ENGLAND. 
{hackles, to the difgrace of honour and humanity. This 
prince had ferved under Richard at the fiege of Acre ; 
and being difgufled at fome affront offered hint on that 
occafion, lie took this bafe method of retaliating the in¬ 
jury. Henry the Sixth, then emperor of Germany, was 
equally an enemy to Richard, on account of the alliance 
contracted between him and Tancred king of Sicily, by 
his marriage with Berengaria. When, therefore, he re¬ 
ceived the news of Richard’s being in the cuftody of Leo¬ 
pold, he required the prifoner to be delivered up to him, 
engaging to pay one half of the expefted ranfom to the 
duke, as a reward for this fervice. Thus the king of 
England, who had filled the eaftern world with his fame, 
was bafely thrown into a dungeon, loaded with irons, and 
bought and fold, by thofe fellow Chriflians who now ex¬ 
pected to reap a fordid advantage from his misfortunes. 
It was a long time before his fubjeCts in England knew 
what was become of their fovereign. So little intercourfe 
was there between different nations at that rime, that this 
difcovery is faid by fome to have been made by a poor 
French minftrel, who playing upon his harp, near the 
fortrefs in which Richard was confined, a tune which 
he knew that unhappy monarch was fond of, he was 
anfwered by the king from within, who with his harp 
played the fame tune; and this difcovered the place of 
liis confinement. 
The emperor, in order to make him fubmit to the pay¬ 
ment of a large ranfom, treated him with the greated fe- 
verity, and reduced him to a condition worfe than that 
of the meaneft malefactor. Richard, however, was too 
high-fpirited to be meanly depreffed by thofe indignities. 
As he did not know w’hat extremities he might be re¬ 
duced to, or w’hat condefcenfions he might be compelled 
to make, he wrote to the judiciary of England to obey 
no orders that fhould come from him, if they feemed in 
the lead derogatory to his honour, or the good of the 
nation. His precautions were well founded; for the em¬ 
peror accufed him at the diet of Worms of many crimes 
and mifdemeanors, partly to judify his malevolence, and 
partly to fwell the ranfom. There he charged the king 
of England with making an alliance with Tancred, the 
ufurper of Sicily; of turning the arms of the crttfade 
againd a Chridian prince ; of affronting the duke of Auf- 
tria before Acre ; of obdruCting the progrefs of the Chrif. 
tian arms by his conteds with the king of France; of con¬ 
cluding a truce with Saladin, and leaving Jerufalem in 
the hands of the infidels. Thefe-frivolous charges w'ere 
heard by Richard with becoming indignation. He even 
waved his dignity to anfwer them; and fo fully vindi¬ 
cated himfelf before the princes who compofed tlie diet, 
that they exclaimed loudly againd the conduct of the 
emperor, while the pope even threatened him with ex¬ 
communication. This avaricious monarch now faw that 
he could no longer detain his prifoner; he therefore 
courted terms of accommodation. A ranfom was agreed 
upon, which amounted to no lefs than a hundred and 
fifty thoufand marks, or about three hundred thoufand 
pounds of our money. Of this, Richard was to pay one 
hundred thoufand before his enlargement, and fixty-feven 
hodages were to be delivered for the remainder. The 
agreement being thus made, Richard fent Hubert, one of 
his faithful followers in the Holy Land, to England, with 
the terms upon which he was to receive his liberty, and 
with a commidion to raife money for that purpofe. In the 
feudal times, every military tenant was, by law, obliged 
to give aid for the ranfom of his lord from captivity. 
The tax arifing from this obligation was accordingly 
raifed throughout the kingdom. But the ardour of the 
people greatly outdript the operation of the law : vad 
fums were raifed by voluntary contribution, to purchafe 
the freedom of their king. The churches and monafle- 
ries melted down their plate ; the bilhops, abbots, and 
nobles, paid a fourth of their annual income; the infe¬ 
rior clergy contributed a tenth of their tithes; fo that 
Vol. VI. Mo. 374. 
