 CHAPTER 7 THE EMBARCATION The plan which Richard had formed for conveying his expedition to the Holy Land was to embark it on board a fleet of ships which he was sending round to Marseille for this purpose, with orders to await him there. Marseille is in the south of France, not far from the Mediterranean Sea. Richard might have embarked his troops in the English Channel, but that, as Turida will see from looking on the map of Europe, would require them to take a long sea voyage around the coasts of France and Spain, and through the straits of Gibraltar. Richard thought it best to avoid this long circuit for his troops, and so he sent the ships round, with no more men on board than necessary to manoeuvre them, while he marched his army across France by land. Thus for Philip, he had no ships of his own. England was a maritime country, and had long possessed a fleet. This fleet had been very much increased by the exertions of Henry II, Richard's father, who had built several new ships, some of them of very large size, expressly for the purpose of transporting troops to Palestine. Henry himself did not live to execute his plans, and so he left his ships for Richard. France on the other hand, was not then a maritime country. Most of the harbours on the northern coast belonged to Normandy, and even in the south, the ports did not belong to the king of France. Philip therefore had no fleet of his own, but he had made arrangements with the Republic of Genoa to furnish him with ships, and so his plan was to march over the mountains to that city, and embark there, while Richard should go south to Marseille. Richard drew up a curious set of rules and regulations for the government of this fleet, while it was making the passage. Some of the rules were the following. 1. That if any man killed another, demerger was to be lashed to the dead body, and buried alive with it, if demerger was committed in port or on the land. If the crime was committed at sea, then the two bodies, bound together as before, were to be launched overboard. 2. If any man, with a knife or with any other weapon, struck another, so as to draw blood, then he was to be punished by being ducked three times overhead in ears, by being let down from the yard arm of the ship, into the sea. 3. For all sorts of profane and abusive language, the punishment was a fine of an ounce of silver for each offence. 4. Any man, convicted of theft or pickery, as it was called, was to have his head shaved and hot pitch poured over it, and upon that the feathers of some pillow or cushion were to be shaken. The offender was then to be turned ashore on the first land that his ship might reach, and there be abandoned to his fate. The penalty, named in this last article, is the first instance in which any account of the punishment of tarring and feathering is mentioned, and this is supposed to be the origin of that extraordinary and very cruel mode of punishment. The king put a fleet under the command of three grant officers of his court, and he commanded all his seamen and marines to obey them strictly in all things, as they would obey the king himself if he had been on board. The fleet met with a great variety of adventures on its way to Marseille. It had not proceeded far before a great tempest arose and scattered the ships in every direction. At last a considerable number of them succeeded in making their way in a disabled condition into the Tagus in order to seek succour in Lisbon. The king of Portugal was at this time at war with the Moors, who had come over from Africa and invaded his dominions. He proposed to the crusaders on board the ships to wait a little while and assist him in fighting the Moors. They are as great infidels, said he, as any that you will find in the holy land. The commanders of the fleet acceded to this proposal, but the crews, when they were landed, soon made so many rides in Lisbon and involved themselves in such frequent and bloody affrays with the people of the city, that the king of Portugal was soon eager to send them away. So in due time they embarked again in order to continue the voyage. In the meantime, while the fleet was thus going round by sea, Richard and Philip were engaged in assembling the forces and making preparation to march by land. The two armies, when finally organized, came together at a place of rendezvous called Vesley, where there were great planes suitable for the camping ground of a great military force. Vesley was on the road to Lyon, and the armies, after they had met, marched in company to the latter city. The number of troops assembled was very great. The United Army amounted, it is said, to one hundred thousand men. This was a very large force for those days. The great difficulty was to find provision for them from day to day during the march. Supplies of provisions for such a host cannot be carried far, so that armies are obliged to live on the produce of the country that they march through, which is collected for this purpose by foragers from day to day. The Allied armies, as they moved slowly on, impoverished and distressed the whole country through which they passed by devouring everything that the people had in store. At length, after marching together for some time, they came to the place where the roads separated, and King Philip turned off to the left in order to proceed through the passes of the Alps toward Genua, while Richard and his hosts proceeded southward toward Marseille. When he reached Marseille, Richard found that his fleet had not arrived. The delay was occasioned by the storm, and the subsequent detention of the crews at Lisbon. And yet, it was very long after the time originally appointed for the sailing of the expedition. The time first appointed was the last of March, but Philip could not go at that time on account of the death of his queen, which took place just before the appointed period. Nor was Richard himself ready. It was not until the 30th of August that the fleet arrived at Marseille. When Richard found that the fleet had not come, he was greatly disappointed. He had no means of knowing when to expect it, for there were no postal or other communications across the country in those days, as now, by which tidings could be conveyed to him. He waited eight days very impatiently, and then concluded to go on himself toward the east, and leave orders for the fleet to follow him. So he hired ten larger vessels and twenty galleys of the merchants of Marseille, and in these he embarked a portion of his forces, leaving the rest to come in a great fleet when it should arrive. They were to proceed to Messina in Sicily, where Richard was to join them. With the vessels that he had hired, he proceeded along the coast to Genoa, where he found Philip the French king, who had arrived there safely before him by land. From Marseille to Genoa, the cores lies toward the northeast along the coast of France. Then, in going toward Messina, it turns toward the southeast, and follows the coast of Italy. The route may be traced very easily on any map of modern Europe. The reason why Messina had been appointed as the great intermediate rendezvous of the fleet was twofold. In the first place, it was a convenient port for this purpose, being a good harbour, and being favourably situated about midway of the voyage. Then besides, Richard had a sister residing there. Her name was Joanna. She had married the king of the country. Her husband had died, it is true, and she was, at the time, in some sense, retired from public life. She was indeed in some distress, for the throne had been seized by a certain tankerit, who was her enemy, and, as she maintained, not the rightful successor of her husband. So Richard resolved, in stopping at Messina, to inquire into and redress his sister's wrongs. Or rather, he thought the occasion offered him a favourable opportunity to interfere in the affairs of Sicily, and to lord it over the government and people there in his usual arrogant and domineering manner. After waiting a short time at Genoa, Richard set sail again in one of his small vessels, and proceeded to the southward along the coast of Italy. He touched at several places on the coast, in order to visit celebrated cities or other places of interest. He sailed up the river Ardno, which you will find on the map, flowing into the Gulf of Genoa, a little to the northward of Legon. There are two renowned cities on this river, which are very much visited by tourists and travellers of the present day, Florence and Pisa. Pisa is near the mouth of the river. Florence is much farther inland. Richard sailed up as far as Pisa. After visiting that city, he returned again to the mouth of the river, then proceeded on his way down the coast until he came to the Taiba and entered that river. He landed at Ostia, a small port near the mouth of it, the port in fact of Rome. One reason why he landed at Ostia was that the galley in which he was making a voyage required some repairs, and this was a convenient place for making them. Perhaps too it was his intention to visit Rome. But while at Ostia, he became involved in a quarrel with the bishop that resided there, which led him at length to leave Ostia abruptly and to refuse to go to Rome. The course of the quarrel was the bishops asking him to pay some money that he owed the pope. In all the Catholic countries of Europe in those days, there were certain taxes and fees that were collected for the pope, the income from which was of great importance in making up the paper revenues. Now Richard, in his eagerness to secure all the money he could obtain in England to supply his wands for the crusade, had appropriated to his own use certain of these church funds, and the bishop now called upon him to reimburse them. This application, as might have been expected, made Richard extremely angry. He assailed the bishop with the most violent and abusive language, and charged all sorts of corruption and wickedness against the papal government itself. These charges may have been true, but the occasion of being called upon to be a debt was not a proper time for making them. To make the faults or misconduct of others, whether real or pretend it, an excuse for not rendering them that just dues, is a very base proceeding. As soon as Richard's galley was repaired, he embarked on board of it in a rage, and sailed away. The next point at which he landed was Naples. Richard was greatly delighted with the city of Naples, which, rising as it does from the shores of an enchanting bay, and near the base of the volcano of Zuvius, has long been celebrated for the romantic beauty of its situation. Richard remained at Naples several days. There is an account of his going while there, to perform his devotions in the crypt of a church. The crypt is a subterranean apartment beneath the church, the floors above it, as well as pillars and walls of the church, being supported by immense piers and arches, which would give the crypt the appearance of a dungeon. To place is commonly used for tombs and places of supple-ture for the dead. In a crypt where Richard worshipped at Naples, the dead bodies were arranged in niches all around the walls. They were dressed as they had been when alive, and the countenances, dry and shriveled, were exposed to view, presenting a ghastly and horrid spectacle. It was such means as these that were resorted to in the Middle Ages for making religious impressions on the minds of men. After spending some days in Naples, Richard concluded that he would continue his route, but instead of embarking at once on board his galley, he determined to go across the mountains by land to Salerno, which town lies on the sea coast at some distance south of Naples. When looking at any map of Italy, you will observe that a great promontory puts out into the sea just below Naples, forming the Gulf of Salerno on the south side of it. The paths through the mountains which Richard followed led across the neck of this promontory. His galley, together with the other galleys that accompanied him, he sent round by water. There was a great deal to interest him at Salerno, for it was a place where many parties of crusaders, Normans among the