During long-term unconscious illnesses in times before catheters, how was elimination handled? Did the patient remain on an uncomfortable bedpan 24 hours a day? While semi-conscious patients could be helped to a chamber pot or indicate their need for elimination, how were comatose and severely ill patients handled in this regard, if they were not conscious enough to communicate?

Today we tend to view the Medieval period through the French-English lens that France was the core of the Medieval world.

Yet the HRE & Kingdom of Germany was by far the largest realm in Europe, presumably the largest population & economy, with the Emperor vying with even the Pope for spiritual supremacy. Hell, Frederick Barbarossa went on crusade with an army of a hundred thousand.

Is this bias from the anglo-french academic world?

/u/kingconani provides some excellent background on "wild west" bounty hunters here. Quoting in part (emphasis added):

Pat Garrett, the sheriff of Lincoln County, was tasked with capturing Billy the Kid. The governor of the state, Lew Wallace, had set a $500 reward for Billy's capture. Unlike the movies, this reward came out in a newspaper ad:

BILLY THE KID

$500 Reward

I will pay $500 reward to any person or persons
who will capture William Bonny, alias The Kid, and
deliver him to any sheriff of New Mexico.
Satisfactory proofs of identity will be required.
LEW WALLACE, NEW MEXICO

What constituted satisfactory proof of identity? In popular culture this is often depicted as the bounty hunter hauling a body back to town, which seems super impractical.

I already tried asking this question in its own thread a while ago, but it's fairly small and specific, so I figured it might fit better in here. Hope that's ok.

Anyway, I recently went on a bit of a Wikipedia binge and eventually ended up on the page of Leon Czolgosz, the assassin of US President William McKinley. In the section describing his trial, it states that presiding Judge Truman C. White overruled Czolgosz' guilty plea and instead entered a "Not Guilty" plea on his behalf.

Now I'm certainly no expert on US criminal law, much less early 20th century criminal law, but that seems pretty weird to me. What might the judge's motivation have been? Did he give an explanation?

Was the ottoman sultan Bayezid I actually blind ? a story I often end up finding has Bayezid in capitivity of Timur and Timur laughing at the fact that the two of the most powerful men in the world at that time was he (a cripple) and bayezeid who was apparently blind however Bayezid was a successful military commander who won many battles and exapnded the empire quite a bit so i wonder was he actually blind or at least partially blind (some people say that he was blind only in one eye) ?

What has been the longest time period between the sinking of a ship and the discovery of its shipwreck since the advent of shipboard radio communication?

were auxillary roman soldiers allowed to marry or were they also prohibited like regular roman soldiers ?

When nomad groups gathered their numbers together for larger events (celebrations, major councils, etc.), how would they protect themselves from attack?

When the group is all in one place, what’s to stop an enemy tribe from cruising in and wiping them out?

What are good introductory/overview texts for the history of Myanmar/Burma?

What is the oldest text or object that has a date of when it was made written on it?

Can anyone recommend any firsthand accounts by east Asian travelers (China, Japan, Korea, etc) who visited Europe in the 17th or 18th centuries? I'm interested in reading about the impressions they had of such a radically different culture in the early days of contact between the two regions.

Was Edward, Duke of York (1373-1415) so fat that his body needed to be boiled in order to transport his bones back to England? I have read two sources that make this claim.

What city has the oldest town center in the world?

I'm talking about cities that are still lived in, so not just ruins. And also I'm not talking about cities that have been rebuilt more recently. Which city has the actual oldest buildings in the world?

On a scale of 1 to 10 how big of an upset was Rutherford Hayes Winning the 1877 US election by one vote?

Why did archers shoot in volleys?

In his poem Arithmetic on the Frontier, Kipling refers to a 'ten rupee jezail.' How much silver was in a ~19th century rupee in Afghanistan?

Anybody know how much Flour was produce by Medieval Windmill?

Can you elaborate a bit on this passage from Wikipedia? Can you help me trace the lines from agriculture, to efficient agriculture, to surpluses, to specialized classes and then complex civilizations?

*As farming developed, grain agriculture became more sophisticated and prompted a division of labour to store food between growing seasons. Labour divisions led to the rise of a leisured upper class and the development of cities, which provided the foundation for civilization. *

I've been following the war in Syria for quite some time and in the region of the current front line there are a large number of towns whose name begin with either "Ma'arr" or "Kafr". Translation sites aren't being helpful, so I'm guessing these are words no longer in use. Does anyone know what they refer to?

Is it true that Queen Elizabeth || is from arab descendents?

I noticed in a lot of WW2 movies, soldiers have New York accents. Is this because they had the highest population so they had more people serve?

I can't find reading recommendations for Ukrainian history on this sub. What are some good English or Ukrainian language introductory texts on Ukrainian history? I am interested in both pre-modern and modern history.

If a historian's starting assumption/approach to history is that all human relationships are economic and all social behaviour is labour (e.g. studying is mental labour, marriage is sexual labour)--but history is not deterministic or teleological in direction--is it fair to characterize that as Marxist historiography?

