21

Chap. VI. from the Conquest, to the Death of A. Mary I.

H92.

Richard'defeats andtfkes the Ba-b ylon Cara-van.

Ynisapf.

"fompton.

Pfceto.

Paris.

^oveden.

fees Je-

Wem.

DukesV Austriaa »d B ur .gundy d e f ert.. e Expedi-

tion

M.

H,

® r °®pton.

■ Paris., lQ ved.

4 j chard

^s a

rl Uce a nd

--Le

Nisans,

tion ; But in bis March thither he hadthe good Fortune to meet the BabylonCaravan, going to 'Jerusalem, with aprodigious Quantity of rich Merchandi-zes,, guarded by ten, or, as Hoveden fays,eleven Thousand Horse. These Ri-chard defeated, and took above three,some say, fourThousand loaded Camels,and Dromedaries, fourThousand Horsesor Mules, with an inestimable Booty,all which he caused to be distributed a-mong his Soldiers. Soon after thisAdvantage, Richard had the Satisfacti-on of fein sj er usdiem , from theTop of aHill, wheh he came to in hisMarch: Butthe Country round about being destituteof Forage, he was under the fatalNeces-fity (notwithstanding the Infidels, at hisArrival, fled in Numbers, and Saladinehimself was preparing for his Flight)of deferring the Siege till the nextSpring.

The Dukes of Austria and Burgun-dy were both glad of this Pretext todesert the Service, which they did; Andthe’ the latter, who is supposed to havebeen bribed by Saladine, died at Ptole-mais, as he was going to embark, theFrench Troops departed and failed forFrance.

In the mean Time, Richard himselfwas obliged to put a Stop to theCareer of his Glory, and to think of re-turning to England, where his Brother,afterwards his Successor, had fomentedintestine Broils and Divisions, whichthreatned the Kingdom with a civil War.This obliged him to make a Truce withSaladine for three Years.

Upon the Conclusion of the Treaty,King Richard let Saladine know, thatwhen the Truce was ended he wouldreturn again, and once more endeavourto recover the Holy Land from his Do-minion ; To which this generousPrince,is said to have, answered : " That if it

must be his Fate, to lose this Part of

his Country, he had rather it should

be to him, than to any other Prince" whomsoever.” (/)

Having settled all the other Affairs 1192.of the Fast, and sent away his Queenand Sister, with the King of Cyprus sDaughter, he sailed fovCorju, Whether itwas designedly or he was forced thatWay,by Stress of Weather, is uncertain ? Hewas, however, driven, in a violentStorm upon the Coast of Istrij, and from A a Q 0 %thence between Aquileia and Venice, 0 f istria:where the Ship, on board of which he M. Paris,was, split on a Rock. The King sav- j?s et0 ' ned his Life with Difficulty, but soon Henaingf."after sustained a Loss, almost equal to Gervase.that of .Life itself, his Liberty : For,thinking to travel thro’ Germany un- And madeknown, in the Habit of a Pilgrim, he Prisoner bywas discovered, and made Prisoner by the Duke ofthe Duke of Austria. Au na ‘

Thus this glorious Prince, whose 11 93*Fame filled the wholeEarth, and whose R a P m -noble Actions had exalted him above emm or 'all the Princes of his Time, saw himselfat once reduced to the unhappy Stateof being a Prisoner to one, from whomhe had no Reason to hope any Favour,the most sordid and ungenerous ofPrinces. ( m ) It was not till after fifteen g romptonMonths Imprisonment, in which Time m. Paris.'he was carried before the Diet of the M. Westm,Empire, and obliged to answer to anAccusation laid against him by theEmperour, and after going thro' a greatmany Hardships and Difficulties, be- n . -sides the Payment of a considerable / re-Ransom,(«) that Richard obtained hisLi- turns to'Eng-berty, and returned to England ; where Iaad -he arrived the twentieth of March 1194. 1 * 94 *

after an Absence of four Years.

Richard had no sooner fettled hisAffairs in England, than he was bentupon being revenged on the King ofFrance, for the Injuries offered him inhis Absence, and began immediately warwithto make the necessary Preparations for France,a War. Every Thing being ready for p!^'the King to embark, News was brought Brompton.him, while he was sitting at Tame, Ypod.

(the Tpodigm. Walfingham, fay in his ™ a ^$ araHall at Westminster ) that Philip was be- ' e m "sieging Vernenih Transported with

Rage

{}) A Journal of this famous Expedition wwritten, both in Prose, and in Verse, by Richariurnamed Canonicus, an Observant Friar of T>mty Church, in London , who was an Eye-witncall the Circumstances,of it. He gave it tm t A-? f - the J ournal °f King Richard. Willme Pilgrim, who was likewise an Eye-witneJ^rote another Description of it in Heroick Verly the Title os the Expedition of King Richard.n st ) The Emperour, Henry VI. to whom tu ke of Austria delivered him, under certaConditions.

M®) His Ransom was one Hundred and fifif houfand Marks of Silver, (a Mark of Silver

Germany is eight Ounces) two thirds in ready Rymer’s Foe-Calh, and Security for the other third. In the dera, T. I.Cotton Library, is a Manuscript Account of sun- p. 84.dry Passages between the Emperour and Richard , MS. in Bibl.the Title of which, in the Catalogue, being pret- Cotton-ty singular, I shall insert, but refer the curious Claud. VII.Reader to the Manuscript itself: " Ricardus I. 7.

“ R. Angliœ , in captione detentus, ipvestivit Im- '

“ peratorem regno fuo per pileum ejus, quem" Imperator re-investivit per duplicem de auro" pro tributo quinque mille Librarum stngulis an-" nis folvendo; ubi de aliis etiam inter ipfos tranf-“ actis disseritur.’*