Captured nobles in medieval times, were they always ransomed?

Question

Was watching the directors cut of Kingdom of Heaven, and one of the scenes had an actor playing what seemed to be a nobelman stating that he is according the privilege of ransom. While I remember that being so in my readings, in this scene, he was killed instead.

What my question is were nobles more likely to be ransomed when captured in battle (such as Richard the Lionheart to use a famous example), offed unless they were extremely high ranking such as a King or Duke, or a halfway point between the two?

Answer 1

In GENERAL, captured nobles were ransomed. That's because this maximized their value to their captors.

One notable exception was the battle of Agincourt, in 1415, during the 100 years' war. At one point, the French lines approached the English prison camp, and King Henry V feared that the prisoners would not only be released, but re-armed, and take the smaller English army in the rear. So he gave the order to kill all but the highest-ranking prisoners. But such cruelty was rare, even in medieval times, and usually stemmed from panic or fear of attack.