The most important law of war is the law of how to treat prisoners.
The most important laws governing war are those governing the treatment of prisoners. The ransom of noble captives is the most tempting factor in fighting. This tempting factor exists in the fighting between nobles and mercenaries. This is an area where the potential for applying casuistry rules is endless. Here, international law and "knightly honor" mix. Since France is at war with England, should the French be allowed to capture poor small businessmen, farmers, and herdsmen on British soil? Under what circumstances are prisoners allowed to escape? What is the value of safe behavior? The biographical novel "Youth" answers the following questions based on actual experience.
Two junior officers quarreled over who captured the prisoner, so they had to ask the commander to resolve the case. One officer said: "I grabbed him first. I grabbed his arm and right hand and took off his gloves." Another said: "He first extended his right hand to me and said he wanted to surrender." Two Men's actions entitle them to the valuable possession of a prisoner, but there is precedent for the second officer's request. Whose credit is it for the captives who escaped and were recaptured?
The answer to "Youth" is: If the incident occurred on the battlefield, the prisoner belongs to the person who captured him; if the incident occurred outside the battlefield, he is still the property of the soldier who captured him . If a prisoner expresses his intention to surrender, but his captors chain him up, should we allow him to escape even though he has expressed his surrender? What if the captor forgets that the prisoner surrendered voluntarily?
Medieval people tended to overestimate the independence of an event or situation, which gave rise to the casuistic way of thinking. In addition, this tendency also had another consequence . We are familiar with Francois Villon's long satirical poem "The Testameni" (The Testameni), according to which he bequeathed all his property to friends and enemies. There are several similar poetic testaments, Henry Bode's "Barbeau's Mule" is one example. This will is written in a relatively casual form, which seems easy to understand, but only by putting it into the customs of the time can we understand why medieval people were so meticulous and troublesome, even writing down the most worthless things. into the will.
The will was made by a poor woman. The will was written like this: the best clothes and a hat were given to the parish, the bed was given to the godson, the fur coat was given to the nurse, and the other clothes were given to the pauper. , a four-pound coin, his entire fortune, and another hat to the Little Brotherhood. Isn't this trivial example the best portrayal of the mentality of medieval people? They assumed that every instance of virtue would become an eternal example, and they saw in every fashion a divine command. Obsessing with the specific attributes and value of everything is a habitual way of thinking among collectors and misers, like a lingering illness. ?
The above-mentioned characteristics of medieval people can be summed up in one word as formalism. The transcendence of things was actually the inherent concept of people at that time, which meant that every concept was determined by a fixed realm. In other words, every thing lived in a plastic form, and this form was of supreme importance. . The sense of justice is unshakable and will not waver for a moment: as the ancient legal saying goes, a man is judged by his conduct. A long time ago, the formalism of ancient Germanic primitive law was extremely strong, and legal decisions did not consider the issues of intentionality and negligence at all: an act is an act, and as long as it breaks the law, it must be punished.
Unfulfilled deeds and attempted crimes will not be punished. Even in modern times, negligence in reciting the oath can result in the loss of legal rights: an oath is an oath, and it is very sacred. In modern times, economic interests mean the end of formalism. An exotic businessman who is not proficient in the local language cannot risk formalism, which may hinder his economic interests. Unsurprisingly, cities legislated to eliminate the danger of financial losses due to language barriers; at first the legislation concerned only privileges, but later it became common practice. Nonetheless, a great deal of far-reaching formalism remained in late medieval legal affairs.
Extreme sensitivity to anything to do with external honor is deeply rooted in formalist thinking. In 1445, a man named Jan van Domburg fled to Middelburg to seek refuge because he was accused of murder. As was the custom at the time, his sanctuary was surrounded. One of his nuns was seen repeatedly begging him not to fall into the hands of his executioners even if he died in battle, lest he bring shame on his family.
After he was executed, the nun went to collect the body so that she could give her brother a decent burial. During competitions, the customary decoration of aristocratic saddlebags was its coat of arms. La Marche found this inappropriate because an "irrational" horse might stumble, drag the family tattoo with it, and bring shame to the entire family. Shortly after the Duke of Burgundy visited the church at Bolchamps, a mentally disturbed nobleman committed suicide there. This incident caused great panic. "After the revelry of the Duke's visit, people did not know how to bear the shame of someone committing suicide here." Although it was known that the man was mad and had attempted suicide, he was banned from the castle after his recovery and was banned for life.
The following example illustrates the formalism required to restore honor. In 1478, a man named Laurent Guernier was wrongly convicted and hanged in Paris. He had been forgiven, but he had not been notified. It was discovered a year later that he had been accidentally killed, and at the request of his brother he was given a decent burial. Leading the way for the hearse were four municipal magistrates who shook the bells in their hands and called loudly. Their coats were embroidered with the coat of arms of the deceased. The hearse was surrounded by four people holding candles and eight torchbearers. Hands, they were all dressed in mourning clothes and bearing the coat of arms of the deceased.
The funeral procession walked from the Porte Saint-Denis to the Porte Saint-Antoine, and then returned the remains to the deceased's hometown of Provins. A messenger kept shouting: "Good people, please pray for the soul of Laurent Guernier, a resident of Provins, who was recently found dead under an oak tree." Enemies for generations. The code of revenge was powerful, especially in the economically prosperous and culturally developed regions of northern France and the southern Netherlands. This is also related to the formalistic nature of medieval thought.
Revenge is often not motivated by overwhelming rage or ruthless hatred, but rather by shedding blood to preserve family honor. Sometimes the decision for revenge is not to kill someone but to bleed the other person's arms, legs and face. Therefore, the Avengers are careful not to stab their opponents to death, lest they bear the burden of murder. Jacques Duclair recounts the story of someone who wanted to kill their sister-in-law, so they carefully asked a priest to be present as a witness.
In turn, the formalistic nature of revenge creates another situation in which injustice is remedied with symbolic punishment or penance. The famous reconciliations of the 15th century all emphasized symbolic elements: demolition of houses that reminded people of the violation, dedication of commemorative crosses, sealing of doors as walls, public confessional ceremonies, raising funds for the dead or the church, etc. The murder suit of the Duke of Orleans against John the Fearless was settled in this manner, as was the Peace of Arras in 1435, and the confession of the rebels of Bruges in 1437; a still more profound confession was that of the Ghent in 1453 To repent, all the residents wore black mourning clothes, no belts, no hats, no shoes, only their shirts and walked in the heavy rain, asking the Duke for mercy in unison.
When Louis XI reconciled with his brother, the Duke of Normandy, in 1469, he first took back the ring that the bishop of Lisieux had given him at the inauguration ceremony of the Duke of Normandy. Later, he presented it to dignitaries in Rouen. His face smashed the ring on the anvil. The widespread formalism had another root: the primitive cultural belief in the magical power of spoken words, which survived in the late Middle Ages in the form of blessings, witchcraft, and curses.
The solemn appeal still has the quality of a wish in a fairy tale. After people's strong appeal to Philip the Good to forgive a condemned prisoner failed, they asked Philip's favorite daughter-in-law, Isabella of Bourbon, to intercede, hoping that he would not disappoint Isabella, because as Isabella said, "I have never begged you for any such thing".