accept Philip's view of his rights, but war at the moment
would have been inconvenient, and so he sent a return embassy
with Ranulf Glanvill at its head, and succeeded in getting a
truce until the middle of the winter. Various fruitless nego-
tiations followed, complicated by an attack made by the
garrison of Gisors on French workmen found building an
1 1 8/ ^^^ WITH PHILIP II 347
opposing castle just over the border. Henry himself crossed chap.
to Normandy about the middle of February, 1 187, but per- ^^^
sonal interviews with Philip led to no result, and the situation
drifted steadily toward war. The birth of a posthumous son
to Geoffrey in March — whom the Bretons insisted on calling
Arthur, though Henry wished to give him his own name, a
sure sign of their wish for a more independent position —
brought about no change. Philip had protected himself
from all danger of outside interference by an alliance with
the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and was determined on war.
By the middle of May both sides were ready. Henry divided
his army into four divisions and adopted a purely defensive
policy.
Philip's attack fell on the lands of disputed allegiance on
the eastern edge of the duchy of Aquitaine near his own
possessions, and after a few minor successes he laid siege to
the important castle of Chateauroux. This was defended by
Richard in person, with his brother John, but Philip pressed
the siege until Henry drew near with an army, when he re-
tired a short distance and awaited the next move. Negotiations
followed, in the course of which the deep impression that the
character of PhiHp had already made on his great vassals is
clearly to be seen.^ Henry's desire was to avoid a battle, and
this was probably the best policy for him ; it certainly was
unless he were willing, as he seems not to have been, to bring
on at once the inevitable mortal struggle between the houses of
Capet and Anjou. Unimportant circumstances on both sides
came in to favour Henry's wish and to prevent a battle, and
finally Henry himself, by a most extraordinary act of folly,
threw into the hands of Philip the opportunity of gaining a
greater advantage for his ultimate purposes than he could
hope to gain at that time from any victory. Henry's great
danger was Richard. In the situation it was incumbent on
him from every consideration of policy to keep Richard satis-
fied, and to prevent not merely the division of the Angevin
strength, but the reinforcement of the enemy with the half
of it. He certainly had had experience enough of Richard's
character to know what to expect. He ought by that time to
1 Gervase of Canterbury, i. 371; Giraldus Cambrensis, De Principis Instruc-
iione, iii. 2. (^Opera, viii. 231.)
348 HENRY OUTGENERALLED 1187
CHAP, have been able to read Philip Augustus's. And yet he calmly
â– ^^^ proceeded to a step from which, it is hardly too much to say,
all his later troubles came through the suspicion he aroused
in Richard's mind, — a step so unaccountable that we are
tempted to reject our single, rather doubtful account of it.
He wrote a letter to Philip proposing that Adela should be
married to John, who should then be invested with all the
French fiefs held by the house of Anjou except Normandy,
which with the kingdom of England should remain to Rich-
ard.^ If Henry was blind enough to suppose that the Duke
of Aquitaine could be reconciled to such an arrangement,
Philip saw at once what the effect of the proposal would
be, and he sent the letter to Richard.
The immediate result was a treaty of peace to continue in
force for two years, brought about apparently by direct nego-
tiations between Richard and Philip, but less unfavourable to
Henry than might have been expected. It contained, accord-
ing to our French authorities, the very probable agreement
that the points in dispute between the two kings should be
submitted to the decision of the curia regis of France, and
Philip was allowed to retain the lordships of Issoudun and
Freteval, which he had previously occupied, as pledges for
the carrying out of the treaty. The ultimate result of Philip's
cunning was that Richard deserted his father and went home
with the king of France, and together they lived for a time in
the greatest intimacy. Philip, it seemed, now loved Richard
"as his own soul," and showed him great honour. Every
day they ate at table from the same plate, and at night they
slept in the same bed. One is reminded of PhiHp's ardent
love for Geoffrey, and certain suspicions inevitably arise in the
mind. But at any rate the alarm of Henry was excited by
the new intimacy, and he did not venture to go over to Eng-
land as he wished to do until he should know what the out-
come was to be. He sent frequent messengers to Richard,
urging him to return and promising to grant him everything
that he could justly claim, but without effect. At one time
Richard pretended to be favourably inclined, and set out as
if to meet his father, but instead he fell upon the king's trea-
sure at Chinon and carried it off to Aquitaine to use in put-
1 Giraldus Cambrensis, De Principis Instrudione. {Opera, viii. 232.)
1 1 8; RICHARD TAKES THE CROSS 349
ting his own castles into a state of defence. His father, chap.
