Young Folks' History of EnglandYonge, Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary)
History
Young Folks' History of England
Yonge, Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary)
Great Britain -- History -- Juvenile literature
Richard was greatly grieved at his father's death, and when he came
and looked at the dead body, in Fontevraud Abbey Church, he cried
out, "Alas! it was I who killed him!" But it was too late now: he
could not make up for what he had done, and he had to think about the
Crusade he had promised to make. Richard was so brave and strong that
he was called Lion-heart; he was very noble and good in some ways, but
his fierce, passionate temper did him a great deal of harm. He, and
King Philip of France, and several other great princes, all met in the
island of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea, and thence sailed for the
Holy Land. The lady whom Richard was to marry came to meet him in
Sicily. Her name was Berengaria; but, as it was Lent, he did not
marry her then. She went on to the Holy Land in a ship with his
sister Joan, and tried to land in the island of Cypress; but the
people were inhospitable, and would not let them come. So Richard,
in his great anger, conquered the isle, and was married to Berengaria
there.
The Mahommedans who held Palestine at that time were called Saracens,
and had a very brave prince at their head named Saladin, which means
Splendor of Religion. He was very good, just, upright, and truth-
telling, and his Saracens fought so well, that the Crusaders would
hardly have won a bit of ground if the Lion-heart had not been so
brave. At last, they did take one city on the coast named Acre; and
one of the princes, Leopold, Duke of Austria, set up his banner on
the walls. Richard did not think it ought to be there: he pulled it
up and threw it down into the ditch, asking the duke how he durst take
the honors of a king. Leopold was sullen, and brooded over the insult,
and King Philip thought Richard so overbearing, that he could not bear
to be in the army with him any longer. In truth, though Philip had
pretended to be his friend, and had taken his part against his father,
that was really only to hurt King Henry; he hated Richard quite as
much, or more, and only wanted to get home first in order to do him
as much harm as he could while he was away. So Philip said it was
too hot for him in the Holy Land, and made him ill. He sailed back
to France, while Richard remained, though the climate really did hurt
his health, and he often had fevers there. When he was ill, Saladin
used to send him grapes, and do all he could to show how highly he
thought of so brave a man. Once Saladin sent him a beautiful horse;
Richard told the Earl of Salisbury to try it, and no sooner was the
earl mounted, than the horse ran away with him to the Saracen army.
Saladin was very much vexed, and was afraid it would be taken for
a trick to take the English king prisoner, and he gave the earl a
quieter horse to ride back with. Richard fought one terrible battle
at Joppa with the Saracens, and then he tried to go on to take
Jerusalem; but he wanted to leave a good strong castle behind him
at Ascalon, and set all his men to work to build it up.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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