A king's ransom, and money in reserve

As I just start to develop a world/setting for a game I will run in the distant future, and was considering some of the events I could run, it occurred to me that it is not beyond imagination that my players may capture someone important. And what happened in medieval times when one captured someone important? Well, they MIGHT have been ransomed.

It then occurred to me that I had no idea what a reasonable expectation for a ransom would be, particularly given the well thought out economic system in ACKS (and thus my desire not to break it). Has anyone got any thoughts on what sort of ransom would be appropriate for an important person? I suppose it would be based on the value of their realm / money likely to be in their coffers.

Which leads to my next question: What is a good way to work out an appropriate amount of money that a domain would have tucked away in its coffers? I feel this is relevant partly because of the above, but also because it could be important in a war of attrition.

I would very much welcome the thoughts of the forum.

During the Hundred Years War, ransoms were typically around one year’s wages for the soldier.

A minor noble is recorded as having been ransomed for 100 pounds. To translate medieval prices to ACKS, treat 1 pence as 1 silver piece. A pound is therefore 24gp, and a noble would ransom for 2400gp. At 200gp per month, that’s the equivalent of a 5th level henchmen.

An archer is recorded as having been ransomed for 150 shillings. A shilling is 1.2gp, or 180gp, or 15gp per month, about the cost of a bowman.

Thanks Alex. That’s really nice and simple to apply too, which is great.

Any thoughts on how much a domain of a particular size would have tucked away in reserve at any given time?