however, forgave even this and continued to send for him, and ^^^
at last he yielded. Together they went to Angers, and there
in a great assembly Richard performed liege homage to ^is
father once more and swore fealty to him *' against all men,"
a fact which would seem to show that Richard had in some
formal way renounced his fealty while at Philip's court,
though we have no account of his doing so. During this
period, in September, 11 87, an heir was born to King Philip,
the future Louis VIII.
As this year drew to its close frequent letters and messen-
gers from the Holy Land made known to the west one terrible
disaster after another. Saladin with a great army had fallen
on the weak and divided kingdom and had won incredible
successes. The infant king, Baldwin V, had died before these
events began, and his mother Sibyl was recognized as queen.
She immediately, against the expressed wish of the great
barons, gave the crown to her husband, Guy of Lusignan.
He was a brave man and an earnest defender of the Holy
Land, but he could not accomplish the impossible task of
maintaining a kingdom, itself so weak, in the face of open
and secret treachery. In October the news reached Europe
of the utter defeat of the Christians, of the capture of the
king, and worse still of the true Cross by the infidels. The
pope. Urban III, died of grief at the tidings. His successor,
Gregory VIII, at once urged Europe to a new crusade in a
long and vigorous appeal. Very soon afterwards followed
the news of the capture of Jerusalem by Saladin. The Em-
peror Frederick was anxious to put himself at the head of the
armies of Christendom, as he was entitled to do as sovereign
of the Holy Roman Empire, and lead them to recover the
holy places. But while most princes delayed and waited to
know what others would do, the impulsive and emotional
Richard took the cross the next morning, men said, after he
had learned the news. This he did without the knowledge
of his father who was shocked to learn of it, and shut him-
self up for days, understanding more clearly than did his son
what the absence of the heir to the throne on such a long
and uncertain expedition would mean at such a time.
The advisability, the possibility even, of such a crusade
350 HENRY OUTGENERALLED 1188
CHAP, would all depend upon Philip, and the movements of Philip
^^^ just then were very disquieting. About the beginning of the
ne'^ year, 1188, he returned from a conference with the Em-
peror Frederick, which in itself could bode no good to the
father-in-law and supporter of Henry the Lion, and immedi-
ately began collecting a large army, ** impudently boasting,"
says the English chronicler of Henry's life, " that he would
lay waste Normandy and the other lands of the king of Eng-
land that side the sea, if he did not return to him Gisors and
all that belonged to it or make his son Richard take to
wife Adela the daughter of his father Louis." Philip evi-
dently did not intend to drop everything to go to the rescue
of Jerusalem nor was he inclined at any expense to his
own interests to make it easy for those who would. Henry
who was already at the coast on the point of crossing to
England, at once turned back when he heard of Philip's
threats, and arranged for a conference with him on January
21. Here was the opportunity for those who were urging
on the crusade. The kings of France and England with
their chief barons were to be together while the public ex-
citement was still high and the Christian duty of checking
the Saracen conquest still keenly felt. The Archbishop of
Tyre, who had come to France on this mission, gave up all
his other undertakings as soon as he heard of the meeting and
resolved to make these great princes converts to his cause.
It was not an easy task. Neither Henry nor Philip was
made of crusading material, and both were far more inter-
ested in the tasks of constructive statesmanship which they
had on hand than in the fate of the distant kingdom of
Jerusalem. A greater obstacle than this even was their fear
of each other, of what evil one might do in the absence of
the other, the unwillingness of either to pledge himself to
anything definite until he knew what the other was going to
do, and the difficulty of finding any arrangement which would
bind them both at once. It is practically certain that
they yielded at last only to the pressure of public opinion
which must have been exceedingly strong in the excitement of
the time and under the impassioned eloquence of a messen-
ger direct from the scene of the recent disasters. It was a
great day for the Church when so many men of the highest
1 1 88 KING HENRY TAKES THE CROSS 351
rank, kings and great barons, took the cross, and it was chap.
agreed that the spot should be marked by a new church, and ^^^
that it should bear the name of the Holy Field.
