Henry was anxious to get Richard into his own keeping; but Leopold was not disposed to part unconditionally with such a valuable prize. On January 6 he brought his prisoner before the Emperor at Ratisbon.[1067] “The evil counsels of Duke Leopold’s rivals,” says an Austrian chronicler, “prevented an immediate conclusion of the matter”; Richard was taken back to his Austrian prison,[1068] and it was not till February 14 that the Emperor and the duke came to terms. They began by laying down conditions to be required of the king for his release. They decided that he should give the Emperor a hundred thousand marks of silver, whereof Leopold should have half as the dowry of Richard’s niece Eleanor of Britanny, who should marry Leopold’s son; the marriage to take place and half the ransom to be paid and divided at Michaelmas, the other half in the following Lent. Richard was to set free, without ransom, Leopold’s relations Isaac of Cyprus and his daughter. He was to give the Emperor fifty galleys manned and furnished at his own cost, and carrying a hundred knights and fifty crossbowmen; he was also to go in person, with another hundred knights and fifty crossbowmen, with Henry to Sicily and help him to conquer it. In other words, the king of England was to be brought down to the level of the dukes of Austria and Suabia and Bavaria as a vassal of the Empire, within which neither he nor any of his predecessors, English, Norman, Angevin, or Poitevin, had ever held a particle of land. For the fulfilment of these conditions he was to give Henry two hundred hostages, who were not to be released till he had, furthermore, obtained for Leopold absolution from Rome—for the Pope on hearing of the capture of the royal Crusader had at once excommunicated his captor.[1069] If Richard did not fulfil all these conditions within a year, fifty of his hostages or he himself, as Leopold might choose, should be restored to the latter. The Emperor had to give his Austrian vassal two hundred sureties for the fulfilment of two further stipulations exacted by Leopold [Sidenote: _Feb._] before he would part with his prize. In case of Henry’s death while Richard was in his custody, Richard was to be given back to Leopold; and in case of Leopold’s death his son was to step into his place for all the purposes of the treaty.[1070]