King Richard's Odyssey

After the Treaty of Jaffa and the official dissolution of the Third Crusade, Richard I of England headed home. He had left his brother John in charge, and reports were not encouraging. Also, his territories on the continent were being harassed by King Philip II of France. So in early October of 1192, he set sail from Jaffa, unaware of the string of misfortunes ahead of him.

His first stroke of bad luck came when storms forced him to stop at Corfu. Just off the northwest coast of Greece, Corfu was fought over and possessed at times by the Venetians, by William II of Sicily, and by the Byzantine emperors. At this time, it was in the possession of Emperor Isaac II Angelos. Isaac was not pleased with Richard, who had annexed Cyprus on his way to the Holy Land because some of the other members of the Crusade had been shipwrecked there and were being held prisoner—including Richard's sister, Joan. Richard had attacked the island to free the prisoners.

To get away from Corfu, Richard had to disguise himself, donning Templar garb and traveling with only a few attendants rather than a large royal-looking retinue. The ship he was on was wrecked near Aquileia at the extreme northernmost point of the Adriatic Sea. His solution at that point was to abandon the sea and travel through Central Europe. His first goal would be his brother-in-law, Henry the Lion.

Henry the Lion (c.1129 - 1195) had been Duke of Saxony and Duke of Bavaria (had been, but that's a different story), but was living comfortably in Saxony. Earlier in his career, he had taken refuge in England and had married Matilda of England, Richard's sister. Matilda had died a few years earlier, but Richard figured he and Henry were on good terms.

Richard never made it to Henry's court. On the way there, near Vienna, he was captured by Leopold V of Austria, who had left the Third Crusade after the Siege of Acre because of his poor treatment by Richard. Imprisoning a Crusader was against the law, but officially, Leopold accused Richard of causing the murder of Leopold's cousin, Conrad of Montferrat. (Conrad had been assassinated in April 1192 right after being chosen King of Jerusalem, against the wishes of Richard, who promoted Guy of Lusignan.)

Richard was imprisoned in Dürnstein castle (shown above). Tomorrow I'll tell you what it took to free him.