INTRIGUES OF PHILIP AUGUSTUS.

415

Hereford, yet he must have been prepared, by more authentic information, to find John struggling to obtain possession of his dominions, and France and Germany eager to intercept him on his return to his own kingdom.

John hesitated and feared; but Philip pursued eagerly his plans, and boldly demanded of the Seneschal of Normandy the surrender of Gisors and the Norman Vexin, and the restoration of his sister, according to the terms of the treaty of Messina. He even produced the treaty; but the seneschal, William Fitz-Ralph, who met him for the purpose of conference between Gisors and Trie, boldly refused to accede to any of his demands, alleging that, having received his authority personally from Richard, nothing but the king's own commands could justify him in giving up any part of that which was entrusted to his charge. Philip threatened loudly to invade Normandy, glad of the pretext which was afforded him. But the nobles of France and the sovereign pontiff judged that the refusal of the seneschal did not in any degree affect the oath which Philip and his peers had taken, not to make war upon Richard's territories during his absence in the Holy Land; and, while the Pope menaced the King of France with the thunders of the Church if he persevered, the barons refused to march on an expedition which was clearly a violation of the most solemn engagements.

Disappointed and enraged, Philip was forced to abandon the immediate prosecution of his design; but still he continued his intrigues with John; and still he persevered in preparation, in order to be prepared for the time when Richard's departure from Palestine might absolve him and his nobles from the strict letter of their oath. In the mean time, Richard's officers in his continental dominions took every means to strengthen themselves against the threatened invasion, while Eleanor and the Archbishop of Rouen watched narrowly all the movements of John, in order to guard against the treacherous intrigues which he was known to be carrying on against his brother.

While all was in this state of suspense, news arrived which alarmed the friends and rejoiced the enemies of Richard. Numerous bands of crusaders reached England and Normandy who had witnessed the embarkation of the king, or

416

PHILIP'S INVASION OF NORMANDY.

had seen the preparations made for his departure. Some also reported that they had beheld the galley in which he had sailed from Acre vacant in the port of Brundusium. It could not be doubted that the heroic King of England had quitted Palestine, and landed somewhere on the coasts of Europe; but still Richard did not appear; and sinister rumours spread of the monarch's fate. Some reported that he was dead, others, that he had been made prisoner; and gradually the latter suspicion assumed form and consistency. Philip Augustus received direct information of Richard's captivity; and his proceedings left no further doubt of the fate of the King of England.

His troops had been kept in a constant state of preparation, and all the nobles of France on whom he could most rely had been warned to be ready at a moment's notice, to aid their king in a war from which conscientious scruples had alone deterred them. It took some time, however, for Philip to bring all his forces into the field; and we find from Rigordus, that it was not till the 12th of April, 1193, that the King of France commenced his march, although he must have been aware of the captivity of the English monarch some months before. With forces vastly superior to any which Richard's officers in Normandy could oppose to him, Philip obtained very rapid success. The strong town of Gisors was speedily taken, castle after castle fell before his arms, and the whole of the Norman Vexin was overrun. is probable that his victorious career was only stayed by the usual distaste of feudal armies for long campaigns; but it is certain, that after carrying on the war for a few weeks with complete success, he returned to Paris, and made over to the Abbey of St. Denis the town of Neufchatel en Bray, which he had just wrested from the power of England.*

It

* The English historians in general confound this expedition of Philip with a subsequent invasion of Normandy, in February, 1194, which I shall have occasion to notice hereafter; but the French contemporary writers are all agreed as to the facts and dates.

RUMOUR OF RICHARD'S CAPTIVITY.

417

BOOK XXI.

THE conduct of John, and the gradual development of his plans for obtaining possession of the throne of his brother, had alarmed in the highest degree many of those who, though they had assisted him in the expulsion of Longchamp, were sincerely attached to Richard. It is clear that he had, in the first instance, deceived not only the Archbishop of Rouen, who was not thoroughly acquainted with his character, but also his own mother, Eleanor, who ought to have known him better. The eagerness with which he grasped at power, however, speedily opened their eyes, and measures had been already taken to frustrate his schemes, when the rumour of Richard's captivity began to spread through Europe. One of the first steps of Eleanor to obstruct the ambitious course of her younger son, was to induce the prelates and nobles of England, with the Archbishop of York at their head,* to renew their oath of fidelity to Richard; and perceiving by this and various other indications, that he could hope for no support from his mother or the Archbishop of Rouen, John determined to have recourse to Longchamp, and see if he could not pacify and engage his former opponent. Longchamp, it would appear, was ready to use the weak and treacherous prince as a tool for the purpose of obtaining his recal from exile; but the obstacles to his return were so great that, after some fruitless attempts, he abandoned the design, and resolved to wait for the arrival of his royal

master.

