vpon the eight day of the same, that peace was concluded among the kings.
In which peace, first King Richard, and Philip the French king renewed
againe their oth and league before made, concerning their mutual aide and
societie, during the time of that peregrination.
Secondly, peace also was concluded betweene king Richard and Tancred king
of Sicily aforesaide, with conditions, that the daughter of Tancrede in
case king Richard should die without issue, should be married to Arthur
Duke of Britaine the kings Nephew and next heire to his crowne, whereof a
formall charte was drawen, and letters sent thereof to Pope Clement being
dated the ninth of Nouember.
From this time vntill Februarie the next yeere these two kings kept still
at Messana, either for lacke of winde and weather, or for the repairing of
their shippes. And in the aforesayde Februarie, in the yeere 1191. King
Richard sent ouer his gallies to Naples, there to meete his mother Elinore,
and Berengaria the daughter of Zanctius king of Nauarre, whom he was
purposed to marry, who by that time were come to Brundusium, vnder the
conduct of Philip Earle of Flanders, and so proceeding vnto Naples, they
found the kings shippes wherein they sayled to Messana.
In this meane space, king Richard shewed himselfe exceeding bounteous and
liberall to all men: to the French king first he gaue diuers shippes, vpon
others likewise he bestowed riche rewardes, and of his treasure and goods
he distributed largely to his souldiers and seruants about him, of whom it
was reported, that he distributed more in one moneth, than any of his
predecessors did in a whole yeere: by reason, whereof he purchased great
loue and fauour, which not onely redounded to the aduancements of his fame,
but also to his singular vse and profite, as the sequele afterwards
prooued.
The first day of March following, he left the citie of Messana, where the
French King was, and went to Cathneia, a citie where Tancredus king of
Sicily then lay, where he was honorably receiued, and there remained with
king Tancredus three dayes and three nights. On the fourth day when he
should depart, the aforesaid Tancredus offred him many rich presents in
gold and siluer, and precious silkes, whereof king Richard would receiue
nothing, but one little ring for a token of his good will: for the which
king Richard gaue againe vnto him a riche sworde. At length when king
Richard should take his leaue, king Tancred would not let him so depart,
but needes would giue 4. great shippes, and 15. gallies, and furthermore
hee himselfe would needes accompanie him the space of two dayes iourney, to
a place called Tauernium.
Then the next morning when they should take their leaue, Tancredus declared
vnto him the message, which the French King a little before had sent vnto
him by the Duke of Burgundie, the contents whereof were these: That the
King of England was a false Traytour, and would neuer keepe the peace that
was betweene them: and if the sayd Tancredus would warre against him, or
secretly by night would inuade him, he with all his power would assist him,
to the destruction of him and all his armie. To whom Richard the King
protested againe, that he was no traytour, nor neuer had bene: and as
touching the peace, begun betwixt them, the same should neuer be broken
through him; neither could he beleeue that the French King being his good
lord, and his sworn Compartner in that voyage, would utter any such wordes
by him. Which when Tancredus heard, he bringeth foorth the letters of the
French King, sent to him by the Duke of Burgundie, affirming moreouer, that
if the Duke of Burgundie would denie the bringing of the said letters, he
was readie to trie it with him by any of his Dukes. King Richard receiuing
the letters, and musing not a little vpon the same, returneth againe to
Messana. The same day that King Richard departed, the French king came to
Tauernium to speake with Tancred, and there abode with him that night, and
on the morrowe returned to Messana againe.
From that time, King Richard mooued in stomacke against King Philip, neuer
shewed any gentle countenance of peace and amitie, as he before was woont:
whereat the French king greatly marueiling, and enquiring earnestly what
should be the cause thereof, word was sent him againe by Philip earle of
Flanders from king Richard, what words he had sent to the King of Sicily,
and for testimony thereof the letters were shewed, which he wrote by the
duke of Burgundie to the king of Sicily: which when the French king
vnderstood, first he held his peace as guilty in his conscience, not
knowing well what to answere. At length turning his tale to another matter,
he began to quarrell with king Richard, pretending as though he sought
causes to breake with him, and to maligne him: and therefore he forged
(sayd he) these lies vpon him, and all because he by that meanes would
auoid to marry with Alise his sister, according as he had promised. Adding
moreouer that if he would so do, and would not marry the said Alise his
sister according to his oth, he would be an enemy to him, and to his, while
he liued.
