On 1/06/2016 9:20 AM, Douglas Richardson via wrote: > Dear Newsgroup ~ > > This is getting stranger and stranger. > > Complete Peerage states that Sir John de Saint John returned from being held a prisoner in France in 1297, whereas Dictionary of National Biography states he returned to England in 1299. > > Seventh Report of the Deputy Keeper (1846): 251 includes the following record dated 1298: > > “1863. Letters Patent from the Abbot and Convent of St. Peter’s, Gloucester — Relative to giving hostages for the delivery of John de Saint John, detained in the prison of the King of France. Gloucester, 27th May, 1298.”)." > > The above record may be viewed at the following weblink: > > https://books.google.com/books?id=qDxKAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA251 > > If I understand the nature of this record, it seems that John de Saint John was released from prison in France about 27 May 1298, upon giving hostages for payment of his ransom. If 1298 was the correct date of his release, this might explain why Sir John de Saint John wasn't at the Battle of Falkirk in Scotland two months later in July 1298. > Hostages were not invariably given *before* a prisoner was released - in that era people sometimes trusted the word of others without imputing ulterior "motives" at the first hint of disagreement. Peter Stewart