Whatever may be true of Philip, there can, I think, be no
doubt that, when Henry took the cross, he intended to keep
his vow. It was agreed between them that all things should
remain as they were until their return ; and Henry formally
claimed of his suzerain the protection of his lands during his
absence, and Philip accepted the duty.^ A few days after
taking the cross Henry held an assembly at Le Mans and
ordered a tax in aid of his crusade. This was the famous
Saladin tithe, which marks an important step in the history of
modern taxation. It was modelled on an earlier tax for the
same purpose which had been agreed upon between France
and England in 1166, but it shows a considerable develop-
ment upon that, both in conception and in the arrangements for
carrying out the details of the tax. The ordinance provided
for the payment by all, except those who were themselves
going on the crusade, of a tenth, a " tithe," of both personal
property and income, precious stones being exempt and the
necessary tools of their trade of both knights and clerks.
Somewhat elaborate machinery was provided for the collec-
tion of the tax, and the whole was placed under the sanction
of the Church. A similar ordinance was shortly adopted by
Philip for France, and on February 11, Henry, then in Eng-
land, held a council at Geddington, in Northamptonshire, and
ordained the same tax for England.
In the meantime the crusade had received a check, and
partly, at least, through the fault of its most eager leader,
Richard of Poitou. A rebellion had broken out against him,
and he was pushing the war with his usual rapidity and his
usual severities, adopting now, however, the interesting vari-
ation of remitting all other penalties if his prisoners would
take the cross. If Richard was quickly master of the rebel-
lion, it served on the one hand to embitter him still more
against his father, from the report, which in his suspicious
attitude he was quick to believe, that Henry's money and
encouragement had supported the rebels against him; and
on the other, to lead to hostilities with the Count of Toulouse.
1 Ralph de Diceto, ii. 55.
352
HENRY OUTGENERALLED ii!
CHAP. The count had not neglected the opportunity of Richard's
^^^ troubles to get a little satisfaction for his own grievances,
and had seized some merchants from the EngHsh lands.
Richard responded with a raid into Toulouse, in which he
captured the chief minister of the count and refused ransom
for him. Then the count in his turn arrested a couple of
English knights of some standing at court, who were return-
ing from a pilgrimage to St. James of Compostella. Still
Richard refused either ransom or exchange, and an appeal
to the king of France led to no result. Richard told his
father afterwards that Philip had encouraged his attack on
the count. Soon, however, his rapid successes in Toulouse,
where he was taking castle after castle, compelled PhiHp to
more decided interference ; probably he was not sorry to find
a reason both to postpone the crusade and to renew the attack
on the Angevin lands. First he sent an embassy to Henry
in England to protest against Richard's doings, and received
the reply that the war was against Henry's will, and that he
could not justify it. With a great army Philip then invaded
Auvergne, captured Chateauroux and took possession of almost
all Berri. An embassy sent to bring PhiKp to a better mind
was refused all satisfaction, and Henry, seeing that his pre-
sence was necessary in France, crossed the channel for the last
of many times and landed in Normandy on July ii, ii 88.
All things were now, indeed, drawing to a close with
Henry, who was not merely worn out and ill, but was
plunged into a tide of events flowing swiftly against all
the currents of his own life. Swept away by the strong
forces of a new age which he could no longer control, driven
and thwarted by men, even his own sons, whose ideals of
conduct and ambition were foreign to his own and never
understood, compelled to do things he had striven to avoid,
and to see helplessly the policy of his long reign brought to
naught, the coming months were for him full of bitter dis-
asters which could end only, as they did, in heartbreak and
death. Not yet, however, was he brought to this point, and
he got together a great army and made ready to fight if
necessary. But first, true to his policy of negotiation, he sent
another embassy to Philip and demanded restitution under
the threat of renouncing his fealty. Philip's answer was
1 1 88 A NEW WAR WITH PHILIP II 353
a refusal to stop his hostilities until he should have occu- chap.
pied all Berri and the Norman Vexin. War was now inevita- -^^^
ble, but it lingered for some time without events of importance,
and on August 16 began a new three days' conference at
the historic meeting-place of the kings near Gisors. This
also ended fruitlessly; some of the French even attacked
the English position, and then cut down in anger the old
elm tree under which so many conferences had taken place.
