A. D. 1 190. ^^i 



lancholy proof of the profperity of the towns wherein they were per- 

 petrated ; for Jews are never found but in opulent places. 



Richard, almofl immediately after he was crowned king of England, 

 refolved to defert his kingdom in order to accompany the king of France 

 on an expedition for the recovery of the Holy land from the Mohamcd- 

 ans : and he was perhaps the mofi: ardently-zealous champion, that ever 

 religious frenzy tranfported to Afia. To that holy warfare the great 

 treafures left by his father, amounting by the mod moderate account to 

 about a hundred thouiand marks, were confecrated, and alfo all the mo- 

 ney he could fcrew out of his fubjeds, and all that he could fcrape to- 

 gether by the fale of every thing that he could poflibly fell* [IV. Nezvbrig. 

 L. iv, c. 5. — Hovede?i,f. 2,']6 a, 377 b, 378 b.] One happy efFe6l to both 

 the Britifli kingdoms of his eagernefs for amafling money was the re- 

 ftoration of the caflles of Rokefburgh and Berwick to William king of 

 Scotland, together with a refignation of the acknowlegement of fuperi- 

 ority extorted from him by Henry II, in confequence of his being fur- 

 prifed and made prifoner by the barons of York- (hire ; for which recov- 

 ery of his own rights William paid him ten thoufand marks, [Fa- 

 dera, V, i, p. 64] a fum greatly exceeding in real value a million of mo- 

 dern moneyf . This large fum X was raifed by William from his fub- 

 jefts, not without an exertion of royal authority ; and even the clergy 



were not exempted from the contribution. \JV. Nezvbrig, L. iv, c. 5. 



Chart. Scon, quoted in Dalrymple's Annals of Scotland, V. i,p. 132.] 



As Richard's expedition to the Holy land is unconnedted with com- 

 mercial hiftory, it will be fufficient to notice his fleet and his naval oper- 

 ations. His {hips, colleded from all the ports of England and the weft 

 coaft of France, which was entirely fubjed to him and his mother, form- 

 ed the fineft fleet, that had ever been under the command of a king of 

 England. The number is varioufly fl:ated by the different authors, and 

 Geffrey de Vinifauf §, who was in the expedition, only fays, that the 

 people of Mellana in Sicily, at which port the Englifh and French fleets 

 had their rendezvous, never faw, nor ever will fee, on their coafl: fo great 

 and fo fine a fleet as that of England. According to other authors of 

 good credit, there were 1 3 veffels, larger than the reft, called bufles||, 



* An author of that age remarks, that, if all the f The much larger fum of£ico,oco, faid to 



obligations exaded by Richard within four months have been paid by William to Henry II for his 



were difcharged in the following year, he furpaifed ranfom, appears to have been advanced by Heftor 



all his predeccITors in wealth. \_R. dc Dueto, col. Boyfe out of the inexhaullibie treafury of his own 



650.3 invention. 



•f- The value of money has fluiiluated fo much, § From his very copious account of Richard's 



or rather been lo much deprelTed, in the courfe of expedition '^ap. Gale, Script. An;^l. V. ii.J I have 



compofing this work, that I may have ufed differ- extraCled all the naval information of this period, 



ent ftandards in converting antient monc\j into mo- except that for which other authors are particular- 



dcrn. The ilandavd, fixed by Lord Lyttlcton in ly quoted. 



his Life of Henry H, of ten modern pounds for one || Vinifauf calls the largeft of Richard's vclfels 



mark of the age of Henry (or fifteen for one) was dnmons (or dromunds), and fays, he appointed one 



certainly much too low, even when he wrote. of them to carry his bride and his fiiler, the queen 



I dowager 



