IT was the autumn of 1192, when Coeur de Lion, having seen Queens Berengaria and Joan sail from Acre, prepared to follow them to Europe without delay. Before embarking, however, Richard remembered William de Pratelles, who had saved him from captivity, and ransomed the brave knight. At the same time, he ordered heralds to make proclamation " that all who had claims on him should come forward, and that all his debts should be paid fully, and more than fully, to avoid occasion afterwards of detraction or complaint."
After having thus sacrificed to honor, Richard went on board; and the royal .fleet weighed anchor amid the tears and lamentations of the Syrian Christians. " Oh, Jerusalem, bereft now of every succor," they exclaimed, " how hast thou lost thy defender! Who will protect thee, should the truce be broken, now that King Richard is departed."
The great crusader appears to have been profoundly affected when he sailed from Acre. Though time had removed many an illusion, his heart still clung to the Syrian soil; and at dawn next morning he stretched out his hands, as he strained his eyes to gaze, for a last time, at the shore -- "Holiest of lands," he exclaimed, "I commend thee to God's keeping, and I pray that he may grant me health to come and rescue thee from the infidel."
The ship in which the two Queens had embarked reached Sicily in safety; but Richard's voyage was less prosperous. A storm arising, his fleet was scattered, and his vessel wrecked on the coast of Istria. Trusting to find his way through Germany, Richard assumed a disguise, and calling himself " Hugh the Merchant," he journeyed, in company with a faithful page and a priest named Baldwin de Bethune, across the mountains to Goritz.
When Richard reached Goritz, he endeavored to assure his safety by sending his page to the governor for a passport. The value of a ring, with which he accompanied the request, excited suspicion; and the governor could not conceal his surprise. "This," said he, "is not the ring of a merchant: it is that of the King of England." The page on his return related the conversation that had passed, and Richard, in alarm, for which there was too much cause, departed for Friesach. Here a Norman knight recognized the King in spite of his disguise, intimated that danger was at hand, and presented him with a fleet steed on which to escape. Mounting, and attended only by the page, who understood the German language, Richard travelled without entering a house, till, hungry and way-worn, he halted at the inn of a little village near Vienna, and despatched the page to purchase provisions.
Fortune again proved unfavorable. The dress of the boy excited suspicions; and, being seized and threatened, he confessed that he had left his master asleep in a rustic hostelry. A party of Austrian soldiers, conducted by the Duke, immediately went in search; and, entering the inn, they found the royal crusader in the kitchen, busily employed in roasting fowls for dinner. Seeing how matters stood, Richard sprang up, drew his sword, and offered a desperate resistance; but when Leopold appeared, he agreed to surrender, and gave up his weapon.
After being captured, Richard was incarcerated in an Austrian castle; and the business was managed so secretly, that his very existence became a matter of doubt to his subjects. Ere long, however, Blondel de Nesle, whose minstrelsy Coeur de Lion had patronized, undertook to discover him, and traversed Germany with that object. For a time the enterprise seemed hopeless. One day, however, Blondel, coming to a castle in Tenebreuse, learned with interest that it contained a solitary prisoner, who, when he was tired of composing verses and found the hours hang heavy on his hands, was not above indulging in a carouse with his guards.
Blondel could not learn the name of the captive; but, from the description, he was convinced that his search had not been in vain. Seating himself under the prison window, he commenced a song which Richard and he had in other days composed together. No sooner had Blondel finished the first couplet, than, to his joy, a well known voice from the window, in significant accents, sung the second. Blondel, no Jonger doubting that Richard was the solitary captive, hastened to give Queen Eleanor information as to the prison which contained her lion-hearted son.
On becoming aware of the discovery that Blondel had made, the Duke of Austria trembled. Terrified at the thought of having such a captive, and eager to divest himself of responsibility, Leopold surrendered Richard to Henry of Germany. The Emperor felt rejoiced to get the King of England into his power; and at Easter, 1193, Coeur de Lion was removed to a castle in the Tyrol, and soon after brought before a Diet of Worms, charged with every imaginable crime. Being an orator, as well as a poet, however, Richard defended himself so eloquently, that princes and prelates, with tears in their eyes, besought the Emperor to act with less rigor and more justice.
Meanwhile Queen Eleanor implored the Pope to obtain her son's release; and the Vicar of Christ, indignant that the foremost champion of the cross should be in a dungeon and in chains, promptly interposed. Nevertheless, the captivity of Richard lasted another year; and he did not regain his liberty till after stipulating to pay an enormous ransom. At length, in the spring of 1194, Richard found himself free; and, passing through the Low Countries, he sailed for England and landed at Sandwich.
On being restored to his kingdom, Richard immediately prepared to punish Philip Augustus for the injuries he had sustained at the hands of that monarch. War broke out in consequence, and occupied Co3ur de Lion for four years. At the end of that time, the struggle having become more bitter than ever, the two Kings encountered near Gisors. A sanguinary battle was fought, Richard performed prodigies of valor, and Philip fled in such haste across the Epte that he narrowly escaped a watery grave. A truce having been then agreed to, Richard marched into Aquitaine, where his foes were, in ballads, expressing their joy that the arrow was forging which would be fatal to Coeur de Lion.
Many threatened men live long; and so perhaps might Richard but for his imperious humor. Happening to hear, after his arrival at Aquitaine, that a peasant, while ploughing, had turned up a valuable treasure, in the shape of a golden ornament representing a Roman Emperor at table, and that it had been seized by the Viscount of the district, Richard immediately claimed his share as sovereign of the country. The Viscount, however, declared he had received nothing but a pot of coins; and Richard, in anger, besieged his castle. Reduced, ere long, to extremity, the garrison were on the point of surrendering, when unluckily, while the King was riding round to survey the fortress, an arrow from the crossbow of a youth, named Adam de Gordon, pierced his shoulder. The wound, being unskilfully treated, mortified; and the King, after enduring agony for days, during which the castle yielded, learned that his end was at hand.
On hearing that his wound was mortal, Richard desired to see the youth who had shot the arrow, and Gordon was brought to his couch.
"Did you discharge the shaft with intent to kill?" asked the King.
"Yes, tyrant," answered the youth," and it was to avenge my father and brother, who both fell by your hand, and to rid the world of one who has done so much mischief!"
"Well," said Richard, "I forgive you." Soon after this scene, Richard expired. According to his own request, his heart was carried to the cathedral of Rouen, and the body was laid, with royal honors, at his great father's feet, in the Abbey of Foutrevault.
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From John G. Edgar
The Crusades and the Crusaders, 1860
