ll the advantage which his title of king of the
French could give him. Richard fought desperately, and for the most
part successfully, against the French king, and formed alliances with
all who were opposed to him. He built on a rock overhanging the Seine
above Les Andelys a mighty fortress--the Chateau Gaillard, or Saucy
Castle, as he called it in jest. With characteristic haste he
completed the building in a few months. "How fair a child is mine!" he
called to his followers, "this child but a twelvemonth old." Other
child he had none, and he had but the miserable John to look to to
hold his dominions after he was gone. He did not live long enough to
see whether his new castle could stand a siege. A peasant dug up a
treasure on the land of the lord of Chalus in the Limousin. Richard
claimed it as his right because he was the over-lord. On the refusal
of the lord to surrender it he laid siege to Chalus. An arrow from the
castle struck him on the shoulder. The wound rankled, and
mortification followed. As Richard lay dying the castle surrendered,
and the man who had aimed the fatal shot was brought before him. "What
have I done to thee," asked Richard, "that thou shouldest slay me?"
"Thou hast slain my father and two of my brothers with thy own hand,"
said the prisoner, "and thou wouldest fain have killed me too. Avenge
thyself upon me as thou wilt. I will gladly endure the greatest
torments thou canst devise, since I have seen thee on thy deathbed."
Richard, generous to the last, bade his attendants set the prisoner
free. They kept him till Richard was dead, and then tortured him to
death.

[Illustration: Part of the choir of Ripon Cathedral: built during the
last quarter of the twelfth century.]

8. =Church and State under the Angevin Kings.=--During the forty-five
years of the reigns of Richard and his father the chief feature of
English history is the growth of the power of the state. There was
more justice and order, and also more taxation, at the end of the
period than at the beginning. During the same period the influence of
the Church grew less. The character of Thomas's resistance to the king
was lower than that of Anselm, and not long after Thomas's murder
Henry indirectly regained the power which he had lost, and filled the
sees with officials and dependents who cared little for the higher
aims of religion. The evil consequences of making the Church
dependent on the king were at least as great as those of fr