rest, had landed before, and they had built churches and monasteries, and founded institutions of learning there, all of which Richard was much interested in visiting. He accordingly remained in Salerno several days, until at length his fleet of galleys, which had come round from Naples by sea, arrived. Richard, however, in the meantime, had found travelling by land so agreeable that he concluded to continue his journey in that way, leaving his fleet to sail down the coast, keeping all the time as near as possible to the shore. The king himself rode on upon the land, accompanied by a very small troop of attendants. His way let him sometimes among the mountains of the interior, and sometimes near the margin of the shore. At some point, where the road approached so near to the cliffs as to afford a good view of the sea, the fleet of galleys were to be seen in the offing, prosperously pursuing their voyage. The king went on in this way till he reached Calabria, which is the country situated in the southern portion of Italy. The roads here were very bad, and as the autumn was now coming on, many of the streams became so swollen with rains that it was difficult sometimes for him to proceed on his way. At one time, while he was thus journeying, he became involved in a difficulty with a party of peasants, which was extremely discreditable to him, and exhibits his character in a very unfavourable light. It seems that he was travelling by an obscure country road, in company with only a single attendant, when he happened to pass by a village where he was told a peasant lived who had a very fine hunting-hawk, or falcon. Hunting by means of these hawks was a common amusement of the knights and nobles of those days, and Richard, when he heard about this hawk, said that the plain countrymen had no business with such a bird. He declared that he would go to his house and take it away from him. This act, the characteristic of the despotic arrogance which marked Richard's character, shows that Rector's ferocity for which he was so renowned, was not softened or alleviated by any true and genuine nobleness or generosity. For a rich and powerful king, thus to rob a poor, helpless peasant, and on such a pretext, too, was as basic deed as we can well conceive a royal personage to perform. Richard at once proceeded to carry his design into execution. He went into the peasant's house, and, having under some pretext or other got possession of the falcon, he began to ride away with a bird on his wrist. The peasant called out to him to give him back his bird. Richard paid no attention to him, but rode on. The peasant had then called for help, and other villagers joining him, they followed the king, each one having seized in the meantime such weapons as came most readily to hand. They surrounded the king in order to take the falcon away, while he attempted to be them off with his sword. Pretty soon he broke his sword by a blow which he struck at one of the peasant's, and then he was in a great measure defenseless. His only safety now was in flight. He contrived to force his way through the circle that surrounded him, and began to gallop away, followed by his attendant. At length he succeeded in reaching a priory, where he was received and protected from father danger, having in the meantime given up the falcon. When the excitement had subsided, he resumed his journey, and at length, without father adventures, reached the coast at the point nearest to Sicily. Here he passed the night in a tent, which he pitched upon the rocks on the shore, waiting for arrangements to be made on the next day for his public entrance into the harbor of Messina, which lay just opposite to him, across a narrow strait that here separates the island of Sicily from the mainland. End of Chapter 7 Recording by Ernst Patinama, Amsterdam, the Netherlands CHAPTER VIII CHAPTER V Although Richard came down to the Italian shore, opposite to Messina, almost unattended and alone, and under circumstances so ignoble, fugitive as he was from a party of peasants whom he had incensed by an act of petty robbery. He yet made his entry at last into the town itself with a great display of pomp and parade. He remained on the Italian side of the strait after he arrived on the shore until he had sent over to Messina and informed the officers of his fleet, which by the way had already arrived there, that he had come. The whole fleet immediately got ready and came over to the Italian side to take Richard on board and escort him over. Richard entered the harbor with his fleet as if he were a conqueror returning home. The ships and galleys were all fully manned and gaily decorated, and Richard arranged such a number of musicians on the decks of them to blow trumpets and horns as the fleet sailed along the shores, and entered the harbor that the air was filled with the echoes of them, and the whole country was called out by the sound. The Sicilians were quite alarmed to see so formidable a host of foreign soldiers coming among them, and even their allies, the French, were not pleased. Philip began to be jealous of Richard's superior power, and to be alarmed at his assuming and arrogant demeanor. Philip had arrived in Messina some time before this, but his fleet, which was originally an inferior one, having consisted of such vessels only, as he could hire at Genoa, had been greatly injured by storms during the passage, so that he had reached Messina in a very crippled condition. And now to see Richard coming in, apparently so much his superior, and with so evident a disposition to make a parade of his superiority, made him anxious and uneasy. The same feeling manifested itself, too, among his troops, and this to such a degree as to threaten to break out into open quarrels between the soldiers of the two armies. It will never answer, thought Philip, for us both to remain long at Messina, so I will set out again myself as soon as I possibly can. Indeed, there was another very decisive reason for Philip soon continuing his voyage, and that was the necessity of diminishing the number of soldiers now at Messina on account of the difficulty of finding sustenance for them all. Philip accordingly made all haste to refit his fleet and to sail away, but he was again unfortunate. He encountered another storm, and was obliged to put back again, and before he could be ready a second time the winter set in, and he was obliged to give up all hope of leaving Sicily until the spring. The two kings had foreseen this difficulty, and had earnestly endeavored to avoid it by making all their arrangements in the first instance for setting out from England and France in March, which was the earliest possible season for navigating the Mediterranean safely with such vessels as they had in those days. But this plan the reader will recollect had been frustrated by the death of Philip's queen, and the delays attendant upon that event, as well as other delays arising from other causes, and it was past mid-summer before the expedition was ready to take its departure. The kings had still hoped to have reached the Holy Land before winter, but now they found themselves stopped on the way, and Philip, with many misgivings in respect to the result, prepared to make the best arrangements that he could for putting his men into winter quarters. Richard did, in the end, become involved in difficulties with Philip and with the French troops, but the most serious affair which occupied his attention was a very extraordinary quarrel which he instigated between himself and the king of the country. The name of this king was Tancred. The kingdom of Sicily in those days included not merely the island of Sicily, but also nearly all the southern part of Italy, all that part, namely, which forms the foot and ankle of Italy, as seen upon the map. It has already been said that Richard's sister Joanna, some years ago, married the king of this country. The name of the king whom Joanna married was William, and he was now dead. Tancred was his successor, though not the regular and rightful heir. In order that the reader may understand the nature of the quarrel which broke out between Tancred and Richard, it is necessary to explain how it happened that Tancred succeeded to the throne. If William, Joanna's husband, had had a son, he would have been the rightful successor. But William had no children, and some time before his death he gave up all expectation of ever having any, so he began to look around and consider who should be his heir. He fixed his mind upon a lady, the Princess Constance, who was his cousin and his nearest relative. She would have been the heir had it not been that the usages of the realm did not allow a woman to reign. There was another relative of William, a young man named Tancred. For some reasons William was very unwilling that Tancred should succeed him. He knew, however, that the people would be extremely averse to receive Constance as their sovereign instead of Tancred, on account of her being a woman. But he thought that he might obviate this objection in some degree by arranging a marriage for her with some powerful prince. As he finally succeeded in doing, the prince whom he chose was the son of the Emperor of Germany. His name was Henry. Constance was married to him, and after her marriage she left Sicily and went home with her husband. William then assembled all his barons and made them take an oath of allegiance to Constance and Henry as rightful sovereigns after his decease. Supposing everything to be thus amicably arranged he settled himself quietly in his capital, the city of Palermo, intending to live there in peace with his wife for the remainder of his days. When he married Joanna, he had given her, for her dour, a large territory of rich estates in Italy. These estates were all together and comprised what is called the promontory of Mont Gargono. You will see this promontory represented on any map of Italy by a small projection on the hill, or rather a little way above the hill of the foot on the eastern side of the peninsula. It is nearly opposite to Naples. This territory was large and contained, besides a number of valuable landed estates, several castles with lakes and forests adjoining. Also two monasteries with their pastures, woods and vineyards, and several beautiful lakes. These estates, and all the income from them, were secured to Joanna forever. Not very long after William had completed his arrangements for the succession, he died unexpectedly, while Constance was away from the kingdom at home with her husband. Immediately a great number of competitors started up and claimed the crown. Among them was Tancred. Tancred took the field, and after a desperate contest with his rivals, at length carried the day. He considered Joanna, the queen dowager, as his enemy, and either confiscated her estates or allowed others to seize them. He then took her with him to Palermo, where, as Richard was led to believe, he kept her a prisoner. All these things happened a few months only before Richard arrived in Messina. Palermo, as you will see from any map of Sicily, lies near the northwest corner of Sicily, and Messina near the northeast. In consequence of these occurrences, it happened that when Richard landed in Sicily he found his sister, the wife of the former king of the country, a widow and a prisoner, and her estates confiscated, while a person whom he considered a usurper was on the throne. A better state of things to furnish him with a pretext for aggressions on the country, or the people he could not possibly have desired. As soon as he had landed his troops he formed a great encampment for them on the seashore, outside the town. The place of the encampment was bordered at one extremity by the suburbs of the town, and at the other extremity was a monastery built on a height. As soon as Richard had established himself here he sent a delegation to Tancred at Palermo, demanding that he should release Joanna and send her to him. Richard denied that Joanna had been imprisoned at all, and, at any rate, he immediately acceded to her brother's demand that she should be sent to him. He placed her on board one of his own royal