During the medieval era, when a city or town was sack, did individual soldiers get to keep the loot or did they have to hand it over to their commander/noble lords?

by conbutt
Djay210

Sacking or looting in the medieval time is a lot different than many people assume. Most people have the picture of houses being burnt to the ground, cattle being slaughtered and Women being raped, but this is not true. (I wont deny it happened though, rarely, but it still happened) Looting was ordered by their commander/lord and they usually requested certain things to happen. (Example being a lord telling the army to steal all the food) But usually soldiers would take smaller things such as jewelry, blankets, medicine and food. And these things were taken in very small quantities as the lord would force you to carry around your own loot. But to answer your question, yes. In most situations, soldiers got to keep their own loot.