and his greed for his subjects’ money, did good. To get money he sold to many towns and cities the right to govern themselves. In this reign London got its first Lord Mayor, Henry Fitz-Alwyn, A.D. 1191. He also sold offices and honors belonging to the Crown and the Church, and would have sold London could he have found a buyer.
Almost at the beginning of his reign he went to the Holy Land to war against the Turks and to take Jerusalem. He left his mother and William Longchamp to govern in his absence. When Longchamp was put aside by the barons in 1191, Richard’s brother John sought to rule in his place but was not permitted. Richard, meanwhile, was doing great deeds of valour in the Holy Land, but did not succeed in taking Jerusalem, although once in sight of it. He had for rivals in the crusading armies, Philip of France, and the Duke of Austria, the latter of whom, it is said, he grossly insulted. It happened that Richard, returning from the crusades, fell into the hands of his old-time enemy, and by him was sent a prisoner to the German Emperor. The Emperor would not release him until he had paid a ransom of £100,000, and this large sum (for money was worth a great deal more then than now) the English people had to raise to free their king. John had tried to persuade the Emperor to keep Richard a prisoner, and for this and other acts of treachery Richard, on his return, took away John’s castles and lands. Richard now spent a few months in England, collecting all the money he could get to make war against his enemy, Philip of France, and then went to Normandy. He never came back, for while besieging the Castle of Chaluz, an archer took deliberate aim and shot him. Before he died he forgave his slayer, but Richard’s followers were more revengeful, and put the poor archer to a very painful death. Thus came to a violent end Richard, Cœur-de-Leon, the hero of many a romantic tale.
9. John, surnamed Sansterre or Lackland.—John, Richard’s brother, now came to the throne of England. He is the one king of England about whom no good can be said. Although able, handsome and, when he wished, pleasant and agreeable, he was cruel, licentious, and teacherous. He was chosen king of England over his brother Geoffrey’s son, Arthur, a lad twelve years of age; but his claims to his father’s French possessions were disputed.
