Aitire, 人質, тали, όμηρος, رهن , obses: Hostages, Political Instability, and the Writing of History c. 900-c. 1050 CE. Medieval Worlds|Uses of the Past in Times of Transition: Forgetting, Using and Discrediting the Past & Approaches to Global Epigraphy, I - Volume 10. 2019 medieval worlds Volume 10. 2019|

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The medieval hostage stood as a surety given by one party into the custody of another, with the understanding that hostages bound their donors to a particular obligation or set of terms outlined by the hostages’ recipient. The practice is attested on a global scale, and much can be said about the narrative function of hostages as a foil for writers to construct stories of victory, defeat, piety, mercy and cruelty. This article adopts a broad geographical focus, from Ireland to eastern China. By looking at periods both of political turbulence and stability in the tenth and eleventh centuries CE, it examines how writers depicted hostage-giving in times of political fragmentation and change, and in what way was this reflected in narrative and documentary texts. By including authors writing about recent and more distant pasts, it explores how this practice operated both within and without the boundaries of legal custom, and considers how attitudes towards those who granted and received hostages might be shaped by politico-social transitions.