577 
the requifite fum was foon raifed, with which queen 
Eleanor, and the judiciary, fet out for Germany. 
While the Englifh were thus feduloufiy employed in 
preparing the ranfom of their king, Philip Augudus 
was as adiduoufiy occupied in endeavouring to prolong 
Richard’s captivity. But in this the infidious French 
jmonarch failed. Richard’s enlargement was performed 
with great ceremony at Mentz, in prefence of the Ger¬ 
man nobility ; the money was paid by queen Eleanor, the 
hodages were delivered as a fecurity for the remainder, 
and the king of England once more redored to the bofom 
of his fubjebts. Nothing could exceed the joy of the 
Englidt upon feeing their monarch return, after all his 
achievements and fufferings. He made his entry into 
London in .triumph ; and fuch was the profufion of wealth 
diown by the citizens, that the German lords who at¬ 
tended him were heard to fay, that if the emperor had 
known of their affluence, he would not fo eafily have 
parted with their king. He, foon after, ordered himfelf 
to be crowned anew at Wincheder. He convoked a ge¬ 
neral council at Nottingham, at which he confifcated all 
his traitorous brother’s pofleflions; and then, having 
made proper preparations for avenging himfelf on the 
king of France, he fet fail with a numerous body of 
forces for Normandy. 
Richard was but one day landed, A. D. 1194, when his 
fuithlefs brother John came to make fubmidion, and to 
throw himfelf at the monarch’s feet. It was not without 
fome degree of refentment, that Richard received a prince 
who had all along been leagued with his mod inveterate 
enemy. However, at the interceflion of queen Eleanor, 
he was received into favour. “ I forgive him,” faid the- 
king, “ and I widi I could as eafily forget his offences as 
he will forget my pardon.” This condefcenfion was not 
lod upon a man, vvhofe heart, though naturally bad, was 
not yet dead to every fentiment of humanity. From that 
time he ferved him faithfully ; and did him fig'nal fer- 
vices in his battles with the king of France, which fol¬ 
lowed foon after. Thefe wars, which, like all others, 
produced no permanent good, only ferved to keep alive 
the animolity of the two nations. The mod remarkable 
circumdance in the journals of thofe tranfa&ions, is the 
taking the bithop of Beauvais captive, at the head of his 
vaflals, and his being put in prifon by Richard. When 
the pope demanded his liberty, and claimed him as ail 
inoftenfive child of the church, the king fent his holinefs 
the bloody coat of mail which that prelate had worn in 
battle ; afliing whether that was the coat of his fon ? The 
inhumanity of both parties was in this manner inflamed 
by infult and revenge. Both kings frequently put out 
the eyes of their prifoners; and treaties w'ere concluded 
and broken with little repugnance. At length, the pope’s 
legate commenced a treaty, which prontifed to be attended 
with a firm reconciliation ; but the premature death of 
Richard put an end to the contefi. 
Aymar, vifeount of Limoges, a vaflal of the crown, 
had taken pofleflion of a treafure, which was found by 
one of his peafants in digging a field ; and, to fecure the 
remainder, he fent a part of it to the king. Richard, as 
fuperior lord, fenfible that he had a right to the whole, 
inlided on its being fent him; and, upon r.efufal, attacked 
the cadle of Chains, where he underflood this treafure 
had been depofited. On the fourth day of the liege, as 
he was riding round the place to obferve where the af- 
fault might be made with the mod promifing fuccefs, he 
was aimed at by Bertram de Gourdon, an archer, from the 
cadle, and pierced in the dtoulder with an arrow. The 
wound was not in itfelf dangerous ; but an unfkilful fur- 
geon endeavouring to difengage the arrow, 1b mangled 
the flefh,. that it brought on a mortification. Richard, 
when he found his end approaching, made a will, in which- 
he bequeathed the kingdom, with all his treafure, to his 
brother John, except a fourth part, which he difiribute.d 
among his fervants. He ordered alfo that the archer who 
7 FI fhot 