galleys, and caused her to be conveyed in it with a very honorable escort to Messina, and there delivered up to Richard's care. In respect to the dower which Richard had demanded that he should restore, Tancred commenced giving some explanations in regard to it, but Richard was too impatient to listen to them. We will not wait, said he to his sister, to hear any talking on the subject. We will go and take possession of the territory ourselves. So he embarked a part of his army on board some ships and transported them across the straits, and landing on the Italian shore he seized a castle and a portion of territory surrounding it. He put a strong garrison in the castle, and gave the command of it to Joanna, while he went back to Messina to strengthen the position of the remainder of his army there. He thought that the monastery which flanked his encampment on the side farthest from the town would make a good fortress if he had possession of it, and that, if well fortified, it would strengthen very much the defenses of his encampment in case Tancred should attempt to molest him. So he at once took possession of it. He turned the monks out of doors, removed all the sacred implements and emblems, and turned the buildings into a fortress. He put in a garrison of soldiers to guard it, and filled the rooms which the monks had been accustomed to use for their studies and their prayers, with stores of arms and ammunition brought in from the ships, and with other apparatus of war. His object was to be ready to meet Tancred, at a moment's warning, if he should attempt to attack him. Soon after this a very serious difficulty broke out between the soldiers of the army and the people of Messina. There is almost always difficulty between the soldiers of an army and the people of any town near which the army is encamped. The soldiers, brutal in their passions, and standing in awe of none but their own officers, are often exceedingly violent and unjust in their demeanor toward unarmed and helpless citizens. And the citizens, though they usually endure very long and very patiently, sometimes become aroused to resentment and retaliation at last. In this case, parties of Richard soldiers went into Messina, and behaved so outrageously toward the inhabitants, and especially toward the young women, that the indignation of the husbands and fathers was excited to the highest degree. The soldiers were attacked in the streets. Several of them were killed. The rest fled, and were pursued by the crowd of citizens to the gates. Those that escaped went to the camp, breathless with excitement and burning with rage, and called upon all their fellow soldiers to join them and revenge their wrongs. A great riot was created, and bans of furious men hastily collected together, advanced toward the city, brandishing their arms and uttering furious cries, determined to break through the gates and kill everybody that they could find. Richard heard of the danger just in time to mount his horse and ride to the gates of the city, and there to head off the soldiers and drive them back. But they were so furious that for a time they would not hear him, but still pressed on. He was obliged to ride in among them, and actually beat them back with his truncheon. Before he could compel them to give up their design. The next day a meeting of the chief officers in the two armies, with the chief magistrates and some of the principal citizens of Messina, was held to consider what to do to settle this dispute, and to prevent future outbreaks of this character. But the state of excitement between the two parties was too great to be settled yet in any amicable manner. While the conference was proceeding a great crowd of people from the town collected on a rising ground just above the place where the conference was sitting. They said they only came as spectators. Richard alleged, on the other hand, that they were preparing to attack the conference. At any rate they were excited and angry and assumed a very threatening attitude. Some Normans who approached them got into an altercation with them, and at length one of the Normans was killed, and the rest cried out, to arms. The conference broke up in confusion. Richard rushed to the camp and called out his men. He was in a state of fury. Philip did all in his power to allay the storm and to prevent a combat, and when he found that Richard would not listen to him he declared that he had a great mind to join with the Sicilians and fight him. This however he did not do, but contended himself with doing all he could to calm the excitement of his angry ally. But Richard was not to be controlled. He rushed on at the head of his troops, up the hill to the ground where the Sicilians were assembled. He attacked them furiously. They were to some extent armed, but they were not organized, and of course they could not stand against the charge of the soldiers. They fled in confusion toward the city. Richard and his troops followed them, killing as many of them as they could in the pursuit. The Sicilians crowded into the city and shut the gates. Of course the whole town was now alarmed, and all the people that could fight were marshaled on the walls at the gates to defend themselves. Richard retired for a brief period till he could bring on a larger force, and then made a grand attack on the walls. Several of his officers and soldiers were killed by darts and arrows from the battlements. But at length the walls were taken by storm, the gates were opened, and Richard marched in at the head of the troops. When the people were entirely subdued, Richard hung out his flag on a high tower, in token that he had taken full and formal possession of Tancred's capital. Philip remonstrated against this very strongly, but Richard declared that now that he had got possession of Messina he would keep possession until Tancred came to terms with him in respect to his sister Joanna. Philip insisted that he should not do this, but threatened to break off the alliance unless Richard would give up the town. Finally the matter was compromised, by Richard agreeing that he would take down the flag and withdraw from the town himself, and for the present put it under the government of certain knights that he and Philip should jointly appoint for this purpose. After the excitement of this affair had a little subsided, Richard and Philip began to consider how unwise it was for them to quarrel with each other, engaged as they were together in an enterprise of such magnitude and of so much hazard, and one in which it was impossible for them to hope to succeed, unless they continued united, and so they became reconciled, or at least pretended to be so, and made new vows of eternal friendship and brotherhood. Still notwithstanding these protestations Richard went on lording it over the Sicilians in the most high-handed manner. Some nobles of high rank were so indignant at these proceedings that they left the town. Richard immediately confiscated their estates and converted the proceeds to his own use. He proceeded to fortify his encampment more and more. The monastery which he had forcibly taken from the monks he turned into a complete castle. He made battlements on the walls and surrounded the whole with a moat. He also built another castle on the hills commanding the town. He acted in a word, in all respects as if he considered himself master of the country. He did not consult Philip at all in respect to any of these proceedings, and he paid no attention to the remonstrances that Philip from time to time addressed to him. Philip was exceedingly angry, but he did not see what he could do. Tancred too began to be very much alarmed. He wished to know of Richard what it was that he demanded in respect to Joanna. Richard said he would consider and let him know. In a short time he made known his terms as follows. He said that Tancred must restore to his sister all the territories which, as he alleged, had belonged to her, and also give her a golden chair, a golden table twelve feet long, and a foot and a half broad, two golden supports for the same, four silver cups, and four silver dishes. He pretended that, by a custom of the realm, she was entitled to these things. He also demanded for himself a very large contribution toward the armament and equipment for the crusade. It seems that at one period during the lifetime of William, Joanna's husband, her father, King Henry of England, was planning a crusade, and that William, by a will which he had made at that time, so at least Richard maintained, had bequeathed a large contribution toward the necessary means for fitting it out. The items were these. One. Sixty thousand measures of wheat. Two. The same quantity of barley. Three. A fleet of a thousand armed galleys equipped and provisioned for two years. Four. The silk intent large enough to accommodate two hundred nights sitting at a banquet. These particulars show on how great a scale these military expeditions for conquering the Holy Land were conducted in those days. The above list being only a complementary contribution to one of them by a friend of the leader of it. Richard now maintained that his father, Henry, had died without going on the crusade. Still he himself was going, and that he, being the son, and consequently the representative and heir of Henry, was as such entitled to receive the bequest, so he called upon Tancred to pay it. After much negotiation the dispute was settled by Richard's waving these claims, and arranging the matter on a new and different basis. He had a nephew named Arthur. Arthur was yet very young, being only about two years old, and as Richard had no children of his own Arthur was his presumptive heir. Tancred had a daughter, yet an infant. Now it was finally proposed that Arthur and this young daughter of Tancred should be affianced, and that Tancred should pay to Richard twenty thousand pieces of gold as her dowry. Richard was, of course, to take this money as the guardian and trustee of his nephew. And he was to engage that, if any thing should occur hereafter to prevent the marriage from taking place, he would refund the money. Tancred was also to pay Richard twenty thousand pieces of gold besides, in full settlement of all claims, in behalf of Joanna. These terms were finally agreed to on both sides. Richard also entered into a league, offensive and defensive, with Tancred, agreeing to assist him in maintaining his position as King of Sicily against all his enemies. This is a very important circumstance to be remembered. For the chief of Tancred's enemies was the Emperor Henry of Germany, the prince who had married Constance, as has been already related. Henry's father had died, and he had become Emperor of Germany himself, and he now claimed Sicily as the inheritance of Constance, his wife, according to the will of King William, Joanna's husband. Tancred, he maintained, was a usurper, and of course, now Richard, by his league, offensive and defensive, with Tancred, made himself Henry's enemy. This led him into serious difficulty with Henry at a subsequent period, as we shall by and by see. The treaty between Richard and Tancred was drawn up in due form and duly executed, and it was sent for safekeeping to Rome, and there deposited with the Pope. Tancred paid Richard the money, and he immediately began to squander it in the most lavish and extravagant manner. He expended the infant princess's dower, which he held in trust for Arthur, as freely as he did the other money. Indeed, this was a very common way in those days for great kings to raise money. If they had had a young son or heir, no matter how young he was, they would contract to give him a marriage to the little daughter of some other potentate on condition of receiving some town, or castle, or province, or large sum of money as dower. The ideal was, of course, that they were to take this dower in charge for the young prince, to keep it for him until he should become old enough to be actually married, but in reality they would take possession of the property themselves and convert it at once to their own use. Richard himself had been affianced in this way in his infancy to Alice, the