This volume explores the issues of taking, using and being hostages in the Middle Ages. It brings together recent research in the areas of hostages and hostageships, looking at the act of hostage-taking and the hostages themselves through the lenses of political and social history. Building upon previous work, this volume in particular critically examines not only the situations of hostages and hostageships but also the broader social and political context of each situation, developing a more complete picture of the phenomenon.
Author(s): Matthew Bennett, Katherine Weikert (eds.)
Series: Routledge Research in Medieval Studies, 9
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2017
Language: English
Pages: XVI+222
List of Figures ix
List of Abbreviations xi
Acknowledgments xv
1. The State of Play: Medieval Hostageship and Modern Scholarship / MATTHEW BENNETT AND KATHERINE WEIKERT 1
2. Aldhelm "Old Helmet," First Bishop of Sherborne, and His Helmgils, "Helmet Hostage," First Abbot of Glastonbury, on the Dorset/Devon Coast at Lyme: The Making of a West Saxon Bishopric / KATHERINE BARKER 15
3. Perceiving and Personifying Status and Submission in Pre-Viking England: Some Observations on a Few Early Hostages / RYAN LAVELLE 36
4. The Role of Hostages in the Danish Conquests of England and Norway, 1013–30 / ALICE HICKLIN 60
5. Warrior Narratives and Hostageship Ethos: Old French Literature and "Reality" in the Twelfth Century / MATTHEW BENNETT 79
6. "Exigens Obsides Ab Eis": Hostages under King John of England, 1199–1216 / CRISTIAN ISPIR 92
7. Female Hostages: Definitions and Distinctions / GWEN SEABOURNE 108
8. The Princesses Who Might Have Been Hostages: The Custody and Marriages of Margaret and Isabella of Scotland, 1209–1220s / KATHERINE WEIKERT 122
9. "Thy Father's Valiancy Has Proved No Boon": The Fates of Helena Angelina Doukaina and Her Children / ANNETTE PARKS 140
10. The Royal Prisoner of Henry IV and Henry V: James I of Scotland, 1406–24 / GORDON MCKELVIE 158
11. Commanding the Crown: Royal Hostages in the Wars of the Roses, 1455–83 / ALEX BRONDARBIT 174
12. Hostages and the Laws of War: The Surrender of the Castle and Palace of Rouen (1449–68) / RÉMY AMBÜHL 189
Contributors 207
Index 211