Philip was, however, in no condition to push the war upon
which he had determined. The crusading ardour of France
which he himself did not feel, and which had failed to
bring about a peace at Gisors, expressed itself in another
way ; and the Count of Flanders and Theobald of Blois and
other great barons of Philip notified him that they would
take no part in a war against Christians until after their
return from Jerusalem.
Philip's embarrassment availed Henry but little, although
his own force remained undiminished. A sudden dash at
Mantes on August 30, led only to the burning of a dozen or
more French villages, for Philip by a very hurried march
from Chaumont was able to throw himself into the city, and
Henry withdrew without venturing a pitched battle. On the
next day Richard, who till then had been with his father,
went off to Berri to push with some vigour the attack on
Philip's conquests there, promising his father faithful service.
A double attack on the French, north and south, was not a
bad plan as Philip was then situated, but for some reason
not clear to us Henry seems to have let matters drift and
made no use of the great army which he had got together.
The king of France, however, saw clearly what his next move
should be, and he sent to propose peace to Henry on the basis
of a restoration of conquests on both sides. Henry was ever
ready for peace, and a new conference took place at Chatillon
on the Indre, where it was found that Philip's proposition was
the exchange of his conquests in Berri for those of Richard
in Toulouse, and the handing over to him of the castle of
Pacy, near Mantes, as a pledge that the treaty would be kept.
It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that Philip knew that
this demand would be refused, as it was, and that he had only
made the proposal of peace in order to gain time to collect a
VOL. II. 23
354
HENRY OUTGENERALLED 1188
CHAP, new force. In this he must now have succeeded, for he
^^^ immediately took the offensive in Berri and added somewhat
to his conquests, probably by hiring the German mercenaries
whom we learn he shortly afterwards defrauded of their pay.
In the meantime Richard and Philip were drawing together
again, in what way exactly we do not know. We suspect
some underhanded work of PhiUp's which would be easy
enough. Evidently Richard was still very anxious about the
succession, and it seems to have occurred to him to utilize his
father's desire for peace on the basis of Philip's latest proposi-
tion, to gain a definite recognition of his rights. At any rate
we are told that he brought about the next meeting between
the kings, and that he offered to submit the question of the
rights or wrongs of his war with Toulouse to the decision of
the French king's court. This dramatic and fateful con-
ference which marks the success of Philip's intrigues began
on November 18 at Bonmoulins, and lasted three days.
Henry was ready to accept the proposal now made that all
things should be restored on both sides to the condition which
existed at the taking of the cross, but here Richard inter-
posed a decided objection. He could not see the justice of
being made to restore his conquests in Toulouse which he was
holding in domain, and which were worth a thousand marks a
year, to get back himself some castles in Berri which were
not of his domain but only held of him. Then Philip for
him, evidently by previous agreement, brought forward the
question of the succession. The new proposition was that
Richard and Adela should be married and that homage should
be paid to Richard as heir from all the Angevin dominions. It
seems likely, though it is not so stated, that on this condition
Richard would have agreed to the even exchange of conquests.
As time went on the discussion, which had been at first peace-
able and calm, became more and more excited so that on the
third day the attendants came armed. On that day harsh
words and threats were exchanged. To Richard's direct
demand that he should make him secure in the succession,
Henry replied that he could not do it in the existing circum-
stances, for, if he did, he would seem to be yielding to threats
and not acting of his own will. Then Richard, crying out
that he could now believe things that had seemed incredible
ii88 RICHARD TURNS AGAINST HIS FATHER 355
to him, turned at once to Philip, threw off his sword, and in chap.
the presence of his father and all the bystanders offered him ^^^
his homage for all the French fiefs, including Toulouse, sav-
ing his father's rights during his lifetime and his own
allegiance to his father. PhiUp accepted this offer without
scruple, and promised to Richard the restoration of what he
had taken in Berri, with Issoudun and all that he had conquered
of the English possessions since the beginning of his reign.