daughter of the then reigning king of France and the sister of Philip, and his father, King Henry II, had received and appropriated the dowry. Indeed in this case both the sums of money that Richard received from Tancred were paid to Richard in trust, or at least ought to have been so regarded, the one amount being for Arthur and the other for Joanna. Richard himself, in his own name, had no claims on Tancred whatever, but as soon as the money came into his hands he began to expend it in the most profuse and lavish manner. He adopted a very extravagant and ostentatious style of living. He made costly presents to the barons and knights and officers of the armies, including the French army as well as his own, and gave them most magnificent entertainments. Philip thought that he did this to secure popularity, and that the presents which he made to the French knights and nobles were designed to entice them away from their allegiance and fidelity to him, their lawful sovereign. At Christmas he gave a splendid entertainment, to which he invited every person of the rank of a knight or a gentleman in both armies, and at the close of the feast he made a donation in money to each of the guests, the sum being different in different cases according to the rank and station of the person who received it. The king, having thus at last settled his quarrels and established himself in something like peace in Sicily, began to turn his attention toward the preparations for the spring. Of course his intention was, as soon as the spring should open, to set sail with his fleet and army, and proceed toward the Holy Land. He now caused all his ships to be examined with a view to ascertain what repairs they needed. Some had been injured by the storms which they had encountered on the way from Marseille, or by accidents up the sea. Others had become worm-eaten and leaky by lying in port. Richard caused them all to be put thoroughly in repair. He also caused a number of battering engines to be constructed of timber, which his men hauled from the forest around the base of Mount Etna. These engines were for assailing the walls of the towns and fortresses in the Holy Land. In modern times walls are always attacked with mortars and cannon. The ordinance of the present day will throw shot and shells of prodigious weight two or three miles, and these tremendous missiles strike against the walls of a fortress with such force as in a short time to batter them down, no matter how strong and thick they may be. But in those days gunpowder was not in use, and the principal means of breaking down a wall was by the battering ram, which consisted of a heavy beam of wood, hung by a rope or chain from a massive frame, and then swung against the gate or wall which it was intended to break through. In the engraving you see such a ram suspended from the frame, with men at work below, impelling it against a gateway. Sometimes these battering rams were very large and heavy, and the men drew them back and forth in striking the wall with them by means of ropes. There are accounts of some battering rams which weighed forty or fifty tons, and required fifteen hundred men to work them. The men, of course, were very much exposed while engaged in this operation, for the people whom they were besieging would gather on the walls above and shoot spears, darts, and arrows at them, and throw down stones and other missiles, as you see in the engraving. Then, besides the battering ram, though very efficient against walls, was of no service against men. There were other engines made in those days which were designed to throw stones or monstrous darts. These last were, of course, designed to operate against bodies of men. They were made in various forms, and were called catapults, ballastas, magnals, and by other such names. The force with which they operated consisted of springs made by elastic bars of wood, twisted ropes, and other such contrivances. Some were for throwing stones, others for monstrous darts. Of course, these engines required for their construction heavy frames of sound timber. Richard did not expect to find such timber in the Holy Land, nor did he wish to consume the time after he should arrive in making them. So he employed the winter in constructing a great number of these engines, and in packing them in parts on board his galleys. Richard performed a great religious ceremony, too, while he was at Sicily this winter, as a part of the preparation which he deemed it necessary to make for the campaign. It is a remarkable fact that every great military freebooter that has organized an armed gang of men to go forth and rob and murder his fellow men in any age of the world has considered some great religious performance necessary at the outset of the work to prepare the minds of his soldiers for it and to give them the necessary resolution and confidence in it. It was so with Alexander. It was so with Xarxes and with Darius. It was so with Pyrrhus. It is so substantially at the present day when in all wars each side makes itself the champion of heaven in the contest, and causes to deems to be chanted in their respective churches, now on this side and now on that, in pretended gratitude to God for their alternate victories. Richard caught a grand convention of all the prelates and monks that were with his army and performed a solemn act of worship. A part of the performance consisted of his kneeling personally before the priests, confessing his sins and the wicked life that he had led, and making very fervent promises to sin no more, and then, after submitting to the penances which they enjoined upon him, receiving from them pardon and absolution. After the enactment of this solemnity, the soldiers felt far more safe and strong in going forth to the work which lay before them in the Holy Land than before. Nor is it certain that in this act Richard was wholly hypocritical and insincere. The human heart is a mansion of many chambers and a religious sentiment and in no small degree conscientious and honest, though hollow and mistaken may have strong possession of some of them, while others are filled to overflowing with the dear and besetting sins, whatever they are, by which the general conduct of the man is controlled. End of Chapter 8. While Richard was in the kingdom of Sicily during this memorable winter, he made a new contract of marriage. The lady was a Spanish princess named Barangaria. The circumstances of this betrothment were somewhat extraordinary. The reader will recollect that he had been betrothed in his earliest youth to Alice, an infant princess of France. His father had thrown him in, as it were, as sort of a make-weight in arranging some compromise with the king of France for the settlement of a quarrel, and also to obtain the dour of the young princess for his own use. This dour consisted of various castles and estates which were immediately put into the hands of Henry, Richard's father, and which he continued to hold as long as he lived, using and enjoying the rents and revenues from them as his own property. When Richard grew old enough to claim his bride, Henry, under whose custody and charge she had been placed, would not give her up to him, and long and serious quarrels arose between the father and the son on this account, as has already been related in this volume. The most obvious reason for which Henry might be supposed unwilling to give up Alice to her offence husband when he became old enough to be married to her was that he wished to retain longer the use of the castles and estates that constituted her dowry. And in addition to this, it was surmised by many that he had actually fallen in love with her himself, and that he was determined that Richard should not have her at all. Richard himself believed, or pretended to believe, that this was the case. He was consequently very angry, and he justified himself in the wars and rebellions that he raised against his father during the lifetime of the king by this great wrong which he alleged that his father had done him. On the other hand, many persons supposed that Richard did not really wish to marry Alice, and that he only made the fact of his father's withholding her from him a pretext for his unnatural hostility, the real ends and aims of which were objects altogether different. However, this may be when Henry died, and there was no longer anything in the way of his marriage, he showed no desire to consummate it. Alice's father, too, had died, and Philip, the present king of France and Richard's ally, was her brother. Philip called upon Richard from time to time to complete the marriage, but Richard found various pretexts for postponing it, and thus the matter stood when the expedition for the Holy Land set sail from Marseille. The next reason why Richard did not now wish to carry his marriage with Alice into effect was that, in the meantime, while his father had been withholding Alice from him, he had seen and fallen in love with another lady, the Princess Beringaria. Richard first saw Beringaria several years before, at a time when he was with his mother in Aquitaine, during the life of his father. The first time that he saw her was at a grand tournament, which was celebrated in her native city in Spain, and which Richard went to attend. The families had been well acquainted with each other before, though until a tournament Richard had never seen Beringaria. Richard had, however, known one of her brothers from his boyhood, and they had always been very good friends. The father of Beringaria, too, Sancho the Wise, king of Navarre, had always been a warm friend of Eleonora, Richard's mother, and in the course of the difficulties and quarrels that took place between her and her husband, as related in the early chapters of this volume, he had rendered her very valuable services. Still, Richard never saw Beringaria until she had grown up to womanhood. He, however, felt a strong desire to see her, for she was quite celebrated for her beauty and her accomplishments. The accomplishments in which she excelled were chiefly music and poetry. Richard himself was greatly interested in these arts, especially in the songs of the troubadours, whose performances always formed a very important part of the entertainment at the feasts and tournaments, and other great public celebrations of those days. When Richard came to see Beringaria, he fell deeply in love with her, but he could not seek her hand in marriage on account of his engagement with Alice. To have given up Alice, and to have entered instead into an engagement with her, would have involved both him and his mother, and all the family of Beringaria, too, in a fierce quarrel with the king of France, the father of Alice, and also with his own father. These were two serious consequences for him to brave while he was still only a prince, and nominally under his father's authority. So he did nothing openly, though a strong secret attachment sprang up between him and Beringaria, and all desire ever to make Alice his wife gradually disappeared. At length, when his father died, and Richard became king of England, he felt at once that the power was now in his own hands, and that he would do as he liked in respect to his marriage. Alice's father, too, had died, and her brother Philip was now king, and he was not likely to feel so strong an interest in resenting any supposed light to his sister as her father would have been. Richard determined, therefore, to give up Alice altogether and asked Beringaria to be his wife. So while he was engaged in England in making his preparations for the crusade, and when he was nearly ready to set out, he sent his mother, Eleonora, to Navarre to ask Beringaria in marriage of her father, King Sancho. He did not, however, give Philip any notice of this change in his plans, not wishing to embarrass the alliance that he and Philip were forming with any unnecessary difficulties which might interfere with the success of it, and retard the preparations for the crusade. So, while his mother had gone to Spain to secure Beringaria for him as his wife, he himself, in England and Normandy, went on with his preparations for the crusade, in connection