I am listening to Ancient Civilizations by Susan Bauer. It starts with Sumer around 3000 BC, and then discusses settlements in the Indus Valley, Egypt and China. By what metric are these the first civilizations? What sets them apart from those that came before?

Which legions of Soviet peoples were participated in suppressing of the Warsaw uprising along with the Germans? Also, did the nazis used legions to fight against partisans? Such as Italian partisans.

Could anyone recommend a serious book that covers the events leading up to, and following, Stalin's death? (Ie. those shown in the film The Death of Stalin)?

Yes, I'm aware the film is not very accurate but I find the general history fascinating and would love to know more, especially regarding Beria's rise and fall.

In the excellent 2019 film Portrait of a Lady on Fire, set in France in 1760, the protagonist can be see several times using a tool to light a pipe, first lighting the tool on fire from a candle, then lighting the pipe, then blowing out the flame.

The tool looks a lot like... maybe a stick with some string wound around it? But the string is treated to be both stiff (i.e., will stay coiled when wrapped, and stay straight when straightened) and inflammable. Perhaps treated with animal fat or paraffin.

What was this device called? What is the history of it? What material was used for the "string", and how was it processed?

Why did Napoleon ban the Marseillaise? What, if anything, did he replace it with?

An philosopher or historian once said something similar to this (I think it was around the time of WW2) - Who is he, and where is the quote from?:

Every society needs a 'black sheep'.
That 'sheep' will then be regulated by laws.
These laws will then constrain the 'sheeps' in the society.
Now the society tries to isolate the 'sheeps.
Then society will try and get rid of the 'sheeps'.
In the end, the society will try and exterminate the 'sheeps'.

(The term sheep is just a name i picked out of lack of better vocabulary)

What is a "rumjacker"? It's the name of a band from Australia (The Rumjacks) and they have a song called "The Bold Rumjacker" whose lyrics seem to suggest something like a smuggler, but as far as I'm aware Australia doesn't have the same history of prohibition as, say, the US, and any Google search for "Rumjacks" "Rumjacker" "Rumjacking" etc. just turns up results about the band.

Are there any good sources/reading anyone has on the attendance of Mass/Liturgy in 15th Century England? Very specific I know, but I'm writing a paper on the church's health and can't find anything proving consistent attendance of church in the 1400s, though I know it was probably likely. If anyone has anything, it would be greatly appreciated!

Does anyone know of good resources on the history of Mormonism in the UK?

What crimes did the Entente powers actually want to bring against Kaiser Wilhelm, and did their claims have merit?

How much approximately would a noble landowner have paid in taxes? This is for RP purposes so doesn’t have to be accurate to today’s currency, but in general what percentage of a landowner’s wealth would likely end up going to taxes and maintenance, say of a medieval castle?

Were there any cases of 1/8 black slaves in the united states? and roughly how common would they have been? would they have been considered white enough to be freed but still discriminated against?

What were side arms in the early modern era made of? I know canons (at least the medeival ones) were made of bronze, was that the case for muskets too? Or did they use steel?

Are there any examples of non-elite slave soldiers? And if yes how were they kept in line ?

What is the meaning of Prasodis Mare in this map based on Ptolemy's geography?

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/PtolemyWorldMap.jpg?help

(Near the bottom)

What are some good analyses of the civil conflict in southern Italy between the French Parthenopean Republic and the Neapolitan backed Sanfedisti armies?

Could the Zulu's have taken control Rorke's Drift and "won" if they did not retreat?

Is there a book someone can recommend that gives an in-depth look at American military engagements from around the French and Indian war up until Operation Desert Storm?

Have grappling hooks ever been actually used to scale castle walls in Europe, Japan or whatever? Or is that simply fiction?

When the US paid reparations to victims of ww2 internment, how was the amount of reparations calculated and did the specific amount face criticism?

Is the original photo of monk Thích Quảng Đức burning himself in black and white or color? I've seen both on the internet, but the black and white one is more common. I assume it is the black and white one, but I want to ensure I am using the original photo. It was taken in 1963, which was a time that was a turning point between black and white photography and color, so It could be either.

Edit: I see here that it says "(Photo credit: Malcolm Browne / The colorized version made by mygrapefruit.)" so it was originally in black and white.

While reading through Glantz’s After Stalingrad, I am wondering why the Soviets didn’t try to encircle Army Group Don and Army Group B earlier instead of putting pressure everywhere.

I am looking for a post I read on here a few months ago, but now can't find. It is about the plague of Justinian, and how historians don't measure (or at least, shouldn't) significance just by the number of deaths. If I remember rightly the question itself was on another topic, maybe on lesser-known famines in China, with the answerer using the Justinian example to illustrate that point. Then in the answer itself, they attached a blog post which went into more detail on the Justinian plague, and why they think it was a catastrophe, even if the number of deaths may not have been that high.

I have tried searching all the keywords etc and can find nothing, so any help would be appreciated :)