Tancred in keeping him, the emperor, out of possession
of the kingdom of Sicily, and the other was to obtain, when he should
set him at liberty at last, a large sum of money for a ransom. When he
told Richard what sum of money he would take, Richard refused the
offer, saying that he would die rather than degrade his crown by
submitting to such terms, and impoverishing his kingdom in raising the
money.

The emperor then, in order to bring a heavier pressure to bear upon
him, arraigned him before a Diet as a criminal. The following were the
charges which he brought against him:

1. That he had formed an alliance with Tancred, the usurper
of Sicily, and thus made himself a partaker in Tancred's
crimes.

2. That he had invaded the dominions of Isaac, the Christian
king of Cyprus, deposed the king, laid waste his dominions,
and plundered his treasures; and, finally, had sent the
unhappy king to pine away and die in a Syrian dungeon.

3. That, while in the Holy Land, he had offered repeated and
unpardonable insults to the Archduke of Austria, and,
through him, to the whole German nation.

4. That he had been the cause of the failure of the Crusade,
in consequence of the quarrels which he had excited between
himself and the French king by his domineering and violent
behavior.

5. That he had employed assassins to murder Conrad of
Montferrat.

6. That, finally, he had betrayed the Christian cause by
concluding a base truce with Saladin, and leaving Jerusalem
in his hands.

It is possible that the motive which led the emperor to make these
charges against Richard was not any wish or design to have him
convicted and punished, but only to impress him more strongly with a
sense of the danger of his situation, with a view of bringing him to
consent to the payment of a ransom. At any rate, the trial resulted
in nothing but a negotiation in respect to the amount of ransom-money
to be paid.

Finally, a sum was agreed upon. Richard was sent back to his prison,
and the abbots returned to England to see what could be done in
respect to raising the money.

The people of England undertook the task not only with willingness,
but with alacrity. The amount required was nearly a million of
dollars, which, in those days, was a very large sum even for a kingdom
to pay. The amount was to be paid in silver. Two thirds of it was to
go to th