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husband, from whom she had been forcibly divorced in 1190. Humphrey was loyal to Guy, and spoke Arabic fluently, so Richard used him as his translator and negotiator.

King Richard arrived at Acre in June 1191, where he and his forces carried out a successful capture of the city — at one point, while sick from scurvy, Richard himself was carried on a stretcher and picked off guards on the walls with a crossbow. Eventually, Conrad of Montferrat concluded the surrender negotiations with Saladin, and raised the banners of the kings in the city. Richard quarrelled with Leopold V of Austria over both the deposition of his relative, Isaac Comnenus, and Leopold's position within the Crusade. This came to a head when he ordered his men to raise the Austrian banner alongside the English and French standards. This was interpreted as rank arrogance by both Richard and Philip, as Leopold was a dependant vassal of the Holy Roman Emperor. Richard's men, with or without his knowledge, tore the flag down from its pole and threw it in the moat of the Acre fortifications. Leopold, stung bitterly by the act, left the Crusade immediately. Finally, Philip also left the Crusade, in poor health and after heated negotiations with Richard over the status of Cyprus (Philip demanded half the island) and the kingship of Jerusalem. Richard suddenly found himself without allies.

Richard had kept 2,600 prisoners as hostages against Saladin fulfilling all the terms of the surrender of the lands around Acre. Philip, before leaving, had entrusted his own prisoners to Conrad, but Richard had forced him to hand them over to him. Richard feared his forces being bottled up in Acre, as he believed his campaign could not advance with the prisoners in train. In a fit of impatience, he ordered all the prisoners killed. An election forced Richard reluctantly to accept Conrad of Montferrat as King of Jerusalem, and he sold Cyprus to his own protÈgÈ, Guy of Lusignan. However, only days later, on 28 April 1192, Conrad was stabbed to death by Assassins before he could be crowned. Eight days later, Richard's own nephew, Henry II of Champagne was married to the widowed Isabella, although she was carrying Conrad's child. The murder has never been conclusively solved, and Richard was widely suspected of involvement.

Richard's tactics had ensured success at the siege of Acre and on the subsequent march south, Saladin's men being unable to harass the Crusader army into an impulsive action which might not have gone their way. However, the desertion of the French king had been a major blow, from which they could not hope to recover. Realising that he had no hope of holding Jerusalem even if he took it, Richard sadly ordered a retreat. Despite being only a few miles from the city, he refused, thereafter, to set eyes on it, as he had vowed to look upon it only once he had conquered the city. After the retreat from Jerusalem, there commenced a period of minor skirmishes with Saladin's forces while Richard and Saladin negotiated a settlement to the conflict, as both realized that their respective positions were growing untenable. On Richard's side, he knew that both Phillip and his own brother John were starting to plot against him. However, Saladin held firm on the razing of the fortifications of Ascalon (which Richard's men had rebuilt) and a few other points. Richard tried one last-ditch attempt to raise his bargaining position by attempting to invade Egypt — a major source of resupply for Saladin — but failed. In the end, time ran out for Richard. He had finally realised that his return home could be postponed no longer, since both Philip and John were taking advantage of his absence to make themselves more powerful. He and Saladin finally came to a settlement of the conflict on September 2, 1192 — this included the provisions demanding the destruction of Ascalon's wall as well as an agreement allowing Christian access to and presence in Jerusalem. It also included a three-year truce.

Captivity and return

Bad weather forced Richard's ship to put in at Corfu, the territory of the Byzantine Emperor Isaac Angelus, who was still angry at Richard for his annexation of Cyprus. Disguised as a Knight Templar, Richard sailed from Corfu with four attendants in a pirate ship, which wrecked near Aquileia, forcing Richard and his party into a dangerous land route through central Europe. On his way to the territory of Henry of Saxony, his brother-in-law, Richard was captured shortly before Christmas 1192 only a few miles from the Moravian border, near Vienna, by Leopold V of Austria, who accused Richard of ordering the death of Conrad, who was his first cousin. Richard and his retainers had been travelling disguised as pilgrims. Richard himself was dressed like a kitchen hand, but was identified because he was wearing a magnificent and costly ring no menial worker could afford. (Another tale claimed he was identified by his insistence on eating roast chicken, a great delicacy reserved for nobility.) The Duke handed him over as a prisoner to Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor after being held captive at D¸rnstein. It was here that he wrote Ja nus hons pris or Ja nuls om pres, a song in French and Occitan versions, expressing his feelings of abandonment by his people. Although the conditions of his captivity were not severe, he was frustrated by his inability to travel freely. Richard once proudly declared, "I am born of a rank which recognizes no superior but God" to the emperor. His mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, worked tirelessly to raise the ransom of 150,000 marks demanded by the German emperor, which was twice the annual income for the English Crown. Both clergy and laymen were taxed for a quarter of the value of their property, the gold and silver treasures of the churches were confiscated, and money was raised from the scutage and the carucage taxes. The emperor demanded that 100,000 marks be delivered to him before he would release the king, the same amount that had been raised by the Saladin tithe only a few years earlier. At the same time, John, Richard's brother, and King Philip offered 80,000 marks for the Emperor to hold Richard prisoner until Michaelmas 1194. The emperor turned down the offer. The money to rescue the King was transferred to Germany by the emperor's ambassadors, but "at the king's peril" (had it been lost along the way, Richard would have been held responsible), and finally, on February 4, 1194 Richard was released. King Philip of France sent a message to John: "Look to yourself; the devil is loose."

Later years and death

During his absence, John had come close to seizing the throne; Richard forgave him, and even named him as his heir in place of Arthur, who was growing into an unpleasant youth. Instead of turning against John, Richard came into conflict with his former ally and friend, King Philip. When Philip attacked Richard's fortress, Chateau-Gaillard, he boasted that "if its walls were iron, yet would I take it," to which Richard replied, "If these walls were butter, yet would I hold them!"

After his many famous battles, it was a minor skirmish with the rebellious castle of Ch’lus-Charbrol in Limousin, France, on 26 March 1199 that would take Richard's life. Richard had laid siege to the castle in pursuit of a claim to treasure-trove. Pierre Basile was one of only two knights defending Ch’lus. Richard, who had removed some of his chainmail, was wounded in the shoulder by a crossbow bolt launched from a tower by Basile. Gangrene set in and Richard asked to see his killer. He ordered that Basile be set free and awarded a sum of money. However as soon as Richard died, with his 77-year-old mother Eleanor at his side, on 6 April 1199, Mercadier had Basile flayed alive and then hanged. Richard's bowels were buried at the foot of the tower from which the shot was loosed, his heart was buried at Rouen, while the rest of his remains were buried next to his father at Fontevraud Abbey near Chinon and Saumur, France.

Legacy

Richard produced no legitimate heirs, although he is known to have had at least one illegitimate son. As a result, he was succeeded by his brother John as king of England. However, his French territories initially rejected John as a successor, preferring his nephew Arthur of Brittany, the son of their late brother Geoffrey, whose claim was technically better than John's. Significantly, the lack of any direct heirs from Richard was the first step in the dissolution of the Angevin Empire. While Kings of England continued to press claims to properties on the continent, they would never again command the territories Richard I inherited. Richard's legacy comprised several parts. First, he captured Cyprus, which proved immensely valuable in keeping the Frankish kingdoms in the Holy Land viable for another

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