vernment; and he was uncertain, whether he had most reason
to dread the presence of the French or of the English monarch. Philip
was engaged in a strict alliance with the emperor his competitor;
Richard was disgusted by his rigours towards the queen-dowager, whom
the Sicilian prince had confined in Palermo, because she had opposed
with all her interest his succession to the crown. Tancred,
therefore, sensible of the present necessity, resolved to pay court to
both these formidable princes; and he was not unsuccessful in his
endeavours. He persuaded Philip that it was highly improper for him
to interrupt his enterprise against the infidels, by any attempt
against a Christian state: he restored Queen Joan to her liberty; and
even found means to make an alliance with Richard, who stipulated by
treaty to marry his nephew, Arthur, the young Duke of Britany, to one
of the daughters of Tancred [m]. But before these terms of friendship
were settled, Richard, jealous both of Tancred and of the inhabitants
of Messina, had taken up his quarters in the suburbs, and had
possessed himself of a small fort, which commanded the harbour; and he
kept himself extremely on his guard against their enterprises. [MN 3d
Oct.] The citizens took umbrage. Mutual insults and attacks passed
between them and the English: Philip, who had quartered his troops in
the town, endeavoured to accommodate the quarrel, and held a
conference with Richard for that purpose. While the two kings,
meeting in the open fields, were engaged in discourse on this subject,
a body of those Sicilians seemed to be drawing towards them; and
Richard pushed forwards, in order to inquire into the reason of this
extraordinary movement [n]. The English, insolent from their power,
and inflamed with former animosities, wanted but a pretence for
attacking the Messinese: they soon chased them off the field, drove
them into the town, and entered with them at the gates. The king
employed his authority to restrain them from pillaging and massacring
the defenceless inhabitants; but he gave orders, in token of his
victory, that the standard of England should be erected on the walls.
Philip, who considered that place as his quarters, exclaimed against
the insult, and ordered some of his troops to pull down the standard:
but Richard informed him by a messenger, that, though he himself would
willingly remove that ground of offence, he would not permit it to be
done by others; and if