Ransom

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Ransom is the practice of holding a prisoner or item to extort money or property to secure their release, or it can refer to the sum of money involved. In early Germanic law a similar concept was called Weregild. Julius Caesar was captured by pirates near the island of Pharmacusa and held until someone paid 50 talents to free him. It also refers to demanding concessions from a person or organization by threatening damaging action. In Europe during the Middle Ages, ransom became an important custom of chivalric warfare. An important knight, especially nobility or royalty, was worth a significant sum of money if captured, but nothing if he was killed. For this reason, the practice of ransom contributed to the development of heraldry, which allowed knights to advertise their identities, and by implication their ransom value, and made them less likely to be killed out of hand. Examples include Richard the Lion Heart and Bertrand du Guesclin.