Full Description
The status of prisoners of war was firmly rooted in the practice of ransoming in the Middle Ages. By the opening stages of the Hundred Years War, ransoming had become widespread among the knightly community, and the crown had already begun to exercise tighter control over the practice of war. This led to tensions between public and private interests over ransoms and prisoners of war. Historians have long emphasised the significance of the French and English crowns' interference in the issue of prisoners of war, but this original and stimulating study questions whether they have been too influenced by the state-centred nature of most surviving sources. Based on extensive archival research, this book tests customs, laws and theory against the individual experiences of captors and prisoners during the Hundred Years War, to evoke their world in all its complexity.
Contents
Introduction; 1. Law, ransom and the status of the prisoner of war; 2. Princes, masters and prisoners; 3. Status and politics in Lancastrian Normandy; 4. The process of ransoming (I) from capture to captivity; 5. The practice of ransoming (II) the price of freedom; 6. Merchants, banking and trade; 7. Assistance to prisoners I: vassals and subjects - the end of customary aids?; 8. Assistant to prisoners II: kings and princes - first or last resort?; 9. Assistance to prisoners III: the social circle of the prisoner; Conclusion.
