On 21st December 1192 King Richard I of England
was captured by Duke Leopold of Austria, after which he was held prisoner for
14 months.
Richard was on his way home from the Holy Land where he had
taken part in the Third Crusade. While there he had made the mistake of
antagonising Leopold during the siege of Acre. When the city fell, Richard had
refused to share the spoils with his fellow crusader and had made matters worse
by throwing the Duke’s standard off the ramparts and into the mud.
Richard was clearly not the wisest of men because, when he
was shipwrecked near Venice, he decided to set off inland northwards into Duke
Leopold’s territory, rather than westwards through northern Italy and towards
France.
Richard did at least take the precaution of disguising
himself as a merchant, but he then made another mistake by not hurrying past
Vienna (Leopold’s capital). Instead, he stopped for three days in a town not
far from Vienna and took a room at an inn. While there he sent a manservant off
to buy food, giving him a purse full of gold coins. Not surprisingly this
attracted attention in the local market, as did the glove bearing the royal
insignia which the manservant had tucked inside his belt. When the Duke’s men
followed the manservant back to the inn they had little trouble in finding and
arresting King Richard.
Richard was imprisoned in the Duke’s castle at Durnstein,
and Leopold demanded a ransom of 150,000 silver marks for his release. This was
truly a “king’s ransom”, as it amounted to 34 tons in weight and would have
been worth many millions of pounds in today’s value.
Back in England, the government was in the hands of
Richard’s younger brother John, who now had the task of raising the ransom
money. This proved to be extremely difficult and involved John having to demand
fresh taxes from everyone who had any money. It is little wonder that this made
John highly unpopular and was a major reason why he was opposed by the barons
who accused him of despotism.
Richard’s imprisonment gave rise to the legend of Blondel,
the king’s troubadour, touring the castles of Europe and singing Richard’s
favourite song under the windows until eventually he found the right one and
Richard sang the refrain. It does seem a little unlikely given the
impracticalities that such a venture would entail. There was also the little
matter of what was supposed to happen when contact was made – a single
troubadour was never going to be able to spring a king out of jail! Apart from
anything else, in reality Richard’s whereabouts were not a secret.
Eventually the ransom was paid and Richard was released,
having paid a heavy price for his previous greed and stupidity. Unfortunately
the kingdom to which he returned, and in which he had spent hardly any time
since he became king, was rendered virtually bankrupt as a result.
Whether England got a good deal for the sacrifices made on
Richard’s behalf is a moot point. He had spent very little time in the country,
which he seemed to regard mainly as a source of funds for his overseas adventures
and the defence of his lands on the French side of the English Channel. His
reign of ten years was to end when he died from injuries received in another
military campaign in France. All in all, despite Richard’s reputation for
bravery (hence his nickname “Lion Heart”) he does appear to have been lacking
both in brainpower and in loyalty to the people over whom he reigned.
© John Welford
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