First prisoner of war was ‘traded for £5m’

THE first person officially classed in England as a “prisoner of war” was a French nobleman who was traded for the equivalent of £5million, new research claims.

Documents from 1357 show the term “prisonnier de guerre” was first used in English courts for the Count de Ventadour, who was captured at the Battle of Poitiers, where the Black Prince’s army routed the French.

The status, rather than a way to protect the captive, was concerned with protecting the rights of the captor who could sell the hostage for a lucrative ransom, Dr Remy Ambuhl, a medieval historian at the University of Southampton, told the BBC.

Writing in English Historical Review, Dr Ambuhl said a late medieval prisoner of war “was primarily defined by their economic value, which derived from the manifest property rights”.

Documents show that Bernard, Count de Ventadour, had been “owned” by Lord Burghersh, a close adviser to Edward, the Black Prince, and was “bought” for £5,000 by King Edward III, equal to roughly £4.6 million in today’s money.

Dr Ambuhl believes the sum was never paid in full as it totalled an eighth of the annual income from taxes.

The count later became part of wider talks over the ransom paid for King John II, the French king captured in 1357 at Poitiers. By 1360, the count appears to have regained his freedom.