No sooner had the intelligence of Richard's captivity assumed a credible form, than the Archbishop of Rouen summoned the friends of the absent monarch to meet him at Oxford; and eager consultations ensued as to the course to be adopted. That Richard was a prisoner seemed now evident to every one, and it was generally understood that the place of his incarceration was Germany; but in what particular spot of that wide territory the monarch was confined, nobody had the least idea. In these circumstances, * The see of Canterbury was vacant. 2 E

VOL. II.

418

INDIGNATION OF THE ENGLISH PEOPLE.

the first object was to ascertain the residence and condition of the king; and the Abbots of Broxley and Pont-Robert were despatched on a sort of pilgrimage to seek their sovereign in the dominions of the emperor.

Most urgent letters were also written to the Pope, representing the scandal to Christendom occasioned by the unjust detention of the English king; and Celestine was ultimately, though not without difficulty, moved by the appeal to more vigorous interposition than the court of Rome usually employed in cases where the authority and interests of the holy see were not implicated. He denounced in the strongest terms of reprobation the act which had been committed, threatened all those who had been concerned therein with the censures of the church, and even menaced the whole empire with interdict.

The indignation of the people of England was excited to the highest possible degree; and at first a cry for vengeance was universal in the land; but the invasion of Germany was soon seen to be impracticable, and all hope of releasing the king centred in negotiation. The feelings of a chivalrous nobility, however, were strongly moved in favour of their injured sovereign, and the event in which John had founded his expectations of obtaining the supreme power, proved the greatest stumbling-block in his course. He still held many strong places, it is true; he still had partisans and accomplices; but the general sense of the people was against him, and all the great authorities in the state were prepared to resist his efforts and frustrate his intrigues.

Although it would seem there were incessant communications between John and the King of France, yet the base prince was so well aware that many, even of his own supporters amongst the English subjects of his brother, were opposed to the intervention of Philip, that he dared not for a long time openly ally himself with that monarch. He lingered on in England, apparently vacillating in his purposes, endeavouring to gain partisans and advantages, and to persuade the people that Richard had died in prison.

In the mean time, events were taking place on the continent which forced him in the end to take more decided steps, and display himself in his true colours. The place of Richard's imprisonment was discovered: some say by a

DISCOVERY OF RICHARD'S PLACE OF IMPRISONMENT.

419

letter, from the emperor to the King of France, falling accidentally into the hands of Longchamp, Bishop of Ely; some say by the devoted exertions of the troubadour, Blondel de Nesle, the monarch's friend and fellow poet. The latter account is traditional, and has been very generally rejected, from the romantic nature of the tale; nor can I trace it to any certain source; but yet it is clear that this statement, in regard to the discovery of Richard's prison, was very generally believed at an early period in our history, and I cannot pass it over altogether without mention, although I warn the reader that the whole account may very likely be a fiction. No sooner, we are told, did Blondel de Nesle hear of the imprisonment of his royal master, than he set out to seek him, passing, as was very usual with troubadours, from castle to castle, throughout the land in which Richard was said to be confined. At length he arrived at a spot where, it was rumoured amongst the peasantry, a king was imprisoned; and climbing up the rock, he seated himself beneath one of the windows of the castle, and began to sing a lay which he and Richard are said to have composed and often sung together. The song was immediately taken up by a voice within the castle, which Blondel instantly recognised as that of the king; and thus was the place of Richard's incarceration made known.

The scene where this event is said to have taken place is wild and magnificent, and harmonises well with the romantic legend. Seated on a bold and abrupt hill, surrounded by an ocean of woody mountains, with no place larger than a mere hamlet, except the village of Anweiler, within several miles, the castle of Trifels was a place well chosen for the secret imprisonment of a captive king; and whether the above tale be true or false, it would appear certain that the abbots sent to seek their sovereign in Germany must have received some accurate information in regard to Richard's abode, before they actually met with him; for at this time they were advancing up the left bank of the Rhine, which would hardly have been the case unless they had been guided by rumour or intelligence. Correct information must also have reached the Bishop of Salisbury and the Chancellor Longchamp; for both had visited the king before he was removed from Trifels to Haguenau, and Longchamp had apparently negotiated