[MR] King Richard's ransom

[Karen Setze]

Fellow Atlantians:

The time is nigh, but a few days hence, for the festivities that Baroness Martelle von Charlottenburg has called while she holds Nottingham Castle for King Richard of England.

You can be sure that while we are gathered in celebration of the harvest, the king will not be far from our thoughts. A short while ago, the king’s chancellor, William Longchamp, bishop of Ely, arrived from meeting with the emperor who holds the king captive, with the good news that while the whole sum to be paid is now one hundred fifty thousand silver marks, the king will be released after the first portion has been delivered, along with 200 hostages from the best families.

I am sure that many of you, like myself, Lady Yseulte Trevelyn of Bright Hills, will feel it a duty to give all you can toward King Richard's ransom. In fact, I have it on good authority that his ally, the king of Scotland, has pledged 2,000 marks.

The ransom also must be safeguarded from enemies foreign, and sadly enough, from some at home who wish him ill, and from all bandits, who would take it in their greed. Surely the Sheriff of Nottingham must be more diligent, to capture those bandits we heard have gathered in the royal forest of Sherwood.

 The chancellor also brought with him a letter from the king. Let me share with you the copy sent to me by my confessor, the bishop of Durham.

Richard, by the grace of God, king of England, duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, and earl of Anjou, to Eleanor, by the same grace, queen of England, his much-loved mother, and to his justices, and all his faithful servants throughout England, greeting.

Be it known unto you all, that, after our beloved servants, the venerable Hubert, bishop of Salisbury, and William, of the church of St. Mary, our prothonotary, had departed from us, our most dearly beloved chancellor, Willam, bishop of Ely, came to us, and, he faithfully negotiating between our lord the emperor and ourselves, the result was, that we were released from the castle of Trevelles, in which we had been closely confined, to meet the emperor at Haguenau, where we were honorably received by the emperor and the whole of his court. 

Here, too, our lord the emperor and our lady the empress honored us with many and various presents, and, what is of especial importance, a mutual and indissoluble bond of friendship was formed between our lord the emperor and ourselves; whereby each of us is bound to aid the other against all living men in gaining his rights and in returning possession of the same.

For becoming reasons it is that we are prolonging our stay with the emperor until his business and our own shall be brought to an end, and until we have paid him seventy thousand marks of silver.  Wherefore, we do beg of you, and by the fealty by which you are bound to us, do adjure you, that you will use all earnestness in raising the said sum of money, and that you, our justiciaries, who are placed above the others in our kingdom, will set an example to others; that so you may honorably and nobly afford of your own means for our assistance, and also raise what you can on loan from others, in order that you may set an example to our other faithful subjects for doing the like.

The whole of the gold and silver, also, of the churches, you are with careful attention, and with a written inventory, to receive from the prelates of those churches; and you are to assure them by your oath, and by such others of our barons as you shall think fit, that full restitution shall be made for the same.

You are also to receive hostages from all our barons, in order than when our most trusty chancellor, as soon as our business has been settled in Germany, shall come to England, he may find our hostages with our much-beloved mother, that so he may with all expedition transmit to us such of them as may have been agreed upon between ourselves and the emperor; to the end that our liberation may not suffer any delay in consequence of the absence of the hostages and your neglect. 

Also, money there collected is, in like manner, to be delivered to our mother and such persons as she shall think proper.

He whom, in the moment of our necessity, we shall find to be prompt, in his necessity will find us a friend, and ready to reward; and it will be more pleasing to us if, in our absence, any person shall in any way assist us, than if, in our presence, he should give us twice that amount of aid.

We do also desire that the names of each of the nobles, and their subsidies which shall be made on the present occasion, shall be signified unto us under the seal of our mother, that we may know how far we are bound to return thanks to each.

Witness ourselves, at Haguenau, the thirteenth day of October.

Acordingly, Lady Yseulte, upon the authority of this letter the king's mother and the justiciaries of England determined that all the clergy as well as the laity ought to give the fourth part of the present year's revenue for the ransom of our lord the king, and to add as much from their chattel property, whereby the king would be bound to know whom he had to thank.

They also exacted from each knight's fee twenty shillings; and from the abbeys of the Cistercian order and the houses of the order of Sempringham the whole of their wool for the current year, and the whole of the gold and silver of the churches, as the king by his mandate had directed.

The chancellor also brought with him a letter from the emperor, a copy of which I also enclose:

Henry, by the grace of God, emperor of the Romans and ever august, to his loving friends, the archbishops, bishops, earls, barons, nobles, and all persons throughout England to whom this present page shall come, greeting and good will.

We have determined it proper and reflecting credit upon our high estate, most earnestly to engage the whole of you in every way that we possibly can, to take those steps which are due to the honor of our most dearly loved friend your lord Richard, king of England, to the end that the constancy of your dutiful attachment, and the merits of your fidelity, may not seem to be dead as regards his advantage, but rather may appear to live in obedience to himself and his rule. 

Wherefore to all whose duty shall be proved to sincere and pure to their said king in his absence, we shall return most abundant thanksgivings, wishing it to come to the knowledge of you all that his imperial highness is upon terms of concord and lasting peace with his royal nobleness. Wherefore, whatever shall be said to his disparagement, will be productive of annoyance and inconvenience to ourselves equally with him. 

Accordingly, to the honor and advantage of his duteous and faithful subjects, and to the condemnation and uprooting of those who molest him, we will always give our zealous assistance; and, because in heart and soul we are united, shall always fully consider the acts of your king to be especially our own and those of our empire, and shall look upon injuries done to him as offered to ourselves and our imperial crown;  nor, with the will of God, will we pass over the same without vengeance and the heavy punishment and destruction of those who have been guilty of the same. 

Given at Haguenau, on the thirteenth day of October.