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The Angevin Power
The Angevin Power; Part 4

The Angevin Power; Part 4

Unluckily the motives of the leaders in no way corresponded to the magnificence of the enterprise. Richard, though an admirable fighter, and no bad tactician either, had that imperious spirit which made him even more dangerous to his friends than to his foes. On his way to the Holy Land he engaged in one quarrel in Sicily, and another in Cyprus, where he dethroned the king. As soon as he arrived he pressed on the siege of Acre, which had lasted two years, to a victorious end, but then plunged headlong into quarrels. To decide who should be King of Jerusalem before Jerusalem was taken, was perhaps premature, and certainly difficult. The Angevin Queen Sibylla had died without children. Philip favoured one of his friends; Richard hotly pressed the claims of Sibylla's husband, Guy de Lusignan. Incessant bickering went on between French and English, till Philip withdrew his men and went back to France to plot at home with John against Richard. Then Richard led the Crusaders southwards, winning a great battle against the Saracens at Arsouf, by means of the patient steadiness of his crossbowmen and a well-timed charge by his knights. Twice he came within twelve miles of Jerusalem, but never was strong enough to form the siege; at last he made a treaty with Saladin, securing for Christian pilgrims rights to visit Jerusalem unhindered, and retaining Joppa. It was not much to achieve at the expense of blood and treasure; the capture of Acre alone was said to have cost 300,000 men.

Richard was now to reap the harvest of his quarrels. One enemy had already gone home: it was indeed the news of John's intrigues with the French king which decided Richard that, if he wished to retain the Crown of England, he could no longer battle in Palestine. But he had made a deadly foe of another Crusader. He had found Leopold of Austria's banner set above his own. He had caused it to be flung down with ignominy. Leopold bided his time, and the chance for revenge came when, on his return home, Richard was shipwrecked on the coasts of the Adriatic, and, trying to cross Austria in disguise, fell a prisoner into Leopold's hands. How Leopold sold him to the Emperor Henry VI, who also owed him a grudge for his conduct in Sicily, and how Henry held him captive for four months till a ransom was paid, is too well known to need more words. The whole episode offers an instructive comment on the hopeless selfishness which underlay the third Crusade. The enterprise begun for the rescue of the Holy City ended with the selling of one Christian monarch by another.

The Angevin Power; Part 4

Chronology