plunge amongst the
perils of the crusade. Starting from Ratisbonne about Christmas, 1189,
with an army of one hundred and fifty thousand men, he traversed the
Greek empire and Asia Minor, defeated the Sultan of Iconium, passed the
first defiles of Taurus, and seemed to be approaching the object of his
voyage, when, on the 10th of June, 1190, having arrived at the borders of
the Selef, a small river which throws itself into the Mediterranean close
to Seleucia, he determined to cross it by fording, was seized with a
chill, and, according to some, drowned before his people's eyes, but,
according to others, carried dying to Seleucia, where he expired. His
young son Conrad, Duke of Suabia, was not equal to taking the command of
such an army; and it broke up.

The majority of the German princes returned to Europe: and "there
remained beneath the banner of Christ only a weak band of warriors
faithful to their vow, a boy-chief, and a bier. When the crusaders of
the other nations, assembled before St. Jean d'Acre, saw the remnant of
that grand German army arrive, not a soul could restrain his tears.
Three thousand men, all but stark naked, and harassed to death, marched
sorrowfully along, with the dried bones of their emperor carried in a
coffin. For, in the twelfth century, the art of embalming the dead was
unknown. Barbarossa, before leaving Europe, had asked that, if he should
die in the crusade, he might be buried in the church of the Resurrection
at Jerusalem; but this wish could not be accomplished, as the Christians
did not recover the Holy City, and the mortal remains of the emperor were
carried, as some say, to Tyre, and, as others, to Antioch, Where his tomb
has not been discovered." (_Histoire de la Lutte des Papes et des
Empereurs de la Maison de Souabe,_ by M. de Cherrier, Member of the
Institute, t. i., p. 222.)

Frederick Barbarossa was already dead in Asia Minor, and the German army
was already broken up, when, on the 24th of June, 1190, Philip Augustus
went and took the oriflamme at St. Denis, on his way to Vezelai, where he
had appointed to meet Richard, and whence the two kings, in fact, set
out, on the 4th of July, to embark with their troops, Philip at Genoa,
and Richard at Marseilles. They had agreed to touch nowhere until they
reached Sicily, where Philip was the first to arrive, on the 16th of
September; and Richard was eight days later. But, instead of simply
touching, they passed at Messina all