THE EMBARKATION.
1190
The plan of embarking the troops.--The English fleet.--The
French forces.--Richard's rules.--The origin of tarring and
feathering.--Command of the fleet.--The fleet dispersed
by a storm.--A delay in Lisbon.--The rendezvous at
Vezelai.--Devastation by the armies.--Richard goes to
the East in advance of his fleet.--The rendezvous at
Messina.--Joanna.--Richard's visit.--King Richard's
excursions.--Ostia.--A quarrel.--Why Richard quarreled with
the bishop.--Naples and Vesuvius.--The crypt.--Salerno.--Richard's
visit there.--The fleet.--Richard pursuing his journey along
the coast of the Mediterranean.--Richard's tyrannical
disposition.--Stealing the falcon.--Richard flees to a priory
to escape the peasants.
The plan which Richard had formed for conveying his expedition to the
Holy Land was to embark it on board a fleet of ships which he was
sending round to Marseilles for this purpose, with orders to await him
there. Marseilles is in the south of France, not far from the
Mediterranean Sea. Richard might have embarked his troops in the
English Channel; but that, as the reader will see from looking on the
map of Europe, would require them to take a long sea voyage around the
coasts of France and Spain, and through the Straits of Gibraltar.
Richard thought it best to avoid this long circuit for his troops, and
so he sent the ships round, with no more men on board than necessary
to manoeuvre them, while he marched his army across France by land.
As for Philip, he had no ships of his own. England was a maritime
country, and had long possessed a fleet. This fleet had been very much
increased by the exertions of Henry the Second, Richard's father, who
had built several new ships, some of them of very large size,
expressly for the purpose of transporting troops to Palestine. Henry
himself did not live to execute his plans, and so he left his ships
for Richard.
France, on the other hand, was not then a maritime country. Most of
the harbors on the northern coast belonged to Normandy, and even at
the south the ports did not belong to the King of France. Philip,
therefore, had no fleet of his own, but he had made arrangements with
the republic of Genoa to furnish him with ships, and so his plan was
to march over the mountains to that city and embark there, while
Richard should go south to Marseilles.
Richard drew up a curious set of rules and regulations for the
government of this fleet while it was making the passage. Some of the
rules were the following:
1. That if any man killed another, the murderer was to be
lashed to the dead body and buried alive with it, if the
murder was committed in port or on the land. If the crime
was committed at sea, then the two bodies, bound together as
before, were to be launched overboard.
2. If any man, with a knife or with any other weapon, struck
another so as to draw blood, then he was to be punished by
being ducked three times over head and ears by being let
down from the yard-arm of the ship into the sea.
3. For all sorts of profane and abusive language, the
punishment was a fine of an ounce of silver for each
offense.
4. Any man convicted of theft, or "pickerie" as it was
called, was to have his head shaved and hot pitch poured
over it, and upon that the feathers of some pillow or
cushion were to be shaken. The offender was then to be
turned ashore on the first land that the ship might reach,
and there be abandoned to his fate.
The penalty named in this last article is the first instance in which
any account of the punishment of tarring and feathering is mentioned,
and this is supposed to be the origin of that extraordinary and very
cruel mode of punishment.
The king put the fleet under the command of three grand officers of
his court, and he commanded all his seamen and marines to obey them
strictly in all things, as they would obey the king himself if he had
been on board.
The fleet met with a great variety of adventures on its way to
Marseilles. It had not proceeded far before a great tempest arose,
and scattered the ships in every direction. At last, a considerable
number of them succeeded in making their way, in a disabled condition,
into the Tagus, in order to seek succor in Lisbon. The King of
Portugal was at this time at war with the Moors, who had come over
from Africa and invaded his dominions. He proposed to the Crusaders on
board the ships to wait a little while, and assist him in fighting the
Moors. "They are as great infidels," said he, "as any that you will
find in the Holy Land." The commanders of the fleet acceded to this
proposal, but the crews, when they were landed, soon made so many
riots in Lisbon, and involved themselves in such frequent and bloody
affrays with the people of the city, that the King of Portugal was
soon eager to send them away; so, in due time, they embarked again, in
order to continue their voyage.
