by the feudal tenures; and all the vassals were in that event obliged
to give an aid for his ransom. Twenty shillings were therefore levied
on each knight's fee in England; but as this money came in slowly, and
was not sufficient for the intended purpose, the voluntary zeal of the
people readily supplied the deficiency. The churches and monasteries
melted down their plate, to the amount of thirty thousand marks; the
bishops, abbots, and nobles, paid a fourth of their yearly rent; the
parochial clergy contributed a tenth of their tithes; [MN 1194. 4th
Feb.] and the requisite sum being thus collected, Queen Eleanor, and
Walter, Archbishop of Rouen, set out with it for Germany; paid the
money to the emperor and the Duke of Austria at Mentz; delivered them
hostages for the remainder; and freed Richard from captivity. His
escape was very critical. Henry had been detected in the
assassination of the Bishop of Liege, and in an attempt of a like
nature on the Duke of Louvaine; and finding himself extremely
obnoxious to the German princes on account of these odious practices,
he had determined to seek support from an alliance with the King of
France; to detain Richard, the enemy of that prince, in perpetual
captivity; to keep in his hands the money which he had already
received for his ransom; and to extort fresh sums from Philip and
Prince John, who were very liberal in their offers to him. He
therefore gave orders that Richard should be pursued and arrested; but
the king, making all imaginable haste, had already embarked at the
mouth of the Schelde, and was out of sight of land, when the
messengers of the emperor reached Antwerp.

[MN King's return to England, 20th March.]
The joy of the English was extreme on the appearance of their monarch,
who had suffered so many calamities, who had acquired so much glory,
and who had spread the reputation of their name into the farthest
East, whither their fame had never before been able to extend. He
gave them, soon after his arrival, an opportunity of publicly
displaying their exultation, by ordering himself to be crowned anew at
Winchester; as if he intended, by that ceremony, to reinstate himself
in his throne, and to wipe off the ignominy of his captivity. Their
satisfaction was not damped, even when he declared his purpose of
resuming all those exorbitant grants, which he had been necessitated
to make before his departure for the Holy Land. The barons, also, in
a great c