Page:Historyoffranc00yong.djvu/51

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111.] GROWING IMPORTANCE OF THE KINGS. 27 of Jerusalem in sight of his wife, Sibyl of Anjou, in the terrible battle of Tiberias and obliged the Holy City to surrender. The loss was a shock to Europe, where every sinner thought of pilgrimage as a last resource, and every Christian deemed it shame that the Holy Sepulchre should be in the hands of unbelievers. Pope Urban III. died of grief at the tidings, and among those who at once took the Cross were Philip Augustus, Henry H., and his son Richard. First however disputes had to be settled. Richard had been all his life betrothed to Alice, the sister of Philip, who had for many years been in his father's keeping without being given to him, and he insisted on being either married or set free. Philip took part with him, as did his brother John, and it was this rebellion that at last broke the heart of Henry II. His death, in 1 1 89, made some delay; but in 11 90 the crusaders set forth, Richard in a ileet of his own, Philip in hired Genoese vessels, fixing the island of Sicily as the place of meeting. Such strict rules were drawn up against bad language, gambling, and quarrelling, that, if they had been observed, the Third Crusad; would have been a model one. Philip's queen died just before he set out, and his mother, Alice of Blois, was left to govern the kingdom. The two kings wintered at Messina, where Philip was bought over to cancel his sister's betrothal to Richard, though he would not witness the arrival of Berengaria of Navarre, Richard's bride. He sailed for Palestine in the spring of 1 191, and at once joined in the siege of Ptoleinais, or St. John of Acre, which had been going on for about a year ; but no great exploit was performed until the arrival of Richard. His splendid bravery made an impression for which Philip seems to have been unprepared, and he was seized with a spirit of envy which he no longer kept in check. Levantine fever attacked both kings, and though Richard struggled to exert his mighty strength in its intervals, he never again quite shook off the disease. Philip was at once disabled. He was ill when Acre was taken, and after taking part in a council on the suc- cession to the crown of Jerusalem, he held himself to have fulfilled his vow, and sailed homewards in 1192. Any liking he may have had for Richard when making common cause against Henry had now been turned into ill-will. On his way back he went to Rome, to accuse his enemy to Pope Celestine III., but he was not listened to, and was laid under a strict charge to do no injury to the