Hello askhistorians,
I have just started listening to the Revolutions podcast by Mike Duncan, specifically his section on the English Civil Wars. A number of times, he would mention that this or that battle resulted in this or that many troops being taken captive by the victors. For example, the Battle of Dunbar in 1650 ended with the capture of about 10,000 Scots. I've gathered that this is a particularly large number of captives, but the question remains: how did the enormous armies of the medieval (is this even technically considered the medieval?) period integrate another huge group of people into their group, given the complexities of everything needed to keep even the main force properly supplied?
Additionally, I realize the the Battle of Dunbar was at the end of the war, so the specifics of this engagement might be different than most as well (simpler to handle prisoners once the war is "won" than while it is underway).
Thanks in advance!
P.S. I wouldn't mind some opinions on the podcast itself, if any of you are familiar with it. I think I consulted an old /r/AskHistorians post to help choose it in the firsts place, but times change.
While you wait for an answer to your primary question, I'll just go ahead and address your concerns with regards to dating. The medieval period is generally considered to have ended some time around 1450-1492. So the English Civil War is firmly in the modern era. For the medieval era, armies were not particularly large (<15,000 in most cases), nor were they in the habit of taking large numbers of prisoners. Common soldiers . . . didn't tend to fare very well; running for it was probably their best bet.