopted as the Glenn Miller Orchestra’s theme song, opening and closing their radio broadcasts and becoming one of their best‑known numbers.

Together, these clues—swing‑era hits, trombone/bandleading, an Iowa birth, and disappearance over the English Channel in WWII—uniquely point to Glenn Miller.

Glossary note: A big band is a large jazz ensemble, typically with sections of saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section, associated with the swing style popular in the 1930s–40s.

Connections

  • Biopic and classic‑film canon: The 1954 film The Glenn Miller Story, starring James Stewart, dramatizes Miller’s life, featuring dramatized performances of “In the Mood,” “Moonlight Serenade,” and other hits, and ends with his disappearance during the war.
  • Soundtrack shorthand for the 1940s: The Library of Congress notes that “In the Mood” became a go‑to musical cue in film and TV whenever creators wanted to evoke the American home front during World War II.
  • Video games and prestige TV: “In the Mood” appears on the Fallout TV series and franchise playlists, and “Moonlight Serenade” continues to turn up in series like Ratched, showing how Miller’s sound still signals mid‑20th‑century nostalgia.
  • Swing as cultural history: Reference works on swing often single out Miller’s band as emblematic of the era, citing their string of no.‑1 records and distinctive clarinet‑led reed sound—useful context for broader questions about American music history.

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Question 6: Glossolalia and “Speaking in Tongues”

Glossolalia, practiced in several Christian traditions including Pentecostal and charismatic Catholic communities, as well as in some Sufi and Afro-Caribbean religious practices, is commonly known by what three-word phrase?

Glossolalia (from Greek glōssa, “tongue/language,” and lalia, “talking”) refers to speech‑like vocalizations, often lacking recognizable words, produced during intense religious or ecstatic experiences. In Christian contexts, this phenomenon is commonly called “speaking in tongues”—a practice where believers utter what they regard as Spirit‑inspired languages unknown to the speaker. Glossolalia is especially associated with Pentecostal and charismatic Christianity, including the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, where prayer meetings often feature tongues, prophecy, and healing.

Reference works in the psychology and sociology of religion note that glossolalia is not confined to Christianity; comparable ecstatic vocal practices appear in various non‑Christian traditions, including some forms of shamanism, Vodou, and other spirit‑possession or trance‑oriented religions. Studies also discuss parallels between Sufi dhikr and sama—rituals of rhythmic chanting, recitation, and music that can induce ecstatic states—and glossolalia, noting similar repetitive, sometimes non‑lexical vocalizations. Ethnographic work on Afro‑Caribbean Pentecostal congregations describes speaking in tongues as a key element of worship and cultural identity, further illustrating glossolalia’s presence in Afro‑Caribbean religious life.

In Christian scripture, foundational passages for speaking in tongues include Acts 2 (Pentecost), where the apostles “began to speak in different tongues,” and 1 Corinthians 12–14, where Paul discusses tongues and their interpretation within church assembly.

Glossary note: Pentecostal churches emphasize a post‑conversion “baptism in the Holy Spirit,” often evidenced by speaking in tongues; charismatic movements within older denominations (including Catholicism) adopt similar gifts of the Spirit while remaining in their original churches.

Connections

  • Cross‑cultural research: Anthropologist Felicitas Goodman and linguist William J. Samarin conducted classic cross‑cultural studies of glossolalia, analyzing recordings from Pentecostal churches and non‑Christian rituals worldwide; Samarin famously defined Pentecostal glossolalia as “phonologically structured but meaningless” speech that mimics language.
  • Renewalist Christianity and global demographics: Pew Research surveys show that “renewalist” Christians—Pentecostals and charismatics—are numerous in Latin America and among U.S. Hispanics; many report that speaking in tongues, healing, and prophecy are part of their worship, including within Catholic charismatic groups.
  • Afro‑Caribbean and spirit‑possession traditions: Analyses of religion in the Caribbean note overlaps between Afro‑Caribbean spirit‑possession practices and Pentecostal/charismatic worship, with shouting, trance, and glossolalia functioning as signs of spiritual power on both sides.

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