1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910810663103321

Autore

Ambühl Rémy

Titolo

Prisoners of war in the Hundred Years War : ransom culture in the late Middle Ages / / Rémy Ambühl [[electronic resource]]

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cambridge : , : Cambridge University Press, , 2013

ISBN

1-107-23468-9

1-139-61018-X

1-139-60862-2

1-139-62506-3

1-139-61204-2

1-139-61576-9

0-511-82056-9

1-283-87045-2

1-139-62134-3

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xiv, 301 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)

Classificazione

HIS010000

Disciplina

944/.0257

Soggetti

Hundred Years' War, 1339-1453 - Prisoners and prisons

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

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.

Sommario/riassunto

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.