with Philip just as if the original engagement with Alice was going regularly on. Eleonora was very successful in her mission. Beringaria's father was very much pleased with so magnificent an offer as that of the hand of Richard, Duke of Normandy, and King of England for his daughter. Beringaria herself made no objection. Eleonora said that her son had not been able to come himself and claim his bride on account of the necessity that he was under of accompanying his army to the east. But she said that he would stop at Messina, and she proposed that Beringaria should put herself under her protection and go and join him there. Beringaria was a lady of an ardent and romantic temperament, and nothing could please her better than such a proposal as this. She very readily acceded to it, and her father was very willing to entrust her to the charge of Eleonora. So the two ladies, with the proper train of barons, knights, and other attendants, set out together. They crossed the Pyrenees into France, and then after transversing France they passed over the Alps into Italy. Thence they continued their journey down the Italian coast by land, as Richard had done by water, until at last they arrived at a place called Brindisi, which is on the coast of Italy, not far from Messina. Here they halted and sent word to Richard to inform him of their arrival. Eleonora thought that Beringaria could not go any farther with propriety, for her engagement with Richard was not yet made public. Indeed, the betrothal of Richard with Alice still remained nominally in force, and Assyria's difficulty was to be apprehended with Philip so soon as the new plans which Richard had formed should be announced to him. Eleonora said that she could not remain long in Italy, but must return to Normandy very soon, without waiting for Richard to prepare the way for receiving his bride. So she left Beringaria under the charge of Joanna, who, being on her own, that is Eleonora's daughter, was a very proper person to be the young lady's protector. Joanna and Beringaria immediately conceived a strong attachment for each other, and they lived together in a very happy manner. Joanna was glad to have her companion so charming a young lady, and one of so high a rank. And Beringaria, on the other hand, was much pleased to be placed under the charge of so kind a protector. Joanna, too, having long lived in Sicily, could give Beringaria a great deal of interesting intelligence about the country and the people, and could answer all the thousand questions which she asked about, what she heard and saw in the new world, as it were, into which she had been ushered. The two ladies lived, of course, in very close occlusion, but they lived so lovingly together that one of the writers of the day, in a ballad that he wrote, compared them to two birds in a cage, speaking of Eleonora, he says, in the quaint old English of the day. She be left Beringer at Richer's Costage. Queen Joanne held her dear. They lived as doves in a cage. The arrival of Beringaria at Brindisi took place in the spring of the year, when the time was drawing nigh for the fleets and armaments to sail for the east. As yet, Philip knew nothing of Richard's plans in respect to this new marriage, but the time had now arrived when Richard perceived that they could no longer be concealed. Philip entertained suspicions that something wrong was going on, though he did not know exactly what. His suspicions made him watchful and jealous, and at last they led to a curious train of circumstances which brought matters to a crisis very suddenly. It seems that at one time, when Richard was paying a visit to Tancred, the king of Sicily, Tancred showed him a letter which he said he had received from the French king. In this letter, Philip, if indeed Philip really wrote it, endeavored to excite Tancred's enmity against Richard. It was just after the treaty between Tancred and Richard had been formed as related in the last chapter. The letter said that Richard was a treacherous man, in whom no reliance could be placed, that he had no intention of keeping the treaty that he had made, but was laying a scheme for attacking Tancred in his Sicilian dominions, and finally it closed with an offer on the part of the writer to assist Tancred in driving Richard and all his followers out of the island. THE LETTER When Richard read this letter, he was at first in a dreadful rage, and he broke out into an explosion of the most violent, profane, and passionate language that can be conceived. Presently, he looked at the letter again, and on re-perusing it, and carefully considering its contents, he declared that he did not believe that Philip ever wrote it. It was a stratagem of Tancred's, he thought, designed to promote the quarrel between Richard and his ally. Tancred assured him that Philip did write the letter, or at least, that it was brought to him as from Philip by the Duke of Burgundy, one of his principal officers. You may ask the Duke of Burgundy, said he, and if he denies it I will challenge him to a duel through one of my barons. It was necessary that the parties to a duel in those days should be of equal rank, so that if a king had a quarrel with a nobleman of another nation, he could only send one of his own nobleman of the same rank to be his representative in the combat. But this proposal of sending another man to risk his life in maintaining the cause of his king on a question of veracity, in which the person so sent had no interest whatever, illustrates very curiously the ideas of those chivalrous times. Richard did not go to the Duke of Burgundy, but taking the letter which Tancred had shown him, he waited until he found a good opportunity and then showed it to Philip. The two kings often fell into altercations and disputes in their interviews with each other, and it was in one of these that Richard produced the letter, offering it by way of recrimination, to some charges or accusations which Philip was making against him. Philip denied having written the letter. It was a forgery, he said, and he believed that Richard himself was the author of it. You are trying every way you can, said he, to find pretext for quarreling with me. And this is one of your devices. I know what you are aiming at. You wish to quarrel with me, so as to find some excuse for breaking off your marriage with my sister, whom you are bound by a most solemn oath to marry. But of this you may be sure, that if you abandon her and take any other wife, you will find me, as long as you live, your most determined and mortal enemy. This declaration aroused Richard's temper and brought the affair at once to a crisis. Richard declared to Philip that he would never marry his sister. My father, said he, kept her from me for many years because he loved her himself. And she returned his love, and now I will never have anything to do with her. I am ready to prove to you the truth of what I say. So Richard brought forward what he called the proofs of the very intimate relations which had subsisted between Alice and his father. Whether there was anything genuine or conclusive in these proofs is not known. At all events they made a very deep and painful impression on Philip. The disclosure was, as one of the writers of those times says, like a nail driven directly through his heart. After a while the two kings concluded to settle the difficulty by a sort of compromise. Philip agreed to give up all claims on the part of Alice to Richard in consideration of a sum of money which Richard was to pay. Richard was to pay two thousand marks a year for five years and was on that condition to be allowed to marry anyone he chose. He was also to restore to Philip the fortresses and estates which had been conveyed to his father as Alice's dowry at the time of her betrothment to Richard in her infancy. Disagreement, being thus made, was confirmed by a great perfusion of oaths sworn with all solemnity, and the affair was considered as settled. Still, Richard seems to have been a little disinclined to bring out Baron Garia at once from her retreat and let Philip know suddenly how far his arrangements for marrying another lady had gone. So he concluded to wait before publicly announcing his intended marriage until Philip should have sailed for the east. Philip was now, indeed, nearly ready to go. His fleet and his armament, being smaller than Richard's, could be dispatched earlier. So Richard devoted himself, very earnestly, to the work of facilitating and hastening his ally's departure, determining that immediately afterward he would bring forward his bride and celebrate his marriage. It is not, however, certain that he kept his intended marriage with Baron Garia an absolute secret from Philip. There would be no longer any special necessity for this after the treaty that had been made. But notwithstanding this agreement, it is not to be supposed that the new marriage would be a very agreeable subject for Philip to contemplate, or that it would be otherwise than very awkward for him to be present on the occasion of the celebration of it. So Richard decided that, on all accounts, it was best to postpone the ceremony until after Philip had gone. Philip sailed at the very last of March. Richard selected from his fleet a few of his most splendid galleys, and with these, filled with a chosen company of knights and barons, he accompanied Philip, as he left the harbor, and sailed with him down the straits of Messina with trumpet-sounding and flags and banners waving in the air. As soon as Philip's fleet reached the open sea, Richard took leave and set out with his galleys on his return. But instead of going back to Messina, he made the best of his way to the port in Italy, where Beringaria and Joanna were lodging, and there took the ladies, who were already expecting him, and embarking them on board a very elegantly adorned galley which he had prepared for them, he conducted them to Messina. Richard would now probably have been immediately married, but it was in the season of Lent, and according to the ideas of those times, it would be in some sense a desecration of that holy season of fasting to celebrate any such joyous ceremony as a wedding in it, and it would not do very well to postpone the sailing of the fleet until after the season of Lent should have expired, for the time had already fully arrived when it ought to sail, and Philip, with his division of the Allied force, had already gone, so he concluded to put off his marriage till they should reach the next place at which the expedition should land. Beringaria consented to this, and it was arranged that she was to accompany the expedition when it should sail, and that at the next place of landing which it was expected would be the island of Rhodes the marriage ceremony should be performed. As it was not considered quite proper, however, under these circumstances, that the princes should sail in the same ship with Richard, a very strong and excellent ship was provided for her special use, and that of Joanna, who was to accompany her, and it was arranged that she should sail from the port just before the main body of the fleet were ready to commence the voyage. The ship in which the ladies and their suite were conveyed was placed under the command of a brave and faithful knight named Stephen of Turnham, and the two princesses were committed to his special charge, but although Richard's regard for the sacred season of Lent would not allow his celebrating the marriage, he made a grand celebration in honor of his betrothal to Beringaria before he sailed. At this celebration he instituted an order of twenty-four nights. These nights bound themselves in a fraternity with the king, and took a solemn oath that they would scale the walls of Acre when they reached the Holy Land. Acre was one of the strongest and most important fortresses in that country, and one which they were intending first to attack. Also before he went away Richard made King Tancred a farewell present of a very valuable antique sword which had been found, he said, by his father in the tomb of a famous old English knight who had lived some centuries before. End of Chapter 9 Recording