To this king Richard sayd againe that he could by no meanes marry that
woman, forsomuch as his father had carnal copulation with her, and also had
by her a sonne: for proofe whereof he had there presently to bring forth
diuers and sundry witnesses to the kings face, to testifie with him.
In conclusion, through counsell and perswasion of diuers about the French
king, agreement at last was made, so that king Philip did acquite king
Richard from this bond of marrying his sister, and king Richard againe
should be bound to pay to him euery yeere for the space of fiue yeeres, two
thousand markes, with certaine other conditions besides, not greatly
materiall for this place. And thus peace being betweene them concluded the
28 day of the sayd moneth of March, the French king launching out of the
hauen of Messana, the 22 day after in the Easter weeke, came with his armie
to the siege of Achon.
After the departure of the French king from Messana, king Richard with his
armie yet remaining behinde, arriued Queene Alinor the kings mother,
bringing with her Berengaria the king of Nauars daughter, to be espoused to
king Richard: [Sidenote: The Nauie of King Richard.] which being done, king
Richard in April following, about the 20 day of the sayd moneth, departed
from the hauen Messana with 150 great ships, and 53 great gallies well
manned and appointed, and tooke his iourney toward Achon: who being vpon
the Seas on Good friday about the ninth houre, rose a mighty South winde,
with a tempest, which disseuered and scattered all his Nauie, some to one
place and some to another. The king with a few ships was driuen to the Ile
of Creta, and there before the hauen of Rhodes cast anker. The ships that
caried the kings sister, queene of Sicily, and Berengaria the king of
Nauars daughter, with two ships were driuen to the Ile of Cyprus.
The king making great mone for the ships of his sister, and Berengaria his
wife that should be, not knowing where they were become, after the tempest
was ouerblowen, sent forth his gallies diligently to seeke the rest of his
Nauie dispersed, but especially the shippe wherein his sister was, and the
maiden whom he should marry, who at length were found safe and merry at the
port of Lymszem [Footnote: Lymasol.] in the Ile of Cyprus, notwithstanding
the two other ships, which were in their company before in the same hauen,
were drowned with diuers of the kings seruants and men of worship, among
whom was M. Roger, called Malus Catulus, the kings Vicechancellour, who was
found with the kings seale hanging about his necke.
The king of Cyprus was then Isakius [Footnote: Isaac Comnenus who became
King in 1184.] (called also the Emperour of the Gryffons) who tooke and
imprisoned all Englishmen, which by shipwracke were cast vpon his land,
also inuegled into his hands the goods and prises of them which were found
drowned about his coastes, neither would suffer the ships wherein the two
ladies were to enter within the port.
The tidings of this being brought to king Richard, he in great wrath
gathering his gallies and ships together, boordeth the land of Cyprus,
where he first in gentle wise signifieth to king Isakius, how he with his
English men, comming as strangers to the supportation of the holy land,
were by distresse of weather driuen vpon his bounds, and therefore with all
humble petition besought him in Gods behalfe, and for reuerence of the holy
crosse, to let go such prisoners of his as he had in captiuitie, and to
restore againe the goods of them that were drowned, which he deteined in
his hands, to be employed for the behoofe of their soules. And this the
king once, twise, and thrise desired of the Emperour: but he proudly
answering againe, sent the king word, that he neither would let the
captiues go, nor render the goods of them which were drowned.
When king Richard heard this, how light the emperour Isakius made of his so
humble and honest petition, and how that nothing could be gotten without
violent force, eftsoones [Footnote: The Saxon _Eft_ properly means _after_.
