Known either as "buying back" or simple extortion the exchange of prisoners for payment has had a long-history up to today (ie; EU countries paying ISIS for a few citizens back). Long associated with chivalry when did the practice become uncommonly practiced in war? There were obvious drawbacks to the practice of paying your enemies during a war, of individual soldiers/groups taking ransoms for personal gain, of releasing capable/important figures back to the enemy-yet it was deemed honourable, it provided incentive at a time when soldiers were rarely paid, and it reduced the number of noble causalities.
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