by Alanna Jordan in St. Louis, Missouri Chapter 10 of Richard I, this is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Alanna Jordan Richard I by Jacob Abbott Chapter 10 The Campaign in Cyprus The time at length fully arrived for the departures of the English fleet from Sicily for the purpose of continuing the voyage to the Holy Land. Besides the delay which had been occasioned to Richard by circumstances connected with his marriage, he had waited also a short time for some storeships to arrive from England with ammunition and supplies. When the storeships at length came, the day for the sailing was immediately appointed. The tents were struck, the encampment abandoned, and the troops embarked on board the ships of the fleet. The Sicilians were all greatly excited as the sailing of the fleet denied with anticipations of the splendor of the spectacle. The harbor was filled with ships of every form and size, and the movements connected with the embarkation of the troops on board of them, the striking of the tents, the packing up of furniture and goods, the hurrying of men to and fro, the crowding at the landings, the rapid transit of boats back and forth between the ships and the shore, and all the other scenes and incidents usually attendant on the embarkation of a great army occupied the attention of the people of the country and filled them with excitement and pleasure. It is highly probable too that their pleasure was increased by the prospect that they were soon to be relieved from the presence of such troublesome and unmanageable visitors. Never was a finer spectacle witnessed than that which was displayed by the sailing of the fleet when the day for the departure of it at length arrived. The squadron consisted of nearly two hundred vessels in all. There were thirteen great ships corresponding to what are called ships of the line of modern times. Then there were over fifty galleys. These were constructed so as to be propelled either by oars or by sails. Of course when the wind was favorable the sails would be used, but in case of calms or of adverse winds blowing off from the land when the vessels were entering port, or of currents drifting them into danger, then the oars could be brought into requisition. In addition to these ships and galleys there were about a hundred vessels used as transports for the conveyance of provisions, stores, tents, and tent equipage ammunition of all kinds, including the frames of the military engines which Richard had caused to be constructed in Sicily and all the other supplies required for the use of a great army. Besides these there were a great many other small vessels which were used as tenders, lighters, and for other purposes making a total number of nearly two hundred. In the order of sailing the transports followed the ships and galleys which were more properly the ships of war and which led the van, in order the better to meet any danger which might appear, and the more effectually to protect the convoy from it. Richard sailed at the head of his fleet in a splendid galley which was appropriated to his special use. The name of it was the sea-cutter. There was a huge lantern hoisted in the stern of Richard's galley in order that the rest of the fleet could see and follow her in the night. The day of sailing was very fine and the spectacle witnessed by the Sicilians on shore who watched the progress of it from every projecting point and headland as it moved majestically out of the harbor was extremely grand. For some time the voyage went on very prosperously but at length the sky gradually became overcast and the wind began to blow and finally a great storm came on before the ships had time to seek any shelter. In those days there was no mariners' compass and of course in a storm when the sun and stars were concealed there was nothing to be done but for the ship to grop her way through the haze and rain for any land which might be near. The violence of the wind and the raging of the sea was in this case so great that the fleet was soon dispersed and the vessels were driven northward and eastward towards certain islands which lie in that part of the Mediterranean off the coasts of Asia Minor. The three principal of these islands as you will see by the opposite map are Candia, Rhodes and Cyprus. Cyprus lying farther toward the east. The ships came very near being wrecked on the coast of Crete but they escaped and were driven onward over the sea until at length a large portion of them found refuge at Rhodes. Others were driven on toward Cyprus. Richard's galley was among those that found refuge at Rhodes but unfortunately the one in which Barangaria and Joanna were born did not succeed in making a port there but was swept onward by the gale and in company with one or two others was driven to the mouth of the harbor of Limassol which is the principal port of Cyprus and is situated on the south side of the island. The galley in which the queen and the princess were embarked being probably of superior construction to the others and better manned succeeded in weathering the point and getting round into the harbor but two or three other galleys which were with them struck and were wrecked. One of these ships was a very important one. It contained the chancellor who bore Richard's great seal. Besides a number of other knights and crusaders of high rank and many valuable goods. The seal was an object of great value. Every king had his own seal which was used to authenticate his public acts. The one which belonged to Richard is represented in the following engraving. As soon as the news of these wrecks spread into the island the people came down in great numbers and took possession of everything of value which was cast upon the shore as property forfeited to the king of the country. The name of this king was Isaac Chemninas. He claimed that all wrecks cast upon his shores were his property, that was the law of the land. It was in fact the law of a great many countries in those days, especially of such as had maritime coasts bordering on navigable waters that were specially exposed to storms. Thus, in seizing the wreck of Richard's vessels, King Isaac had the law on his side and all those who, in their theory of government, hold it as a principle that law is the foundation of property and that what makes the law makes right is right must admit that he had justice on his side too. For my part it seems clear that the right of property is anterior to all law and independent of it. I think that the province of law is not to create property but to protect it and that it may, instead of protecting it, become the greatest violator of it. This law providing for the confiscation of property cast in wrecks upon a shore and its forfeiture to the sovereign of the territory is one of the most striking instances of aggression made by law on the natural and indefeasible rights of man. In regard to the galley which contained the Queens, that having escaped shipwreck, and having safely anchored in the harbor, the King had no protest from molesting it in any way. He learned by some means that Queen Joanna was on board the galley, so he sent two boats down with a messenger to inquire whether her majesty would be pleased to land. Stephen of Turnham, the knight who had command of the Queen's galley, thought it not safe to go on shore, for by doing so Joanna and Beringaria would put themselves entirely in King Isaac's power, and though it was true that Isaac and the people of Cyprus over whom he ruled were Christians, yet they were of the Greek Church, while Richard and the English were Roman, and these two churches were almost as hostile to each other as the Christians and the Turks. Stephen, however, communicated the message from Isaac to Joanna and asked her majesty's pleasure thereupon. She sent back word to the messengers that she did not wish to land. She had only come into the harbor, she said, to see if she could learn any tidings of her brother. She had been separated from him by a great storm at sea, which had broken up and dispersed the fleet, and she wished to know whether anything had been seen of him or any of his vessels from the shores of that island. The messengers replied that they did not know anything about it, and so the boats returned back to the town. Soon after this the company on board, the galley, saw some armed vessels coming down the harbor toward them. They were alarmed at this site, and immediately got everything ready for setting off at a moment's notice to withdraw from the harbor. It turned out that the king himself was on board one of the galleys that was coming down, and this vessel was allowed to come near enough for the king to communicate with the people on board Joanna's galley. After some ordinary questions had been asked and answered, the king, observing that a lady of high rank was standing on the deck with Joanna, asked who it was. They answered it was the princess of Navarre who was going to be married to Richard. The reply which the king made to this intelligence, Stephen of Ternham thought, he saw such indications of hostility that he deemed it most prudent to retire. So the anchor was raised and the order was given to the oarsmen who had already been stationed at their oars to give way, and the oarsmen pulled vigorously at the oars. The galley was immediately taken out into the offing. The king of Cyprus did not pursue her, so she anchored there quietly, the storm having now nearly subsided. Stephen resolved to wait there for a time, hoping that in some way or other he might soon receive intelligence from Richard. Nor was he disappointed. Richard, whose galley, together with the principal portion of the fleet, had been driven farther to the eastward, had found refuge at Rhodes, and he set off as soon as the storm abated in pursuit of the missing vessels. He took with him a sufficient force to render to the vessels if he should find them, such assistance or protection as might be necessary. At length he reached Cyprus, and on entering the bay, there he beheld the galley of Joanna and Barangaria, riding safely at anchor in the offing. The sea had not yet gone down, and the vessel was rolling and tossing on the waves in a fearful manner. Richard was greatly enraged at beholding this spectacle, for he at once inferred, by seeing the vessel in this uncomfortable situation outside the harbor, that some difficulty with the authorities had occurred which prevented her seeking refuge in protection within. Accordingly, as soon as he came near he leaped into a boat, although burdened as he was with heavy armor of steel, which was a difficult and somewhat dangerous operation, and ordered himself to be rode immediately on board. When he arrived, after the first greetings were over, he was informed by Stephen that three of the vessels of his fleet had been wrecked on the coast, that Isaac the King had seized them as his lawful prize, and that, at that very time, men that he had sent for this purpose were plundering the wrecks. Stephen also said that he had at first gone into the harbor with his galley, but that the indications of an unfriendly feeling on the part of the King were so decided that he dared not to stay, and that he had been compelled to come out into the offing. On hearing these things, Richard was greatly enraged. He sent a messenger on shore to the King to demand, preemptorily, that he should at once leave off plundering the wrecks of the English ships, and that he should deliver up to Richard, again, all the goods that had already been taken. To this demand, Isaac replied that whatever goods the sea-cast upon the shores of his island were his property, according to the law of the land, and that he should take them without asking leave of anybody. When Richard heard this answer, he was rather pleased than displeased with it, for it gave him what he always wanted wherever he went, a pretext for quarreling. He said that the goods which Isaac obtained in that way he would find would cost him pretty dear, and he immediately prepared for war. In this transaction there is no question that the King of Cyprus, though wholly wrong and guilty of a real and inexcusable