It was beginning to be obsolete in 1400 but Spencer frequently uses it. It
occurs rarely after his time.] giueth commandement thorowout all his hoste
to put themselues in armour and follow him, to reuenge the iniuries
receiued of that proud and cruell king of Cyprus, willling them to put
their trust in God, and not to misdoubt but that the Lord would stand with
them, and giue them the victory. The Emperour in the meane time with his
people stood warding the Sea coasts, where the English men should arriue,
with swords, billes, and lances, and such other weapons as they had,
setting boordes, stooles, and chestes, before them as a wall: few of them
were harnessed, [Footnote: Clad in armour.
This apish and unmannerly approach,
This _harness'd_ masque, and unadvised revel.
KING JOHN v. 2.]
and for the most part all vnexpert and vnskilfull in the feates of warre.
Then king Richard with his souldiers issuing out of ships, first set his
bowemen before, who with their shot made a way for others to folowe. The
Englishmen thus winning the land vpon them, so fiercely pressed upon the
Gryffons, that after long fighting and many blowes, at last the Emperour
was put to flight, whom king Richard valiantly pursued, and slue many, and
diuers he tooke aliue, and had gone neere also to take the Emperour, had
not the night come on and parted the battell. And thus king Richard with
much spoyle, and great victory, returning to the port Towne of Lymszem,
which the Townesmen had left for feare, found there great abundance of
corne, wine, oyle, and victuals.
The day after the victory gotten, Ioanna the Kings sister, and Berengaria
the mayden, entred the Porte and Towne of Lymszem, with 50. great ships,
and 14. galliots: so that all the whole Nauie there meeting together, were
254. tall shippes, and aboue threescore galliots. Then Isakius the
Emperour, seeing no way for him to escape by Sea, the same night pitched
his tentes fiue miles off from the English army, swearing that the third
day after, he would surely giue battell to king Richard: but he preuenting
him before, suddenly the same morning before the day of battell should be,
setteth vpon the tentes of the Gryffons early in the morning, they being
vnawares and asleepe, and made of them a great slaughter, insomuch that the
Emperour was faine to runne away naked, leauing his tentes and pauilions to
the Englishmen, full of horses and rich treasure, also with the Imperial
standerd, the lower part whereof with a costly streamer was couered, and
wrought all with golde.
King Richard returning with victorie and triumph to his sister and
Berengaria, shortly after in the moneth of May next following, and the 12.
day of the said moneth, married the said Berengaria daughter of Zanctius,
king of Nauarre, in the yle of Cyprus at Lymszem.
The king of Cyprus seeing himselfe ouermatched, was driuen at length to
yeelde himselfe with conditions to giue king Richard 20000. markes in golde
for amends of such spoyles as he had gotten of them that were drowned, also
to restore all the captiues againe to the king: and furthermore, he in his
owne person, to attend vpon the king to the lande of Ierusalem, in Gods
seruice and his, with 400. horsemen, and 500. footemen: in pledge whereof
he would giue to his hands his castles, and his onely daughter, and would
hold his kingdome of him.
This done, and the Emperour swearing fidelitie to king Richard before Guido
king of Ierusalem, and the prince of Antioche (who were come thither to
king Richard a little before) peace was taken, and Isakius committed to the
warde of certaine keepers. Notwithstanding shortly after he breaking from
his keepers, was againe at defiance with the King: whereupon king Richard
besetting the Iland of Cyprus round about with shippes and gallies, did in
sucn sort preuaile, that the subiects of the land, were constrained to
yeelde themselues to the King, and at last the daughter of the Emperour,
and the Emperour himselfe, whom king Richard caused to be kept in fetters
of gold and siluer, and to be sent to the citie of Tripolis.
[Sidenote: The Lord Chamberlaine of King Richard left gouernour of Cyprus.]
These things thus done, and all set in order touching the possession of the
Ile of Cyprus, the keeping whereof he committed to Radulphe sonne of
Godfrey Lord Chamberlaine, being then the first day of Iune upon the fift
of the saide moneth, king Richard departed from the Ile of Cyprus,
[Footnote: Cyprus, the third largest island of the Mediterranean, situated
in the N.E. angle, equidistant about 60 miles from the coasts of Syria and
Asia Minor. Its form was compared in ancient times to the skin of a deer.
