aftermath of the crusade

• richard was anxious to get back to his empire after the crusade as, while he had been on crusade, his brother john had teamed up with philip II and attacked richard's continental lands
• richard was anxious to get back to his empire after the crusade as, while he had been on crusade, his enemies had been giving him a bad name in europe
• richard was anxious to get back to his empire after the crusade as, while he had been on crusade, the man who richard had humiliated at acre, leopold of austria, had spread the rumour that richard had been behind the murder of conrad de montferrat, who was killed by assassins in 1192
• richard found that there was virtually no safe route that he could take back home and firstly headed for the island of corfu before sailing up the adriatic coast
• on his way back, richard could not travel through italy as he had on his journey to the holy land because it was now full of his enemies
• in november, richard was shipwrecked off the northern adriatic coast and he and his companions were forced to travel across land
• richard and his companions disguised themselves as pilgrims, but it was not long before he was recognised, arrested, and imprisoned by leopold of austria
• in february 1193, leopold sold richard to henry VI, the holy roman empror, who was overjoyed with his prisoner and wrote gleefully to philip II to give him the news of richard's captivity
• richard's life was not at risk as in the chivalric code, the purpose of capturing a great knight was to claim a ransom, and richard would be worth a very high price
• soon henry, leopold and philip were haggling about the sum they should demand, and eventually agreed they would demand the huge sum of 100,000 marks, plus an additional 50,000 marks, which was to be covered by sending over other noble hostages
• the ransom money would be split between henry and leopold, philip not recieving any money but was mostly concerned that the ransom would not be set too low so that richard would be released quickly
• richard's ransom was a very heavy demand to make on england, as the population had already paid a high price to equip richard's crusade
• john had no desire to pay richard's ransom, as he had spread the rumour that richard was dead before travelling to france to do homage to philip in hope of securing the angevin continental lands for himself, before claiming that he was the legitimate king as he was richard's true heir
• the letter from henry, containing news of richard's captivity and the demand for the ransom, arrived in england, ordering that the oaths of fealty to richard must be honoured and that his ransom paid
• envoys were sent to visit richard in captivity and negotiate his release
• richard was found in good spirits, and sneered at the idea that john could steal is throne, claiming that, 'my brother john is not a man to conquer a country if there is anyone to offer even the feeblest resistance'
• although henry put richard on trial, in front of an assembly of loyal german princes, for betraying the holy land, richard put up such an impressive defence that he swayed a number of the princes to his side
• as a result of richard's trial, the emperor dropped the charges and richard agreed to the ransom if the emperor would act as the peacemaker between richard and philip once he was released
• richard sent the envoys back to england to collect the ransom and began preparing for his release
• envoy


  a messenger sent by the government to talk with another government
• richard's preparations for his swift return to england were too optimistic, as the sum of 100,000 marks was an enormous demand to make
• in modern money, the sum of richard's ransom was worth as much as £2 billion and it could not easily be collected, especially after all the money that had been paid to fund the crusade
• it is little surprise that, very soon, both richard and his mother were despairing about whether he should ever be set free
• eleanor wrote a letter to the pope pleading for his intervention to save her son, while richard, in his captivity, composed a song lamenting his long imprisonment
• john did not despair for richard's imprisonment, and in a secret letter in january 1194, he and philip offered the emperor 80,000 marks not to release richard until at least the autumn
• eleanor took charge of collecting richard's ransom to pay for his freedom
• richard ransom was paid by 25% tax on income and moveables
• richard ransom was paid by a land tax on every land owner
• richard ransom was paid by gold and silver plate from all english churches
• richard ransom was paid by a year's wool crop from the cistercian monks
• richard ransom was paid by £1,350 from the king of scotland
• richard ransom was paid by a new tax of £3,375 on the jews
• the fact that eleanor managed to gather in this huge amount of money for richard's ransom shows the wealth of england at this time, however it did take 6 months to collect
• england's finances had not recovered by the time john came to the throne 5 years later, and found himself short of money compared to richard, but his demands for taxes caused great resentment because the people had already paid so much
• richard was released from captivity on 4th february 1194, being there for 1 year and 6 weeks
• the ransom was not only price paid; in a secret agreement with the emperor, richard agreed to hand over the english crown to henry VI and to receive it back from him as a vassal
• richard immediately set off for england after his release
• after his release, richard landed at sandwich on the kent coast in march. and his return was greeted with great celebrations, but his stay in england was not to last long
• after his return, richard crushed what was left of john's revolt, laying seige to the castles of tickhill and nottingham, and confiscating lands that had been held by his brother
• after his return, richard appointed hubert walter, archbishop of canterbury, as the head of his government in england