Indywidualny okup jako narzędzie uwolnienia z niewoli wojennej w Europie Zachodniej w późnym średniowieczu (XI–XIV wiek)
Individual Ransom as a Tool for Liberation of a Prisoner of War in Late Medieval Western Europe (11th–14th Centuries)

Summary/Abstract: An important factor in the view of the phenomenon of captivity in the Middle Ages was its mercantilisation. Prisoner of war had an important economic dimension, linked to the extraction of profits from ransoms. Ransom for captives was an important part of the income from warfare in the Middle Ages and was at the same time the most important tool in regaining freedom after a longer or a shorter captivity. Ransom, i.e. the financial equivalent for keeping a captive alive and returning him or her to freedom, was regulated (at a basic legal level) from above and the practice of using it became significantly stabilised in the Middle Ages. Institutionalisation also applied to legal and administrative actions.

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