England under the Angevin Kings, Volumes I and II

CHAPTER VII.

On a Thursday the barons assembled east of the Tower; William of Longchamp came forth. Hugh of Coventry recited the indictment and deposed William from all secular authority, retaining only his bishopric and three castles. William denied every charge and still claimed to be Richard’s chancellor and justiciar; Walter of Rouen was proclaimed in his stead. William withdrew to Bermondsey, then Dover, and twice tried to escape disguised as a monk and a pedlar-woman, but his lameness and ignorance of English betrayed him. Released on October 29, he sailed for Gaul, where Celestine III acknowledged him as legate and ordered the bishops to excommunicate all who had deposed him. William excommunicated twenty-six chief enemies and threatened John, but the bishops ignored him, and the justiciars sequestrated his see. Geoffrey of York, now the highest ecclesiastical authority, summoned Hugh of Durham to make his profession of obedience; Hugh, reinstated in Northumberland, ignored the summons, was excommunicated, and kept Christmas with John. Throughout these disorders the chancellor could not check the anti-Jewish outbreaks which had broken out at Richard’s coronation and recurred throughout his vice-royalty: murder and plunder of Jews went unpunished, and the heavy fines on murderers and receivers of stolen Jewish goods long remained a fruitful Crown revenue.

Richard’s continental dominions had been kept at peace by Eleanor’s presence and Philip’s absence. Philip returned in January 1192, demanding on the strength of a forged treaty the restitution of his sister Adela and the counties of Eu and Aumale, and offering John the investiture of all Richard’s continental dominions with Adela’s hand. Eleanor hurried to England, landing at Portsmouth on Quinquagesima Sunday. The justiciars and Eleanor forbade John to leave under pain of forfeiture; the barons renewed their oath to Richard but had to swear the like to John as heir. John persuaded the constables of Windsor and Wallingford to surrender their castles. William gained Eleanor’s ear and bribed John with seven hundred pounds, but the justiciars outbid him with two thousand marks, and the chancellor was bidden depart.

Two cardinal-legates arrived to settle the dispute with the archbishop of Rouen; the seneschal shut the gates of Gisors in their faces, and they excommunicated him and laid Normandy under interdict. Aquitaine rose: Count Ademar of Angoulême invaded Poitou, but the Gascon revolt was suppressed with the help of young Sancho of Navarre. In England John still defied the justiciars.

Richard’s crusade illuminates his character. He showed consummate seamanship, conquered Cyprus in a few days, sold it to the Templars, and made it over to Guy of Lusignan. The command had fallen to him after Emperor Frederic Barbarossa drowned in Asia Minor in June 1190. While in the island, Richard married Berengaria of Navarre, daughter of his old ally King Sancho the Wise, and had her crowned Queen of England, though she was destined never to set foot in his island realm. At Messina Richard dealt with King William of Sicily’s death the previous November: William had bequeathed his crown to his aunt Constance, wife of Henry of Germany, but Tancred seized it, offending the new German king. Richard’s alliance with Tancred, necessary for Sicilian co-operation, was thus a mortal offence to the German king. A formal treaty at Messina secured Richard’s recognition of Tancred, with a money contribution and Sicilian fleet assistance, in return for renouncing Constance and her husband. He is said to have further engaged by separate compact to recognize Arthur of Britanny as his heir in default of direct heirs of his body, but this, like the rest of the Sicilian agreement, was a dead letter from the first.

At Acre in June 1191 Richard quarrelled with Leopold of Austria over the honour of the victory; Leopold set up his banner beside Richard’s, and Richard tore it down. Richard opposed the other princes, who aimed at transferring the crown from Guy to Conrad of Montferrat; Guy threw himself on Richard’s generosity, and from Cyprus onwards they stood together. Philip went home after Acre was won. Twice Richard led the host within eight miles of Jerusalem and was compelled to turn away. Conrad fell by an assassin in April 1192, but Guy’s cause was lost. Richard compensated Guy with Cyprus and sanctioned the transfer of the crown to his nephew Henry of Champagne. On September 2 he made a truce with Saladin for three years and sailed from Acre on October 9.

Stormy winds parted Richard from his fleet. Three days from Marseille he learned Count Raymond of Toulouse was preparing to seize him; contrary winds drove him back on Corfu. In impatience he set off in disguise with twenty followers up the Adriatic; a storm wrecked him at the head of the Gulf of Aquileia. His German enemies were on the watch, his geographical knowledge failed, and he found himself at Vienna, whither Leopold had returned. He was recognized, captured, and brought before the duke. Three days after Christmas the Emperor sent Philip of France the tidings that their common enemy was a prisoner.

Philip forwarded the news to John, who did homage for all his brother’s continental dominions; the Norman constables refused to acknowledge the transaction. John returned to England, assured the justiciars the king was dead, and demanded their homage; they refused. He withdrew to fortify his castles. Before Easter a French fleet sailed to his assistance but was repulsed by the English militia. While the justiciars besieged Windsor, Geoffrey of York fortified Doncaster and went to help Hugh of Durham besiege Tickhill. The castles had all but fallen when the justiciars, alarmed at Richard’s uncertain fate, made a truce with John until All-Saints’ day.

The six months of quiet were spent in negotiations for Richard’s release. Bishop Savaric of Bath and two abbots were despatched to treat with the Emperor and find Richard—tradition filled the blank with the story of Blondel. The abbots met Richard at Ochsenfurt on his way to be delivered to the Emperor at Speyer. Henry VI demanded satisfaction for all the wrongs done by Richard to the princes of the Empire. The ransom was fixed at a hundred and fifty thousand marks, with the liberation of Isaac of Cyprus and the betrothal of Eleanor of Britanny to a son of the Austrian duke.

The collection was first entrusted to William of Longchamp, but the justiciars made him swear to meddle with nothing outside his commission. A new tax imposed a fourth part of the revenue and moveable goods of every man, lay or clerk. The clergy cooperated under a new primate, Hubert Walter, bishop of Salisbury; the nation responded willingly, the deficiency being supplied by a Cistercian contribution of a fourth of their wool and by confiscating church vessels. By the appointed time in January 1194 the greater part was paid; for the remainder hostages were given, including Archbishop Walter of Rouen. Richard bestowed the chief justiciarship upon Hubert Walter.