The German Crusade had already been undone when the kings of France and England met at Vézelai and marched thence to Marseilles. A gallant army accompanied them, conspicuous among the leaders of which were Hugh, Duke of Burgundy, Theobald V. of Blois (the son and successor of Theobald the Great), Henry II., Count of Champagne (the Count of Blois’ nephew), and Philip of Alsace, the aged Count of Flanders. [Sidenote: Crusade of Philip Augustus and Richard I., 1190–1192.] In September 1190 both kings had reached Sicily, where they passed the winter, detained by the critical state of the island. William the Good had died in November 1189, and his throne should have passed to his aunt Constance’s husband, the new king of the Romans, Henry VI. But the rule of the northerners was not popular in Sicily. [Sidenote: Tancred of Sicily and Isaac of Cyprus, 1189–1191.] Despite the efforts of Walter Archbishop of Palermo to keep the Sicilian grandees true to their oaths, the national party, headed by the chancellor Matthew, passed over Constance, and gave the throne to Tancred, Count of Lecce, a young, vigorous, warlike, and popular prince. Tancred was a bastard son of Duke Roger, King Roger’s eldest son, who had died before his father. As the determined foe of the Hohenstaufen, Richard bore no ill-will to Tancred, and, with a little more statecraft, would have seen the wisdom of gaining his friendship. But Richard often neglected policy for adventure, and was perhaps seized by a wild desire to conquer Sicily. Tancred had rashly imprisoned King William’s widow, Joanna, who was Richard I.’s sister, and had deprived her of her dowry. On Richard’s arrival, King Tancred released the lady, but still kept her lands. But Richard took Messina by storm, ‘quicker than a priest could chant matins,’ and forced Tancred to surrender his sister’s portion. He stayed in Sicily all the winter, and at the time of the spring passage, Richard and Philip set sail for the Holy Land. On the way Richard conquered Cyprus, then ruled by the Comnenian prince Isaac, who was called Emperor of Cyprus, and had won an ill name for his ill-concealed alliance with Saladin and his bad treatment of Frankish pilgrims. [Sidenote: Capture of Acre, 1191.]