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See also:RANSOM (from See also:Lat. redemptio, through Fr. rancon) , the See also:price for which a See also:captive in See also:war redeemed his See also:life or his freedom, a See also:town secured See also:immunity from See also:sack, and a See also:ship was repurchased from her captors. The practice of taking ransom arose in the See also:middle ages, and had perhaps a connexion with the See also:common See also:Teutonic See also:custom of commuting for crimes by See also:money payments. It may, however, have no such historic descent. The See also:desire to make profit out of the risks of See also:battle, even when they were notably diminished by the use of See also:armour, would See also:account for it sufficiently. The right to ransom was recognized by See also:law. One of the obligations of a feudal See also:tenant was to contribute towards paying the ransom of his See also:lord. See also:England was taxed for the ransom of See also:Richard the See also:Lion Hearted, See also:France for See also:- KING
- KING (O. Eng. cyning, abbreviated into cyng, cing; cf. O. H. G. chun- kuning, chun- kunig, M.H.G. kiinic, kiinec, kiinc, Mod. Ger. Konig, O. Norse konungr, kongr, Swed. konung, kung)
- KING [OF OCKHAM], PETER KING, 1ST BARON (1669-1734)
- KING, CHARLES WILLIAM (1818-1888)
- KING, CLARENCE (1842–1901)
- KING, EDWARD (1612–1637)
- KING, EDWARD (1829–1910)
- KING, HENRY (1591-1669)
- KING, RUFUS (1755–1827)
- KING, THOMAS (1730–1805)
- KING, WILLIAM (1650-1729)
- KING, WILLIAM (1663–1712)
King See also:John taken at See also:Poitiers, and See also:Scotland for King See also:David when he was captured at See also:Durham. The prospect of gaining the ransom of a prisoner must have tended to diminish the ferocity of See also:medieval war, even when it did not reduce the fighting between the knights to a See also:form of athletic See also:sport in which the loser paid a forfeit. Readers of See also:Froissart will find frequent mention of this decidedly commercial aspect of the chivalrous See also:wars of the See also:- TIME (0. Eng. Lima, cf. Icel. timi, Swed. timme, hour, Dan. time; from the root also seen in " tide," properly the time of between the flow and ebb of the sea, cf. O. Eng. getidan, to happen, " even-tide," &c.; it is not directly related to Lat. tempus)
- TIME, MEASUREMENT OF
- TIME, STANDARD
time. He often records how victors and vanquished arranged their " financing." The See also:mercenary views of the military adventurers were not disguised. Froissart repeats the See also:story that the See also:English " See also:free companions " or mercenaries, who sold their services to the king of See also:Portugal, grumbled at the battle of Aljubarrota in 1385, because he ordered their prisoners to be killed, and would not pursue the defeated See also:French and Spaniards, whereby they lost lucrative captures. The ransom of a king belonged to the king of the enemy by whom he was taken. The actual captor was rewarded at the See also:pleasure of his lord. King See also:Edward III. paid over instalments of the ransom of the king of France to the See also:Black See also:Prince, to pay the expenses of his expedition into See also:Spain in 1367. Occasionally, as in the notable See also:case of See also:Bertrand du Guesclin, the ransom of a valuable See also:knight or See also:leader would be paid by his own See also:sovereign. To See also:trade in ransoms became a form of See also:financial See also:speculation. See also:Sir John See also:Fastolf in the time of King See also:- HENRY
- HENRY (1129-1195)
- HENRY (c. 1108-1139)
- HENRY (c. 1174–1216)
- HENRY (Fr. Henri; Span. Enrique; Ger. Heinrich; Mid. H. Ger. Heinrich and Heimrich; O.H.G. Haimi- or Heimirih, i.e. " prince, or chief of the house," from O.H.G. heim, the Eng. home, and rih, Goth. reiks; compare Lat. rex " king "—" rich," therefore " mig
- HENRY, EDWARD LAMSON (1841– )
- HENRY, JAMES (1798-1876)
- HENRY, JOSEPH (1797-1878)
- HENRY, MATTHEW (1662-1714)
- HENRY, PATRICK (1736–1799)
- HENRY, PRINCE OF BATTENBERG (1858-1896)
- HENRY, ROBERT (1718-1790)
- HENRY, VICTOR (1850– )
- HENRY, WILLIAM (1795-1836)
Henry V. is said to have made a large See also:fortune by buying prisoners, and then screwing heavy ransoms out of them by See also:ill-usage. The humane See also:influence of ransom was of course See also:con-fined to the knights who could pay. The common men, who were too poor, were massacred. Thus Lord See also:Grey, See also:Queen See also:Elizabeth's lord See also:deputy in See also:Ireland, spared the See also:officers of the Spaniards and Italians he took at Smerwick, but slaughtered the common men. Among the professional soldiers of See also:Italy in the 15th See also:century the See also:hope of gaining ransom tended to reduce war to a See also:farce. They would not lose their profits by killing their opponents. The disuse of the practice was no doubt largely due to the See also:discovery that men who were serving for this form of gain could not be trusted to fight seriously.
Instances in which towns paid to avoid being plundered are innumerable. So See also:late as the war in the See also:Peninsula, 1808-14, it was the belief of the English soldiers that a town taken by See also:storm was liable to sack for three days, and they acted on their See also:cone viction at See also:Ciudad Rodrigo, See also:Badajoz, and See also:San See also:Sebastian. It was a question whether ransoms paid by See also:merchant See also:ships to See also:- ESCAPE (in mid. Eng. eschape or escape, from the O. Fr. eschapper, modern echapper, and escaper, low Lat. escapium, from ex, out of, and cappa, cape, cloak; cf. for the sense development the Gr. iichueoOat, literally to put off one's clothes, hence to sli
escape were or were not among the commercia See also:belli. In the See also:early 18th century the custom was that the See also:captain of a captured See also:vessel gave a See also:bond or " ransom See also:bill," leaving one of his See also:- CREW (sometimes explained as a sea term of Scandinavian origin, cf. O. Icel. kris, a swarm or crowd, but now regarded as a shortened form of accrue, accrewe, used in the 16th century in the sense of a reinforcement, O. Fr. acreue, from accrofire, to grow,
- CREW, NATHANIEL CREW, 3RD BARON (1633–1721)
crew as a See also:hostage or " ransomer " in the hands of the captor. Frequent mention is made of the taking of French privateers which had in them ten or a dozen ransomers. The owner could be sued on his bond. At the beginning of the Seven Years' War ransoming was forbidden by See also:act of See also:parliament. But it was afterwards at least partially recognized by See also:Great See also:Britain, and was generally allowed by other nations. In See also:recent times—for instance in the Russo-See also:Japanese War—no mention was made of ransom, and with the disappearance of privateering, which was conducted wholly for gain, it has ceased to have any See also:place in war at See also:sea, but the contributions levied by invading armies might still be accurately described by the name.
End of Article: RANSOM (from Lat. redemptio, through Fr. rancon)
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