Abstract
Yvonne Friedman, in Encounters between Enemies (2002), asks why charitable ransoming was more developed and successful in the medieval West than it was in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. This paper seeks to answer this question through an examination of community solidarity. Particularly important to an understanding of western European ransoming customs is the distinction between the deserving poor, who are neighbors, and itinerants and vagabonds who are not. Hispanic ransoming custom, precisely because it emerged within the context of developing municipal communities, was a reflection of this group solidarity;consequently, the caritative ransomers who followed -such as, the Mercedarians and Trinitarians- had to adjust their appeal to conform to these group prejudices. The society of the Latin East, because it was more transient and less cohesive, failed to develop such institutions of solidarity and thus dealt with captives on a more pragmatic, less compassionate basis.
Highlights
Abstract:Yvonne Friedman, in Encounters between Enemies (2002), asks why charitable ransoming was more developed and successful in the medieval West than it was in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem
Precisely because it emerged within the context of developing municipal communities, was a reflection of this group solidarity;the caritative ransomers who followed -such as, the Mercedarians and Trinitarians- had to adjust their appeal to conform to these group prejudices
To use the paradigm suggested by my late mentor, Julian Bishko, Iberia was transformed from a frontier of conquest into one of settlement, while the Crusader States remained western military outposts within the Muslim world, a mere frontier of conquest
Summary
Abstract:Yvonne Friedman, in Encounters between Enemies (2002), asks why charitable ransoming was more developed and successful in the medieval West than it was in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. The clearest sign of incipient charity within the foral tradition is a limited obligation accepted by towns toward local residents captured while providing military service to the community —reimbursement for a lost horse or equipment and the grant of a Muslim slave, if one were available from the booty, who could be used in any exchange of prisoners2.
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