Prisoners of War in the Hundred Years War
Ransom Culture in the Late Middle Ages

This book explores the individual and complex experiences of captors and prisoners, and the practice of ransoming, in the Hundred Years War.

Rémy Ambühl (Author)

9781107010949, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 17 January 2013

316 pages, 1 b/w illus.
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.2 cm, 0.64 kg

'This is a judicious, well-written book that will be the standard reference on the subject of military ransoms during the Hundred Years War … As a monograph on the ransoming of combatants … this is an excellent book.' Justine Firnhaber–Baker, French History

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.

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.

Subject Areas: Military history [HBW], European history [HBJD], History [HB]