of murder, rapine, and devastation, in order to get possession of
his tomb.

* * * * *

In preparing for the crusade, the first and most important thing to
be attended to, in Richard's view, was the raising of money. A great
deal of money would be required, as has already been intimated, to fit
out the expedition on the magnificent scale which Richard intended.
There was a fleet of ships to be built and equipped, and stores of
provisions to be put on board. There were armies to be levied and
paid, and immense expenses were to be incurred in the manufacture of
arms and ammunition. The armor and the arms used in those days,
especially those worn by knights and noblemen, and the caparisons of
the horses, were extremely costly. The armor was fashioned with great
labor and skill out of plates or rings of steel, and the helmets, and
the bucklers, and the swords, and all the military trappings of the
horses and horsemen, being fashioned altogether by hand, required
great labor and skill in the artisan who made them; and then,
moreover, it was customary to decorate them very profusely with
embroidery, and gold, and gems. At the present day, men display their
wealth in the costliness of their houses, and the gorgeousness and
luxury of the furniture which they contain. It is not considered in
good taste--except for ladies--to make a display of wealth upon the
person. In those days, however, the reverse was the case. The knights
and barons lived in the rudest stone castles, dark and frowning
without, and meagerly furnished and comfortless within, while all the
means of display which the owners possessed were lavished in arming
and decorating themselves and their horses magnificently for the field
of battle.

For all these things Richard knew that he should require a large sum
of money, and he proceeded at once to carry into effect the most
wasteful and reckless measures for obtaining it. His father, Henry the
Second, had in various ways acquired a great many estates in different
parts of the kingdom, which estates he had added to the royal domains.
These Richard at once proceeded to sell to whomsoever would give the
most for them. In this manner he disposed of a great number of
castles, fortresses, and towns, so as greatly to diminish the value of
the crown property. The purchasers of this property, if they had not
money enough of their own to pay for what they bought, would borrow of
the Jews.