declared himself emperor of the island. He might have continued to reign had he not attacked Englishmen. Richard's fleet was scattered in a storm. Three ships belonging to it were wrecked on the coast of Cyprus. The Englishmen who escaped from the wreck were imprisoned, put in irons, and their property confiscated. The act was done probably to convince Saladin that Isaac was his friend. Not content with this outrage, he ventured on an insult which a high-spirited man like Richard was not likely to forgive. Richard's sister and Berengaria of Navarre, to whom he was betrothed, sought shelter from a storm in the port of Limasol. The rebel emperor refused to allow them to remain in his dominions. The ship proceeded to Rhodes, where Richard was then residing. He sailed at once for Cyprus, demanded the surrender of the English prisoners, and, when Isaac refused, landed his army. His attacks upon the emperor ended with the conquest of the whole island and the capture of Isaac himself. He carried the usurper with him to Palestine, and gave him as a slave to one of his followers. He ruled the island in Western fashion, established the feudal system, and soon changed a rich into a poor province. Subsequently he gave Cyprus to the Knights of the Temple.
In the year 1192, Conrad, while still at Tyre, was assassinated, as I have already mentioned, by an emissary of Khasis, the Old Man of the Mountain. There were suspicions at the time that the murder was done at the instigation of Richard, but, according to the Arab writers, the suspicions were unfounded. The leadership of the Crusaders was now in Richard's hands, but his hasty temper, and the same want of statesmanship which characterized his reign in England, caused the victories which he gained by his valor to be fruitless. In the beginning of 1193 the pope wrote to the English clergy that, on account of the dissensions of its leaders, the crusade had not answered his expectations, and almost immediately after Richard left Palestine.
Failure of the third crusade, With the truce signed between Saladin and Richard the third crusade came to an end. The united forces of England, France, and Germany had been com-