To one at least of the historians of the time Richard's
feeling about the succession did not seem strange, nor can it
to us.^ For this act of Richard, after which peace was never
restored between himself and his father, Henry must share
full blame with him. Whether he was actuated by a blind
affection for his youngest son, or by dislike and distrust of
Richard, or by a remembrance of his troubles with his eldest
son, his refusal to recognize Richard as his heir and to allow
him to receive the homage of the English and French barons,
a custom sanctioned by the practice of a hundred years in
England and of a much longer period in France, was a
political and dynastic blunder of a most astonishing kind.
Nothing could show more clearly how little he understood
Phihp Augustus or the danger which now threatened the
Angevin house. As for Richard, he may have been quick-
tempered, passionate, and rash, not having the well-poised
mind of the diplomatist or the statesman, at least not one of
the high order demanded by the circumstances, and deceived
by his own anger and by the machinations of PhiHp ; yet we
can hardly blame him for offering his homage to the king of
France. Nor can we call the act illegal, though it was
extreme and unusual, and might seem almost revolutionary.
An appeal to his overlord was in fact the only legal means
left him of securing his inheritance, and it bound PhiHp not
to recognize any one else as the heir of Henry. PhiUp was
clearly within his legal rights in accepting the offer of Richard,
and the care with which Richard's declaration was made to
keep within the law, reserving all the rights which should be
reserved, shows that however impulsive his act may have
seemed to the bystanders, it really had been carefully con-
sidered and planned in advance. The conference broke up
1 Gervase of Canterbury, i. 435.
01*
356 HENRY OUTGENERALLED 1189
CHAP, after this with no other result than a truce to January 13, and
^^^ Richard rode off with PhiHp without taking leave of his father.
For all that had taken place Henry did not give up his
efforts to bring back Richard to himself, but they were with-
out avail. He himself, burdened with anxiety and torn by
conflicting emotions, was growing more and more ill. The
scanty attendance at his Christmas court showed him the
opinion of the barons of the hopelessness of his cause and
the prudence of making themselves secure with Richard. He
was not well enough to meet his enemies in the conference
proposed for January 13, and it was postponed first to
February 2 and then to Easter, April 9. It was now, how-
ever, too late for anything to be accomplished by diplomacy.
Henry could not yield to the demands made of him until he
was beaten in the field, nor were they likely to be modified.
Indeed we find at this time the new demand appearing that
John should be made to go on the crusade when Richard did.
Even the intervention of the pope, who was represented at
the conferences finally held soon after Easter and early in
June, by a cardinal legate, in earnest effort for the crusade,
served only to show how completely Philip was the man of a
new age. To the threat of the legate, who saw that the fail-
ure to make peace was chiefly due to him, that he would lay
France under an interdict if he did not come to terms with
the king of England, Philip replied in defiant words that he
did not fear the sentence and would not regard it, for it would
be unjust, since the Roman Church had no right to interfere
within France between the king and his rebellious vassal ; and
he overbore the legate and compelled him to keep silence.
After this conference events drew swiftly to an end. The
allies pushed the war, and in a few days captured Le Mans,
forcing Henry to a sudden flight in which he was almost
taken prisoner. A few days later still Philip stormed the
walls of Tours and took that city. Henry was almost a fugi-
tive with few followers and few friends in the hereditary
county from which his house was named. He had turned
aside from the better fortified and more easily defended
Normandy against the advice of all, and now there was
nothing for him but to yield. Terms of peace were settled in
a final conference near Colombi^res on July 4, 11 89. At the
iiSg HENRY'S SUBMISSION AND DEATH 357
meeting Henry was so ill that he could hardly sit his horse, chap,
though Richard and Philip had sneered at his illness and ^^^
called it pretence, but he resolutely endured the pain as he
did the humiliation of the hour. PhiUp's demands seem
surprisingly small considering the man and the completeness