Abstract: Abduction used to belong to the arsenal of violence which punctuated medieval and early modern political life. The political adaptation of the abduction of women, a widespread phenomenon in those societies, also targeted frail, young or mad princes, as well as the monarch’s enemies. Kidnappings were often improvised and rarely named with proper words, but they became an increasingly absorbing concern among courtly environments, thus confirming the decisive importance of the embodiment of power.