In the mean time, while the fleet was thus going round by sea, Richard
and Philip were engaged in assembling their forces and making
preparation to march by land. The two armies, when finally organized,
came together at a place of rendezvous called Vezelai, where there
were great plains suitable for the camping-ground of a great military
force. Vezelai was on the road to Lyons, and the armies, after they
had met, marched in company to the latter city. The number of troops
assembled was very great. The united army amounted, it is said, to one
hundred thousand men. This was a very large force for those days. The
great difficulty was to find provision for them from day to day during
the march. Supplies of provisions for such a host can not be carried
far, so that armies are obliged to live on the produce of the country
that they march through, which is collected for this purpose by
foragers from day to day. The allied armies, as they moved slowly on,
impoverished and distressed the whole country through which they
passed, by devouring every thing that the people had in store. At
length, after marching together for some time, they came to the place
where the roads separated, and King Philip turned off to the left in
order to proceed through the passes of the Alps toward Genoa, while
Richard and his hosts proceeded southward toward Marseilles.
When he reached Marseilles, Richard found that his fleet had not
arrived. The delay was occasioned by the storm, and the subsequent
detention of the crews at Lisbon. And yet this was very long after
the time originally appointed for the sailing of the expedition. The
time first appointed was the last of March; but Philip could not go at
that time, on account of the death of his queen, which took place just
before the appointed period. Nor was Richard himself ready. It was not
until the thirtieth of August that the fleet arrived at Marseilles.
When Richard found that the fleet had not come he was greatly
disappointed. He had no means of knowing when to expect it, for there
were no postal or other communications across the country in those
days, as now, by which tidings could be conveyed to him. He waited
eight days very impatiently, and then concluded to go on himself
toward the East, and leave orders for the fleet to follow him. So he
hired ten large vessels and twenty galleys of the merchants of
Marseilles, and in these he embarked a portion of his forces, leaving
the rest to come in the great fleet when it should arrive. They were
to proceed to Messina in Sicily, where Richard was to join them. With
the vessels that he had hired he proceeded along the coast to Genoa,
where he found Philip, the French king, who had arrived there safely
before him by land.
From Marseilles to Genoa the course lies toward the northeast along
the coast of France. Thence, in going toward Messina, it turns toward
the southeast, and follows the coast of Italy. The route may be traced
very easily on any map of modern Europe. The reason why Messina had
been appointed as the great intermediate rendezvous of the fleet was
two-fold. In the first place, it was a convenient port for this
purpose, being a good harbor, and being favorably situated about
midway of the voyage. Then, besides, Richard had a sister residing
there. Her name was Joanna. She had married the king of the country.
Her husband had died, it is true, and she was, at that time in some
sense retired from public life. She was, indeed, in some distress, for
the throne had been seized by a certain Tancred, who was her enemy,
and, as she maintained, not the rightful successor of her husband. So
Richard resolved, in stopping at Messina, to inquire into and redress
his sister's wrongs; or, rather, he thought the occasion offered him a
favorable opportunity to interfere in the affairs of Sicily, and to
lord it over the government and people there in his usual arrogant and
domineering manner.
After waiting a short time at Genoa, Richard set sail again in one of
his small vessels, and proceeded to the southward along the coast of
Italy. He touched at several places on the coast, in order to visit
celebrated cities or other places of interest. He sailed up the River
Arno, which you will find, on the map, flowing into the Gulf of Genoa
a little to the northward of Leghorn. There are two renowned cities on
this river, which are very much visited by tourists and travelers of
the present day, Florence and Pisa. Pisa is near the mouth of the
river. Florence is much farther inland. Richard sailed up as far as
Pisa. After visiting that city, he returned again to the mouth of the
river, and then proceeded on his way down the coast until he came to
the Tiber, and entered that river. He landed at Ostia, a small port
near the mouth of it--the port, in fact, of Rome. One reason why he
landed at Ostia was that the galley in which he was making the voyage
required some repairs, and this was a convenient place for making
them.
Perhaps, too, it was his intention to visit Rome; but while at Ostia
he became involved in a quarrel with the bishop that resided there,
which led him at length to leave Ostia abruptly, and to refuse to go
to Rome. The cause of the quarrel was the bishop's asking him to pay
some money that he owed the Pope. In all the Catholic countries of
Europe, in those days, there were certain taxes and fees that were
collected for the Pope, the income from which was of great importance
in making up the papal revenues. Now Richard, in his eagerness to
secure all the money he could obtain in England to supply his wants
for the crusade, had appropriated to his own use certain of these
church funds, and the bishop now called upon him to reimburse them.
This application, as might have been expected, made Richard extremely
angry. He assailed the bishop with the most violent and abusive
language, and charged all sorts of corruption and wickedness against
the papal government itself. These charges may have been true, but the
occasion of being called upon to pay a debt was not the proper time
for making them. To make the faults or misconduct of others, whether
real or pretended, an excuse for not rendering them their just dues,
is a very base proceeding.