Its length, from Cape Andrea to Cape Epiphanias, the ancient Acamas, is 140
miles. Its greatest breadth, from Cape Gatto on the south coast to Cape
Kormakiti on the north, is about 50 miles, but it gradually narrows towards
the east, being no more than 5 miles wide near Cape Andrea.
The coast of the island consists of a succession of gulfs and bays, many of
which, though not sufficiently land-locked to form natural harbours, would
be capable, with the addition of some artificial works, such as
breakwaters, &c., of affording safe anchorage in all the preuailing winds.
On the north-west and north the principal harbours or roadsteads affording
shelter from certain winds are the Bay of Chrysochon and the roads of Pyros
and Morpha, the harbour of Kyrenia, and the Bay of Exarkos; on the east and
south, the bays and harbours of Salamis and Famagusta, the bay and roads of
Larnaka, the roads of Limasol, which latter were greatly improved by the
opening of an iron pier in 1882, and the small harbour of Paphos (Kuklia).
The great disadvantage of all these harbours and roadsteads is the
shallowness of the water for some distance from the land; this has the
effect of raising a great deal of surf when the wind blows on shore, and
also of compelling vessels of any size to anchor at a considerable distance
out, thus making the operations of landing and embarking cargo both tedious
and expensiue. It would not, however, be a matter of great expense to
construct breakwaters and deepen the old harbours, especially that of
Famagusta, which, at the end of the sixteenth century, was sufficiently
deep and large to afford safe anchorage to the whole fleet of the Venetian
Republic, and when in the outer harbour there is now shelter for about
twelve ironclads. Larnaka is the port at present most frequented by trading
vessels.
The ancient Olympus, how called Santa Croce, rises in the centre of the
island, and two principal ranges of mountains runs in the direction of its
length, keeping closer to the north than to the south coast. The highest
summit of the range of Santa Croce is mount Troödos, with an elevation of
6590 feet above the sea-level. Here, on the south-east slopes, are the
summer quarters of the troops and the summer residence of the high
commissioner. The most extensive plain, called Messarea, is in the
south-east part of the island, and is watcred by the river Pedæus. The
south of the island is watered by several streams, the principal of which
is the river Kuris, or Lico, which falls into the sea at Episkopi, the
ancient _Curium_. But these streams, which were once rivers of some
importance, had very much decreased, owing to the almost complete
denudation, in the plains and lower slopes of the mountains, of the forests
which anciently covered them. Since the British occupation greater
attention has been paid to the forests, and the beneficial results are
already apparent. The Pedæus is the chief river. This and the other streams
generally overflow their banks in the rainy season, and flood the land; as
the waters subside, they leave behind a fertilizing mud, in the same manner
as the Nile, but during the rest of the year they give but little if any
help in the way of irrigation. The rainy season, although generally
occurring from October to February, is not, however, to be absolutely
depended upon; thus it is recorded that in 1330, during the reign of Hugo
of Lusignan, the rainfall was so heavy and the rivers flooded to such an
extent as to spread desolation far and near; and under Constantine there
was no rain for thirty-six years, so that most of the inhabitants left the
island. Again, in modern times, there was a disastrously small rainfall in
1869.
