"Killing of the prisoners" Topic

"For modern observers, one of the best known and most notorious events during the battle of Agincourt is the massacre of at least some of the French prisoners by their English captors at the end of the first phase of fighting. These men had been taken captive after being defeated in the melee.

When fighting ceased the king ordered his men to search the heaps of dead for further possible prisoners. By this time, such captives had a clear expectation that they would be ransomed by the victorious English. The capture of prisoners for ransom was a well established principle by the early fifteenth century, with high ranking captives being especially sought after. The most notable earlier example in the Hundred Years War is the capture of the French king John II, at the battle of Poitiers in 1356. John was brought to England and his large ransom – enough to remove the need for direct taxation for several years – formed part of the treaty of Brétigny of 1360 which gave Edward III substantial lands in south west France in full sovereignty…"
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