Richard’s scheme seems, in fact, to have been prompted by the spirit of sheer adventure and knight-errantry; and in the same spirit he set out to carry it into effect. On reaching Corfu he saw three galleys lying off the coast of the mainland; he at once put off in a little boat to hail them.[1048] [Sidenote: _Nov._] Their crews were pirates, and instantly attacked the boat; but Richard, through one of his sailors, entered into a parley with them, “and for their laudable bravery and boldness” made a bargain that they should carry him, with a few attendants,[1049] for two hundred marks of silver, to Ragusa.[1050] Probably, and not unreasonably, he preferred to embark with a crew as familiar with the intricacies of the Dalmatian coast as they were hardened to its perils. So furiously, however, did the wind drive the ships up the gulf that a wreck seemed imminent; and the king made a solemn vow to spend a hundred thousand ducats in building a church on whatever spot he should come safe to land.[1051] He found refuge on a little rocky island called Lacroma, lying half a mile south of Ragusa, and at that time forming part of the territory of that city, which was an independent republic. The rulers of Ragusa, on hearing of his arrival, begged him to accept a lodging in their city, and gave him a respectful and hospitable welcome. The chief inhabitants of Lacroma were a community of Benedictine monks; Richard at once proposed to fulfil his vow by rebuilding their monastic church. The rulers of the republic, however, represented to him that the sum which he had vowed was out of all proportion to the size of the monastery and the requirements of the monks, and would be far better employed in rebuilding the cathedral church of Ragusa on a scale befitting its metropolitan dignity. To this he agreed, on condition that the republic should obtain the Pope’s sanction to this deviation from the terms of his vow, and should at its own cost rebuild the little church on the island; and that, further, the abbot of Lacroma, assisted by his monks, should have in perpetuity the privilege of celebrating Mass in the cathedral church once a year, on the feast of the Purification of our Lady. Hereupon, it seems, “the good king having borrowed a large sum of money for the purpose,” the work was begun immediately. The zeal of the pilgrim king fired that of the people of the diocese, and his gift, supplemented by contributions from them, resulted in the erection of a church which for nearly five centuries stood without a peer in Illyria for the stately grace of its proportions and the beauty of its architectural details.[1052] An earthquake destroyed it in 1667; but Richard had, all unknowing, laid in a nation’s heart the foundation of something more precious and more lasting than any material edifice. The little republic of Ragusa kept her independence till 1810, when she was conquered by Napoleon. Four years later she was annexed to Dalmatia under the yoke of Austria.