Editing Prisoner of war (section)

==Middle Ages and Renaissance==
[[File:DiezAlbumsPrisoners.jpg|thumb| [[Mongol Empire|Mongol]] riders with prisoners, 14th century]]
According to legend, during [[Childeric I|Childeric]]'s siege and blockade of Paris in 464 the nun [[Geneviève]] (later canonised as the city's patron saint) pleaded with the Frankish king for the welfare of prisoners of war and met with a favourable response. Later, [[Clovis I]] ({{reign | 481 | 511}}) liberated captives after Genevieve urged him to do so.<ref name="Attwater">Attwater, Donald and Catherine Rachel John. ''The Penguin Dictionary of Saints''. 3rd ed., New York: Penguin Books, 1993. {{ISBN|0-14-051312-4}}.</ref>

King [[Henry V of England|Henry V]]'s English army killed many French prisoners of war after the [[Battle of Agincourt]] in 1415.<ref>"But when the outcries of the lackies and boies, which ran awaie for feare of the Frenchmen thus spoiling the campe came to the kings eares, he doubting least his enimies should gather togither againe, and begin a new field; and mistrusting further that the prisoners would be an aid to his enimies, or the verie enimies to their takers in deed if they were suffered to live, contrarie to his accustomed gentleness, commended by sound of trumpet, that everie man (upon pain and death) should uncontinentlie slaie his prisoner. When this dolorous decree, and pitifull proclamation was pronounced, pitie it was to see how some Frenchmen were suddenlie sticked with daggers, some were brained with pollaxes, some slaine with malls, others had their throats cut, and some their bellies panched, so that in effect, having respect to the great number, few prisoners were saved." [[Raphael Holinshed]], ''Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland'', quoted by Andrew Gurr in his introduction to {{cite book | last1 = Shakespeare  | first1 = William  | last2 = Gurr  | first2 = Andrew  | title = King Henry V  | publisher = Cambridge University Press  | year = 2005  | page = 24  | isbn = 0-521-84792-3}}</ref> This was done in retaliation for the French killing of the boys and other non-combatants handling the baggage and equipment of the army, and because the French were attacking again and Henry was afraid that they would break through and free the prisoners who would rejoin the fight against the English.

In the later [[Middle Ages]] a number of [[religious war]]s aimed to not only defeat but also to eliminate enemies. Authorities in [[Christian Europe]] often considered the extermination of [[Heresy|heretics]] and [[paganism|heathens]] desirable. Examples of such wars include the 13th-century [[Albigensian Crusade]] in Languedoc and the [[Northern Crusades]] in the [[Baltic region]].<ref>{{cite book |title = Europe: A History |page = [https://archive.org/details/europehistory00davi_0/page/362 362] |author-link = Norman Davies |first = Norman |last = Davies |isbn = 0-19-520912-5 |publisher = Oxford University Press |date = 1996 |url = https://archive.org/details/europehistory00davi_0/page/362}}</ref> When asked by a Crusader how to distinguish between the Catholics and [[Cathars]] following the projected capture (1209) of the city of [[Béziers]], the papal legate [[Arnaud Amalric]] allegedly replied, "[[Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius.|Kill them all, God will know His own]]".{{efn|According to the ''Dialogus Miraculorum'' by [[Caesarius of Heisterbach]], Arnaud Amalric was only ''reported'' to have said that.}}

Likewise, the inhabitants of conquered cities were frequently massacred during Christians' [[Crusades]] in the 11th and 12th centuries. Noblemen could hope to be ransomed; their families would have to send to their captors large sums of wealth commensurate with the social status of the captive.

[[Feudal Japan]] had no custom of ransoming prisoners of war, who could expect for the most part summary execution.<ref>[http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/journal_of_japanese_studies/v031/31.2lamers.html "Samurai, Warfare and the State in Early Medieval Japan"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304124715/http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=%2Fjournals%2Fjournal_of_japanese_studies%2Fv031%2F31.2lamers.html |date=4 March 2016 }}, ''The Journal of Japanese Studies''.</ref>

[[File:Codex Magliabechiano (141 cropped).jpg|thumb| Aztec sacrifices, as depicted in the [[Codex Mendoza]] ({{circa | 1541}})]]

In the 13th century the expanding [[Mongol Empire]] famously distinguished between cities or towns that surrendered (where the population was spared but required to support the conquering Mongol army) and those that resisted (in which case the city was [[Destruction under the Mongol Empire|ransacked and destroyed]], and all the population killed). In [[Termez]], on the [[Oxus]]: "all the people, both men and women, were driven out onto the plain, and divided in accordance with their usual custom, then they were all slain".<ref>{{cite web|url= https://faculty.washington.edu/modelski/CAWC.htm |title= Central Asian world cities |publisher= Faculty.washington.edu |date= 29 September 2007 |access-date= 14 April 2012 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120118121401/https://faculty.washington.edu/modelski/CAWC.htm |archive-date= 18 January 2012 }}</ref>

The [[Aztec]]s [[Aztec warfare|warred]] constantly with neighbouring tribes and groups, aiming to collect live prisoners for [[Human sacrifice in Aztec culture|sacrifice]].<ref>Meyer, Michael C. and William L. Sherman. ''The Course of Mexican History''. Oxford University Press, 5th ed. 1995.</ref> For the re-consecration of [[Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan]] in 1487, "between 10,000 and 80,400 persons" were sacrificed.<ref>Hassig, Ross (2003). "El sacrificio y las guerras floridas". [[Arqueología Mexicana]], pp. 46–51.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/aztecs/sacrifice.htm |title = The Enigma of Aztec Sacrifice |publisher = Latinamericanstudies.org |last = Harner |first = Michael |work = Natural History |date = April 1977 |volume = 86 |number = 4 |pages = 46–51 |archiveurl = https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20230519060523/https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/aztecs/sacrifice.htm |archive-date = 19 May 2023 |access-date = 6 April 2010 |url-status = live }}</ref>

During the [[early Muslim conquests]] of 622–750, Muslims routinely captured large numbers of prisoners. Aside from those who converted, most were ransomed or [[Muslim slavery|enslaved]].<ref>{{cite book|last = Crone |first = Patricia|date= 2004 |pages = 371–372|title = God's Rule: Government and Islam |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=w7VlOIivYnEC&pg=PA371 |publisher = Columbia University Press |isbn = 978-0231132909}}</ref><ref>Roger DuPasquier. ''Unveiling Islam''. Islamic Texts Society, 1992, p. 104</ref> Christians captured during the Crusades were usually either killed or sold into slavery if they could not pay a ransom.<ref>{{cite book |last= Nigosian |first= S. A. |title= Islam. Its History, Teaching, and Practices |url= https://archive.org/details/islamitshistoryt0000nigo |url-access= registration |publisher= Indiana University Press |year= 2004 |location= Bloomington |page= [https://archive.org/details/islamitshistoryt0000nigo/page/115 115]}}</ref> During his lifetime ({{circa | 570}} – 632), [[Muhammad]] made it the responsibility of the Islamic government to provide food and clothing, on a reasonable basis, to captives, regardless of their religion; however, if the prisoners were in the custody of a person, then the responsibility was on the individual.<ref>Maududi (1967), ''Introduction of Ad-Dahr'', "Period of revelation", p. 159.</ref>  On certain occasions where Muhammad felt the enemy had broken a treaty with the Muslims he endorsed the mass execution of male prisoners who participated in battles, as in the case of the [[Banu Qurayza]] in 627. The Muslims divided up the females and children of those executed as ''ghanima'' (spoils of war).<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lings|first=Martin|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/9195533|title=Muhammad: his life based on the earliest sources|date=1983|publisher=Inner Traditions International|isbn=0-89281-046-7|location=New York|pages=229–233|oclc=9195533}}</ref>

Naval forces from both Christian and Muslim countries often turned prisoners of war into [[galley slave]]s. Thus, at the [[Battle of Lepanto]] in 1571, 12,000 Christian galley [[Slavery in the Ottoman Empire|slaves]] were freed from the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Turks]].<ref>{{Citation
 | last = Patrick
 | first = James
 | year = 2007
 | title = Renaissance and Reformation
 | periodical = Vol.
 | volume = 7
 | page = 718
}}</ref>