ABSTRACT
Most of my research work to date has focused on the experiences of medieval hostages with a central theorem, contrasting to but not necessarily conflicting with many in this volume, that hostages are typically not subject to the same pressures, dangers, and sanctions as other types of detainees because hostages, especially social elites, are not detained primarily as a form of leverage. Rather, they are most often diplomatic tools for building social and political relationships.1 One result of this very specific role is that when hostages are executed or treated badly, contemporaries usually go to great lengths to either condemn or justify the actions of those responsible. While the treatment of hostages must be viewed through the lenses of numerous mediating factors-sex, age, whether they are domestic (hostages given within a single political unit) or state (those given across political boundaries) hostages, for example-in general they could expect certain protections. However, when the detainees, even elite women and children, could be classed as captives those protections along with any public opprobrium might vanish.
