Sir Gawain, Regulus and keeping your word

[Quid est Veritas?]

Marcus Attilius Regulus was a Roman Consul captured by Carthage during the first Punic war. He subsequently was sent to negotiate peace with Rome and gave his word he would return to his captors. After telling his fellow Romans to continue the war, he returned to Carthage to be tortured and killed, per his word and against the objections of his countrymen.

In Gawain and the Green Knight, Sir Gawain meets a green knight that insults everything about him and then offers to place his head on a block that Sir Gawain takes a swing at his neck with an axe, in exchange for Gawain doing the same in a year's time. Obviously the knight survives his decapitation and Gawain pitches up at the agreed upon place a year later for his own decapitation.

These two examples, an historical and a literary one, both illustrate the idea of keeping your word, even if by doing so, it results in your death.
There are other examples, of mediaeval lords that returned to captivity when they failed to fulfil the pledges they made on being released etc. as well.
Historically, the idea that your word was your bond, in importance of trust, was very highly thought of. This was why enemies could meet or eat together if both gave their word, because it really meant something, and why events like the Black Dinner (where Game of Thrones got the Red Wedding) was so shocking and unexpected.

I think the modern world is too jaded. No one trusts anyone's word anymore. I don't think any country would release a captive to negotiate and have any chance of them returning. Nor do I think anyone today values their word so highly to rather die than to break it.

We no longer trust anyone, which is why everything is triple drafted in contracts and closely monitored. If we were less legalistic and more concerned about keeping our word, we would have less paperwork, fewer lawyers and a far better world, but alas we are far too accepting of dishonesty today. Thoughts?

 

[Resha Caner]

It's a chivalric idea, and while some historical figures may have actually honored it, I don't buy the claim that ancient cultures were more sincere in making promises. When I studied the wars between the Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings, it seemed that after every battle the loser would make a "ring oath", only to take up the fight again as soon as he was free to do so.

 

[durangodawood]

If I was captured by ISIL, or even Iran, or heck even some local thug.... I would lie my face off to secure release.

I agree with Rensha. Golden Age fallacy is at work here.

 

[Quid est Veritas?]

Of course people did lie and did break trust. No one doubts this. But the fact that the Carthaginians felt able to release Regulus, shows that there was higher regard than today.
Would we release a high level ISIS captive and think there is a chance he would return?
Another example is Edgar the Aetheling who after a few failed attempts to take the English throne, made peace with William the Conqueror. William allowed someone with a much better claim than himself, with ties to France, Scotland and continental powers, to leave for Italy only on his word. He could have conspired with William's enemies in exile in Hungary, the French King or the Pope. We should bear in mind that William himself had used an oath of succession with papal support, to claim the throne of England in the first place.

While I doubt it was a Golden Age of people always keeping their word, I do hold they probably were more trustworthy than today. These historical examples clearly show that you could sometimes trust people and that they were trusted, a position that no one today would ever consider in realpolitik. Also we see the high regard for truthfulness in literature, while today with our lawyer and conmen shows, we seem to celebrate the opposite.
Most merchant contracts in the Mediaeval period for instance were oral, perhaps due to lower levels of literacy, but by nature therefore requiring higher levels of trust between two parties.

As an aside, I would just point out that while it is part of the code of Chivalry, we see high regard for Oaths in the Norse Sagas and the classical period, which greatly predate it.

 

[Resha Caner]

Would we release a high level ISIS captive and think there is a chance he would return?

If we did, it wouldn't be publicized until way after the event. Maybe you should look into Mosab Hassan Yousef, who was deeply involved with Hamas but was turned by Shin Bet. There is a fascinating documentary about him called The Green Prince, but it only premiered in 2014 ... almost 15 years after the fact.

 

[Resha Caner]

If I was captured by ISIL, or even Iran, or heck even some local thug.... I would lie my face off to secure release.

There is a compelling essay by Dietrich Bonhoeffer called What is Meant by 'Telling the Truth'? It pertains to how he lied to the Nazis while being interrogated, and he works through an argument that because they were evil they had no claim on the truth, and therefore he was under no obligation to give it to them.