Jeńcy na średniowiecznym polu bitwy. Wybrane przykłady
Prisoners of War on a Medieval Battlefield Selected Examples

Summary/Abstract: A combatant becomes a prisoner of war as a result of a defeat suffered during hostilities. The article presents (with selected examples) the fate of the prisoner of war in the first period after capture on the battlefield. The main objective of surrender was to preserve life, which, however, did not always have the desired effect, as the last word belonged to the victor. Although the knightly ethos regulated the rules of honourable surrender on the battlefield, the captive remained the victor’s opponent, which meant that he did not have to be treated kindly. It is true that military customs were civilised under the influence of the values comprising the knightly ethos, but mass executions of captives still in the course of hostilities resulting from the desire to completely exterminate the enemy were quite common in the Middle Ages. The more substantial captives were used to identify the bodies of their fallen comrades, the wounded captured were dressed, and all those who remained alive were obliged to ransom themselves from captivity.

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