As soon as Richard's galley was repaired, he embarked on board of it
in a rage, and sailed away. The next point at which he landed was
Naples.
Richard was greatly delighted with the city of Naples, which, rising
as it does from the shores of an enchanting bay, and near the base of
the volcano Vesuvius, has long been celebrated for the romantic beauty
of its situation. Richard remained at Naples several days. There is an
account of his going, while there, to perform his devotions in the
crypt of a church. The crypt is a subterranean apartment beneath the
church, the floors above it, as well as the pillars and walls of the
church, being supported by immense piers and arches, which give the
crypt the appearance of a dungeon. The place is commonly used for
tombs and places of sepulture for the dead. In the crypt where Richard
worshiped at Naples, the dead bodies were arranged in niches all
around the walls. They were dressed as they had been when alive, and
their countenances, dry and shriveled, were exposed to view,
presenting a ghastly and horrid spectacle. It was such means as these
that were resorted to, in the Middle Ages, for making religious
impressions on the minds of men.
After spending some days in Naples, Richard concluded that he would
continue his route; but, instead of embarking at once on board his
galley, he determined to go across the mountains by land to Salerno,
which town lies on the sea-coast at some distance south of Naples. By
looking at any map of Italy, you will observe that a great promontory
puts out into the sea just below Naples, forming the Gulf of Salerno
on the south side of it. The pass through the mountains which Richard
followed led across the neck of this promontory. His galley, together
with the other galleys that accompanied him, he sent round by water.
There was a great deal to interest him at Salerno, for it was a place
where many parties of crusaders, Normans among the rest, had landed
before, and they had built churches and monasteries, and founded
institutions of learning there, all of which Richard was much
interested in visiting.
He accordingly remained in Salerno several days, until at length his
fleet of galleys, which had come round from Naples by sea, arrived.
Richard, however, in the mean time, had found traveling by land so
agreeable, that he concluded to continue his journey in that way,
leaving his fleet to sail down the coast, keeping all the time as near
as possible to the shore. The king himself rode on upon the land,
accompanied by a very small troop of attendants. His way led him
sometimes among the mountains of the interior, and sometimes near the
margin of the shore. At some points, where the road approached so near
to the cliffs as to afford a good view of the sea, the fleet of
galleys were to be seen in the offing prosperously pursuing their
voyage.
[Illustration: RICHARD PURSUING HIS JOURNEY.]
The king went on in this way till he reached Calabria, which is the
country situated in the southern portion of Italy. The roads here were
very bad, and as the autumn was now coming on, many of the streams
became so swollen with rains that it was difficult sometimes for him
to proceed on his way. At one time, while he was thus journeying, he
became involved in a difficulty with a party of peasants which was
extremely discreditable to him, and exhibits his character in a very
unfavorable light. It seems that he was traveling by an obscure
country road, in company with only a single attendant, when he
happened to pass by a village, where he was told a peasant lived who
had a very fine hunting hawk or falcon. Hunting by means of these
hawks was a common amusement of the knights and nobles of those days;
and Richard, when he heard about this hawk, said that a plain
countryman had no business with such a bird. He declared that he
would go to his house and take it away from him. This act, so
characteristic of the despotic arrogance which marked Richard's
character, shows that the reckless ferocity for which he was so
renowned was not softened or alleviated by any true and genuine
nobleness or generosity. For a rich and powerful king thus to rob a
poor, helpless peasant, and on such a pretext too, was as base a deed
as we can well conceive a royal personage to perform.
Richard at once proceeded to carry his design into execution. He went
into the peasant's house, and having, under some pretext or other, got
possession of the falcon, he began to ride away with the bird on his
wrist. The peasant called out to him to give him back his bird.
Richard paid no attention to him, but rode on. The peasant then called
for help, and other villagers joining him, they followed the king,
each one having seized in the mean time such weapons as came most
readily to hand. They surrounded the king in order to take the falcon
away, while he attempted to beat them off with his sword. Pretty soon
he broke his sword by a blow which he struck at one of the peasants,
and then he was in a great measure defenseless. His only safety now
was in flight. He contrived to force his way through the circle that
surrounded him, and began to gallop away, followed by his attendant.
At length he succeeded in reaching a priory, where he was received and
protected from farther danger, having, in the mean time, given up the
falcon. When the excitement had subsided he resumed his journey, and
at length, without any farther adventures, reached the coast at the
point nearest to Sicily. Here he passed the night in a tent, which he
pitched upon the rocks on the shore, waiting for arrangements to be
made on the next day for his public entrance into the harbor of
Messina, which lay just opposite to him, across the narrow strait that
here separates the island of Sicily from the main land.