Not the least of the disadvantages under which that host laboured was the lack of a commander-in-chief. Neither the character nor the circumstances of Guy were such as could enable him to retain that position after the influx from Europe had begun; and the supreme command of the siege therefore passed from one to another of the more influential leaders of the western contingents by a succession of temporary arrangements, intended only as makeshifts till the three sovereigns who were expected to take the joint leadership of the whole expedition should arrive. The greatest of these three, however, the Emperor Frederic Barbarossa, never arrived at all, having been accidentally drowned on the way in June 1190. After the main body of the French Crusaders reached Acre in July 1190, the chief command devolved upon their leader, Count Henry of Champagne, whose mother was half-sister to both Philip Augustus and Richard, and who was thus in some sense a representative of both the kings. Philip on his arrival devoted himself to setting up his military engines, of which he had brought a goodly store, in whatever places he deemed most advantageous, and according to one English chronicler, building a stone house for himself; but he declined to take any further action without his brother-sovereign.[650] Richard had no sooner passed from the clamorous welcome given him by the whole host as he landed, and the exchange of courteous greetings with Philip, than he plunged at once into practical matters.[651] Having learned that Philip was paying his followers three gold bezants apiece every month, [Sidenote: _June 8_] he—seemingly that very night—issued a proclamation throughout the host offering four bezants a month to any knight, of any country, who would take service under him.[652] The consequence was that nearly all those who were free to dispose of themselves and their services “took him for their leader and their lord.”[653] Among the first to come forward for this purpose were the Genoese and the Pisans. He declined, however, the homage and fealty of the Genoese, because it was already pledged to Philip. The Pisans became his liegemen, and “he confirmed to them by his charter the customs which they were wont to have in the land of Jerusalem.”[654] It is highly significant that Richard could already, and seemingly without calling forth a protest or even a remark from anyone, make an assumption of authority in a realm of which he was neither ruler nor overlord. Scarcely less significant was the action of Henry of Champagne. Henry—so at least says an English chronicler—having come to the end of his own resources, had asked his uncle of France for a subsidy; Philip offered him a loan of a hundred marks, if he would pledge his county for their repayment. Henry then applied to his uncle of England, who at once gave him four thousand pounds and a supply of food for his men and his horses. Thenceforth [Sidenote: