Hostages or prisoners? Rethinking the categories of captivity of non-combatants during the Franco-Dutch War (1672-1678)

Abstract

By referring to non-combatants captured alongside the levies of war contributions as “hostages” and often reserving the term “prisoner” exclusively for combatants who have fallen into enemy hands, historiography has largely overlooked the captivity of civilians, which fueled a ransom economy that is still very much alive. This article thus aims to bring this mass phenomenon into focus, by analyzing the words of those involved, who often make a clear distinction between hostages and prisoners, two categories of captives plainly differentiated: a prisoner, once captured is released either for a ransom or through exchange, while an hostage, handed over by his own people, serves as a surety and guarantee for a formal treaty. The predation of non-combatants lies at the heart of petite guerre or petty warfare, this war of detail, the everyday reality of operations that provides light troops detachments with the opportunity to capture and ransom civilians. These ordinary manhunts, often disconnected from the system of contributions, turned the former Low Countries into a “capturing society” between 1672 and 1678.