Captives and Their Saviors in the Medieval Crown of Aragon

4. Liberating the Captives: Family-Initiated Responses

97 C h a p t e r 4 Liberati ng the Capt ives Family-Initiated Responses When a Christian fell into captivity, a complex network composed of ransomers, crown and ecclesiastical officials, merchants, and sea captains was set in motion to set the captive free. Due to the myriad reasons explored in the first part of this book, the Crown of Aragon had developed one of the most elaborate ransoming systems in Christian Europe by the fourteenth century. To examine more closely how it functioned we will have to wander from the royal court to merchant houses, from the parish churches to the houses of the ransoming orders, and from the homes of ordinary Christians to the mazmorras where the captives sometimes became active participants on their own behalf. The next three chapters will explore the responses generated by the problem of captivity and show the full range of alternatives available to Aragonese captives. In this chapter, we will look at the options available to families , friends, and associates when they answered the calls for help of their loved ones and tried to initiate a ransom. Chapter 5 examines the institutional and communal responses to captivity, with a special emphasis on the role played by the crown, municipal authorities, and the rany 98 soming orders. The last chapter in this section analyzes how families, communities, and institutions raised the large sums of money needed to secure the ransom of the captives. “I Was in Prison and You Came to Visit Me” Religious and legal provisions from the earliest days of Christianity to the world of medieval Iberia gave the captive certain rights that ensured that his kin and community would make every effort to free him. The captive—or, more accurately , the prisoner—was a central figure in the world of Christian charity, reflecting the Jewish and Roman traditions that Christianity inherited. Alluding to the long years of servitude experienced by the ancient Hebrews, the Old Testament exhorted believers to have compassion for those who had fallen into slavery .1 Moreover, “the commandment to ‘ransom captives’ ranked among the highest in Jewish religious law.”2 The Romans also had a long history of ransoming captured soldiers, sometimes with the help of the state.3 Cicero, for example, in his essay on moral duties, De Officiis, suggested that the liberal man, who put the welfare of the state before his own personal benefit, ransomed captives from slavery.4 The New Testament took up the theme in the Gospel of Matthew in the parable of the Last Judgment. A Christian could expect that visiting and succoring prisoners would help bring about his or her own salvation. There was no difference between charity toward the needy and charity toward Christ himself, SAVIORS 1. See, for example, Deuteronomy 15:15: “And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt and the Lord thy God redeemed thee.” Also Isaiah 58:6: “Is this not the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice , to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?” For a brief discussion see Osiek, “Ransom of Captives,” 365–67. 2. Baron, Social and Religious History of the Jews, 1:259. 3. Levy, “Captivus Redemptus,” 160–63. 4. Cicero, De Officiis, 2:63; see also 2:55. Also Dyck, Commentary on Cicero , 451. 99 and feeding the hungry, clothing the naked or, indeed, visiting the prisoner was the equivalent of feeding Christ, giving him clothes, or comforting him as he languished in prison.5 The early church fathers promoted this view. Many of them ransomed prisoners at some point in their ecclesiastical careers. The roll call of fathers who devoted their energies to captives reads like a “Who’s Who” of early Christianity: Ambrose of Milan, Augustine of Hippo, Caesarius of Arles, Cyprian of Carthage, Pope Gregory I, Pope Leo I, and Patrick of Ireland were among those who took the plight of captives into their own hands.6 Ambrose, in a clear reference to Cicero, believed that ransoming captives was “the highest kind of liberality.”7 Cyprian had considered it an honor to his congregation that they could help ransom Christian captives.8 And Patrick severely chastised the Irish chieftain Coroticus for reducing Christians to slavery and selling them “as to a brothel.”9 These churchmen were the first to deal with...