Prisoner of war the custody of a person, then the responsibility was on the individual. The freeing of prisoners was highly recommended as a charitable act. The 1648 Peace of Westphalia, which ended the Thirty Years' War, established the rule that prisoners of war should be released without ransom at the end of hostilities and that they should be allowed to return to their homelands. There also evolved the right of "parole", French for "discourse", in which a captured officer surrendered his sword and gave his word as a gentleman in exchange for privileges. If he swore not to escape, he could gain
Treaty of Stettin (1653) Pomerania became Brandenburgian Pomerania. During the war, Sweden had occupied the Duchy of Pomerania in 1630. The last Griffin duke Bogislaw XIV died in 1637, his duchy was supposed to be inherited by Brandenburg, who based her claims on in the Treaty of Grimnitz. This however was hindered by the Swedish presence. The 1648 Peace of Westphalia ended the war, and Pomerania was to be partitioned between Brandenburg and Sweden. The 1650 Treaty of Nuremberg roughly defined the areas that should be under control of Sweden and Brandenburg, respectively. The precise border was drawn in the 1653 Treaty of Stettin,