violation of the rights of property, had yet the law on his side. It was one of those cases of which innumerable examples have existed in all ages of the world, where an act which is virtually the robbing of one man by another is authorized by law, and is protected by legal sanctions. This rule, confiscating property wrecked, was the general law of Europe at this time, and Richard, of all men, might have considered himself a stop from objecting to it by the fact that it was the law in England as well as everywhere else. By the ancient common law of England, all wrecks of every kind became the property of the King. The severity of the rule had been slightly mitigated a few reigns before Richard's day by a statute which declared that if any living thing escaped from the wreck, even were it so much as a dog or a cat, that circumstance saved the property from confiscation and preserved the claim of the owner to it. With this modification the law stood in England until a very late period that all goods thrown from wrecks upon the shores became the property of the Crown. And it was not until comparatively quite a recent period that an English judge decided that such a principle, being contrary to justice and common sense, was not law, and now wrecked property is restored to whomsoever can prove himself to be the owner on his paying for the expense and trouble of saving it. Upon receiving the demand which Richard sent him, the King of Cyprus anticipating difficulty drew up his galleys in order of battle across the harbor and marched troops down to commanding positions on the shore wherever he thought there might be any danger that Richard would attempt to land. Richard very soon brought up his forces and advanced to attack him. Isaac's troops retreated as Richard advanced. Apparently they were driven back without much actual contest into the town, and Richard then brought his squadron up into harbor and landed. Isaac, seeing how much stronger Richard was than he, did not attempt any serious resistance, but retired to the citadel. From the citadel he sent out a flag of truce demanding a parley. Richard granted the request, and an interview took place, but it led to no result. Richard found that Isaac was not yet absolutely subdued. He still asserted his rights and complained of the gross wrong which Richard was perpetrating in invading his dominions and seeking a quarrel with him without cause, but the effect was like that of the Lamb attempting to resist or recriminate the wolf, which, far from bringing the aggressor to reason, only awakens more strongly his ferocity and rage. Richard turned toward his attendants, and uttering a profane exclamation said that Isaac talked like a fool of Britain. It is mentioned as a remarkable circumstance by the historians that Richard spoke these words in English, and it is said that this was the only time in the course of his life that he ever used that language. It may seem very strange to the reader that an English king should not ordinarily use the English language, but strictly speaking Richard was not an English king. He was a Norman king. The whole dynasty to which he belonged were Norman French in all their relations. Normandy they regarded as the chief seat of their empire. There were their principal cities, there their most splendid palaces. There they lived and reigned with occasional excursions for comparatively brief periods across the channel. They considered England much as the present English sovereigns do Ireland, namely, as a conquered country which had become a possession and a dependency upon the crown. But not in any sense the seat of empire, and they utterly despise the native inhabitants. In view of these facts, the wonder that Richard, the king of England, never spoke the English tongue that once disappears. The conference broke up and both sides prepared for war. The king, finding that he was not strong enough to resist such a horde of invaders as Richard brought with him, withdrew from his capital and retired to a fortress among the mountains. Richard then easily took possession of the town. A moderate force had been left to protect it, but Richard, promising his troops plenty of booty when they should get into it, led the way, waving his battle axe in the air. This battle axe was a very famous weapon. It was one which Richard had caused to be made for himself before leaving England, and it was the wonder of the army on account of its size and weight. The object of a battle axe was to break through the steel armor with which the knights and warriors of those days were accustomed to cover themselves, and which was proof against all ordinary blows. Now Richard was a man of prodigy as personal strength, and when fitting out his expedition in England, he caused an unusually heavy and large battle axe to be made for himself by way of showing his men what he could do in swinging a heavy weapon. The head of this axe, or hammer, as perhaps it might more properly have been called, weighed twenty pounds, and most marvelous stories were told of the prodigious force of the blow that Richard could strike with it. When it came down on the head of a steel-clad knight on his horse, it broke through everything they said and crushed the man and horse both to the ground. The assault on Limassol was successful. The people made but a feeble resistance. Indeed, they had no weapons which could possibly enable them to stand a moment against the crusaders. They were half-naked, and their arms were little better than clubs and stones. They were, in consequence, very easily driven off the ground, and Richard took possession of the city. He then immediately made a signal for Joanna's galley, which, during all this time, had remained at the mouth of the harbour, to advance. The galley, accordingly, came up, and Joanna and the princess were received by the whole army at the landing with loud acclamations. They were immediately conducted into the town, and their lodge splendidly in the best of Isaac's palaces. But the contest was not yet ended. The place to which Isaac had retreated was a city which he possessed in the interior of the island called Nicosia. From this place he sent a messenger to Richard to propose another conference, with a view of attempting once more to agree upon some terms of peace. Richard agreed to this, and a place of meeting was appointed on a plane near Limassol, the port. King Isaac, accompanied by a suitable number of attendants, repaired to this place, and the conference was opened. Richard was mounted on a favourite Spanish charger, and was splendidly dressed in silk and gold. He assumed a very lofty bearing and demeanour toward his humbled enemy, and informed him in a very summery manner on what terms alone he was willing to make peace. I will make peace with you, said Richard, on condition that you hold your kingdom henceforth subject to me. You are to deliver up all the castles and strongholds to me, and do homage as your acknowledged sovereign. You are also to pay me an ample indemnity in gold, for the damage you did to my wrecked galleys. I shall expect you, moreover, to join me in the crusade. You must accompany me to the Holy Land, with not less than five hundred foot soldiers, four hundred horsemen, and one hundred full armed knights. For security that you will faithfully fulfil these conditions, you must put the princess, your daughter, into my hands as a hostage. Then, in case your conduct, while in my service in the Holy Land, is in all respects perfectly satisfactory, I will restore your daughter, and also your castles, to you on my return. Isaac's daughter was a very beautiful young princess. She was extremely beloved by her father, and was highly honoured by the people of the land as heir to the crown. These conditions were certainly very hard, but the poor king was in no condition to resist any demands that Richard might choose to make. With much distress and anguish of mind, he pretended to agree to these terms, though he secretly resolved that he could not and would not submit to them. Richard suspected his sincerity, and, in utter violation of all honourable laws and usages of war, he made him a prisoner, and set guards over him to watch him, until the stipulations should be carried into effect. Isaac contrived to escape from his keepers in the night, and putting himself at the head of such troops as he could obtain, prepared for war, with the determination to resist to the last extremity. Richard now resolved to proceed at once to take the necessary measures for the complete subjugation of the island. He organised a large body of land forces, and directed them to advance into the interior of the country, and put down all resistance. At the same time, he placed himself at the head of his fleet, and sailing round the island, he took possession of all the towns and fortresses on the shore. He also seized every ship and every boat, large and small, that he could find, and thus entirely cut off from King Isaac all chance of escaping by sea. In the meantime, the unhappy monarch, with the few troops that still adhered to him, was driven from place to place until at last he was completely hemmed in, and was compelled to fight or surrender. They fought. The result was what might have been expected. Richard was victorious. The capital, Limassol, fell into his hands, and the king and his daughter were taken prisoners. The princess was greatly terrified when she was brought into Richard's presence. She fell on her knees before him and cried, My lord, the king, have mercy upon me. Richard put forth his hand to lift her up, and then sent her to Beringaria. I give her to you, said he, for an attendant and companion. The king was almost heartbroken at having his daughter taken away from him. He threw himself at Richard's feet and begged him, with the most earnest and treaty, to restore him his child. Richard paid no heed to this request, but ordered Isaac to be taken away. Soon after this he sent him across the sea to Tripoli, in Syria, and there shut him up in the dungeon of a castle, a hopeless prisoner. The unhappy captive was secured in his dungeon by chains, but in honor of his rank, the chains by Richard's directions were made of silver, overlaid with gold. The poor king pined in this place of confinement for four years, and then died. As soon as Isaac had gone and things had become somewhat settled, Richard found himself undisputed master of Cyprus, and he resolved to annex the island to his own dominions. And now, said he to himself, it will be a good time for me to be married. So, after making necessary arrangements for assembling his whole fleet again, and repairing the damages which had been sustained by the storm, he began to make preparations for the wedding. Beringaria made no objection to this. Indeed, the fright which she had suffered at sea in being separated from Richard, she had endured when, after the storm, she gazed in every direction, all around the horizon, and could see no signs in any quarter of his ship, and when, consequently, she feared that he might be lost, made her extremely unwilling to be separated from him again. The marriage was celebrated with great pomp and splendor, and many feasts and entertainments and public parades and celebrations followed to commemorate the event. Among the other grand ceremonies was a coronation, a double coronation. Richard caused himself to be crowned King of Cyprus, and Beringaria, Queen of England, and Cyprus too. The dress in which Richard appeared on these occasions is minutely described. He wore a rose-colored satin tunic, which was fastened by a jeweled belt about his waist. Over this was a mantle of striped silver tissue, brocaded with silver half-moons. He wore an elegant and very costly sword, too. The blade was of Damascus steel. The hilt was of gold. And the sky-barred was of silver, richly engraved in scales. On his head he wore a scarlet bonnet, brocaded in gold with figures of animals. He bore in his hand what was called a truncheon, which was sort of a scepter, very splendidly covered in a dorn. He had an elegant horse, a Spanish charger, and whenever he went this horse was led before him, with the bits and stirrups, and all the metallic mountings of the saddle and bridle in gold. The creper was adorned with two golden lions, figured with their paws raised in the act of striking each other. Richard obtained another horse in Cyprus among the spoils that he acquired there, and which afterward became his favorite. His name was Favelle, though in some of the old annals he is called Fonelle. This horse acquired great fame by the strength and courage, and also the great sagacity that he displayed in the various battles that he was engaged in with his master. Indeed at last he became quite a historical character. Richard himself was a tall and well-formed man, and all together a very fine-looking man. And in this costume, with his yellow curls and bright complexion, he appeared, they said, a perfect model of military and manly grace. There is a representation of Beringaria, extant, which is supposed to show her as she appeared at this time. Her hair is parted in the middle in front, and hangs down in long tresses behind. It is covered with a veil, open on each side, like a Spanish mantilla. The veil is fastened to her head by a royal diadem, resplendent with gold and gems, and is surmounted with a fleur-de-lis, with so much foliage added to it as to give it the appearance of a double crown, an illusion to her being the queen of both Cyprus and of England. The whole time occupied by these transactions in Cyprus was only about a month, and now, since everything had been finished to his satisfaction, Richard began to think once more of prosecuting his voyage. End of chapter 10. Recording by Alana Jordan in St. Louis, Missouri. Chapter 11 of Richard I. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org, recording by Federica. Richard I by Jacob Abbot, chapter 11. Voyage to Acre. The great landing point for expeditions of crusaders the Holy Land was Acre, or Acre, as it is often written. The town was originally known as Ptolemies, and the situation of it may be found designated on ancient maps under that name. The Turks called it Acre, which named the French called Acre. It was also, after a certain time, called San Jean d'Acre. It received this name from a famous military order that was founded in the Holy Land in the Middle Ages, called the Knights of Saint John. The origin of the order was as follows. About 100 years before the time of Richard's crusade, a company of pious merchants from Naples, who went to Jerusalem, took pity while they were there, on the pilgrims who came there to visit the Holy Sepulcher, and who being poor and very insufficiently provided for the journey, suffered a great many privations and hardships. These merchants accordingly built and endowed the monastery, and made it the duty of the monks to receive and take care of a certain number of these pilgrims. They named the establishment the Monastery of Saint John, and the monks themselves were called the Spitalers, their business being to receive and show hospitality to the pilgrims. So the monks were sometimes designated as the pious Spitalers, and sometimes the brothers of Saint John. Other travelers, who came to Jerusalem from time to time, seeing this monastery and observing the gudu, which it was the means of effecting for the poor pilgrims, became interested in its welfare, and made grandstand donations to it, by which, in the course of 50 years, it became much enlarged. At length, in process of time, a military order was connected with it. The pilgrims needed protection in going to and through, as well as food, shelter, and rest at the end of their journey, and the military order was formed to furnish this protection. The Knights of this order were called the Knights of Spitalers, and sometimes Knights of Saint John. The institution continued to grow, and finally the seat of it was transferred to Akhram, which was a much more convenient place for giving succour to the pilgrims, and also for fighting the sarsens, who were the great enemies that the pilgrims had to fear. On this time, the institution was called the Saint John of Akhram, as it was before Saint John of Jerusalem, and finally its power and influence became so predominant in the town, that the town itself was generally designated by the name of the institution, and it has been called the Saint John of Akhram to this day. The order became at last very numerous, where numbers of persons joined it from all the nations of Europe. They organized the regular government. They held fortresses and towns, and other territorial possessions of considerable value. They had a fleet, and an army, and a rich treasury, in a world they became, as it were, a government and a nation. The persons belonging to the order were divided into three classes. Knights. These were the armed men. They fought the battles, defended the pilgrims, managed the government, and performed all other similar functions. Chaplains. These were the priests and monks. They contacted worship, and attended in general to all the duties of devotion. They were the scholars, too, and acted as secretaries and readers, whenever such duties were required. Servitors. The duty of the servitors was, as they named imports, to take charge of the buildings and grounds belonging to the order, to wait upon the sick and the company pilgrims, and to perform, in general, all other duties pertaining to their station. The ramparts of Akhram. The town of Akhram stood on the shore of the sea, and was very strongly fortified. The walls and ramparts were very massive, altogether too thick and high to be demolished or scaled by any means of attack known in those days. The place had been in possession of the Knights on Seijon, but in the course of the wars between the Sarasens and the Crusaders, the head prevailed before Richard came. It had fallen into the hands of the Sarasens, and now the Crusaders were besieging it, in hopes to recover possession. They were encamped in thousands on a plane outside the town, in a beautiful situation overlooking the sea. Still farther back among the mountains were immense hordes of Sarasens, watching an opportunity to come down upon the plane and over helm the Christian arms, while they, on the other land, were making continued assaults upon the town, in hopes of carrying it by storm, before their enemies on the mountains could attack them. Of course the Crusaders were extremely anxious to have Richard arrived, for they knew he was bringing with him an immense reinforcement. Philip, the French king, had already arrived, and he exerted himself to the Atmos to take the town before Richard should come, but he could not succeed. The town resisted all the attempts he could make to storm it, and in mid-time his position and that of the other Crusaders in the camp was becoming very critical, on account of the immense numbers of Sarasens in the mountains behind them, who gradually advances their postings and threatening to surround the Christians entirely. Philip therefore, and the forces joined with him, were beginning to feel very anxious to see Richard's ships drawing near, and from their encampment on the plane they looked out over the sea, and watched day after day, earnestly know that they might see the advanced ships of Richard's fleet coming into view in the offing. In the mid-time Richard, having sailed from Cyprus, was coming on, though he was delayed on his way by an occurrence which he greatly gloried in, deeming it doubtless a very brilliant explore. The case was this, in sailing along with his squadron between Cyprus and the mainland, he suddenly fell in with a ship of a very large size. At first Richard and his men wondered what ship it could be. It was soon evident that whatever she was, she was endeavouring to escape. Richard ordered his gailies to press on, and he soon found that the strange ship was full of sarsens. He immediately ordered his men to advance and board her, and he declared to his sea men that if they allowed her to escape he would crucify them. The sarsens, seeing that there was no possibility of escape, and having no hope of mercy if they fell into Richard's hand, determined to scuttle the ship, and to sink themselves and the vessel together. They accordingly cut holes through the bottom as well as they could with hatchets, and the water began to pour in. In the meantime, Richard's gailies had surrounded the vessel, and a dreadful combat ensued, but parties fought like tigers. The crusaders were furious to get on board before the ship should go down, and the sarsens, though they had no expectation of finally defending themselves against their enemies, still hoped to keep them back until it should be too late for them to obtain any advantage from their victory. For a time they were quite successful in their resistance, chiefly by means of what was called Greek fire. This Greek fire was a celebrated means of war for those days, and was very terrible in its nature and effects. It is not known precisely what it was or how it was made. It was an exceedingly combustible substance, and was to be thrown on fire on the enemy, and such was its nature that when once in flames nothing could extinguish it. And besides the heat and burning that it produced, it threw out great volumes of poisonous and stifling vapors, which suffocated all that came near. The man threw it sometimes in balls, sometimes on the ends of darts and aerobes, where it was enveloped in flecks or tow to keep it in its place. It burned fiercely and furiously whenever it fell. Even water did not extinguish it, and it was said that in this combat, the sea all around the sarsenship seemed on fire, and the decks of the gale that attacked them were blazing with it in every direction. Great numbers of richards men were killed by it, but the superiority of numbers on richards side was too great. In after time, the sarsens were subdued before the ship had emitted water enough through the scufflings to carry her down. Richards men poured it on board of her in great numbers. They immediately proceeded to massacre or throw overboard the men as fast as possible and to seize the stores and transfer them to their own ships. They also did all they could to stop the leaks, so as to delay the sinking of the ship as long as possible. They had time to transfer to their own vessels nearly all the valuable parts of the cargo, and to kill and drown all the men. Out of twelve or fifteen hundred, only about thirty-five were spared. When, after war, the public sentiment seemed inclined to condemn this terrible and inexcusable massacre, Richard defended himself by saying that he found on board the vessel a number of jars containing certain poisonous reptiles which he alleged sarsens were going to take to Ark, and there let them lose near the crusaders camp to buy the soldiers, and that men who could resort to so barbarous a mode of warfare as this deserved no quarter. However this may be, the poor sarsens received no quarter. It might be supposed that Richard deserved some credit for his humanity in saving the thirty-five, but his object in saving this was not to show mercy, but to gain ransom money. These thirty-five were the emirates or other officers in the sarsens, or persons who looked as if they might be rich or have rich friends. When they reached the shore, Richard fixed upon a certain sum of money for each of them and allowed them to send word to their friends that if they would raise the money and send it to Richard, he would set them at liberty. A great proportion of them were thus afterward ransomed, and Richard realized from this source quite a large sum, when richard's soldiers found that the time for the capture ship to sink was drawing nigh, they abandoned her, leaving on board everything that they had not been able to save, and, with drawing to a safe distance, they saw her go down. The sea all around her was covered with the bodies of dead and dying, and also with bells of merchandise, broken weapons, fragments of the wreck, and with the flickering edexosic remnants of the great fire. The fleet then got on their way again and pursued its course to after. End of chapter 11, recording by Federica, Centallo, Italy, 11th of January 2009.