The soil is naturally fertile, and formerly maintained a population of
nearly 1,000,000 but the number of inhabitants in 1881 was only 185,906, of
whom the bulk were Greek Christians. Cotton of the finest quality has been
raised from American seed; excellent wine and all kinds of fruit are
produced, but agriculture is in a most backward state. Besides the
productions already named, madder, opium, oranges, lemons, pomegranates,
&c., are grown. The carob-tree abounds in some districts; its succulent
pods are exported to Egypt and Syria, while the fruit called St. John's
Bread is used as an article of food. Of all the agricultural products,
cereals hold the most important place. Wheat was largely grown until
recently, but of late years, it has been in great measure replaced by
barley and oats, which ripen earlier; and are not subject to the attacks of
locusts.] with his shippes and gallies toward the seige of Achon, and on
the next morrowe came to Tyrus, where by procurement of the French king he
was restrained by the Citizens to enter. The next day after, which was the
first day of Iune, crossing the seas, he met with a great carak, fraught
with souldiers and men of warre to the number of a thousand and fiue
hundred, which pretended to be Frenchmen, and setting foorth their flagge
with the French armes, were indeede Saracens, [Sidenote: A great ship of
Saracens taken by king Richard.] secretly sent with wilde fire [Footnote:
Greek Fire was the name given to a composition which was largely used by
the Greeks of the Byzantine Empire in their wars with the Mohammedans. Its
nature was kept a profound secret for centuries, but the material is now
believed to have been a mixture of nitre, sulphur, and naphtha. It burned
with terrible fury wherever it fell, and it possessed the property of being
inextinguishable by water. Even when poured upon the sea it would float
upon the surface and still burn. It was used in warfare for a considerable
time after the discovery of gunpowder, but gradually fell into the disuse
as artillery became more effective. The name is still sometimes used to
designate the inflammable compounds known to modern chemists which have
been designed for use in incendiary shells, and for a composition which has
been used by the Fenians to set fire to public buildings.] and certaine
barrels of unknowen serpents to the defence of the towne of Achon, which
king Richard at length perceiuing eftsoones set upon them and so vanquished
them, of whom the most were drowned and some taken aliue: which being once
knowen in the citie of Achon, as it was a great discomfort to them, so it
was a great helpe to the Christians for winning the citie.
[Sidenote: King Richard arriued at Achon.] The next day after which was the
seuenth of Iune, king Richard came to Achon, which at that time had bene
long besieged by the Christians. After whose comming it was not long, but
the Pagans within the citie, seeing their wals to be undermined and towers
ouerthrowen, were driuen by composition to escape with life and limme, to
surrender the citie to the two kings.
Another great helpe to the Christians in winning the citie, was this. In
the said city of Achon there was a secret Christian among the Saracens, who
in time of the siege thereof vsed at sundry times to cast ouer the wals
into the campe of the Christians, certaine bils written in Hebrue, Greeke,
and Latine, wherein he disclosed to the Christians from time to time, the
doings and counsels of the enemies, aduertising them how and what way they
should worke, and what to beware, and alwayes his letters began thus. In
nomine Patris, et Filij, et Spiritus sancti Amen. By reason whereof the
Christians were much, aduantaged in their proceedings: but this was a great
heauines unto them, that neither he would utter his name, nor when the
citie was got did they euer understand who he was.
To make of a long siege a short narration. Vpon the twelfth day of Iuly the
yeere aforesaid, the Princes and Captaines of the Pagans, vpon agreement
resorted to the tent of the Templaries to commune with the two kings
touching peace, and giuing vp of their citie: the forme of which peace was
thus.
[Sidenote: The forme of peace concluded between the Kings and Princes of
Achon.] 1 That the Kings should haue the citie of Achon freely and fully
deliuered vnto them, with all which was therein.
2 That 500. captiues of the Christians should be restored to them, which
were in Achon.
3 That the holy crosse should be to them rendred, and a thousand Christian
captiues with two hundreth horsemen, whosoeuer they themselues would chose
out of all them which were in the power of the Saladine.
4 That they would giue vnto the Kings two hundreth thousand Bysants, so
that they themselues should remaine as pledges in the Kings hands, for the
performance hereof, that if in fortie daies, the aforesayd couenants were
not accomplished, they should abide the Kings mercie touching life and
limme.
These couenants being agreed vpon, the Kings sent their souldiers and
seruants into the citie, to take a hundreth of the richest and best of the
citie, to close them vp in towers vnder strong keeping, and the residue,
they committed to be kept in houses and in streetes, ministring vnto them
according to their necessities: to whom notwithstanding this they
permitted, that so many of them as would be baptized and receiue the faith
of Christ, should be free to goe whither they would: wherupon many there
were of the Pagans, which for feare of death pretended to be baptized, but
afterward so soone as they could, reuolted againe to the Saladine: for the
which it was afterward commanded by the Kings that none of them should be
baptized against their wils.