aid he to himself, "ten to one he will get killed, and
then I shall be King of England."
So John was ready to do every thing in his power to favor the plan of
the crusade. He pretended to be very submissive and obedient to his
brother, and to acknowledge his sovereign power as king. He aided the
king as much as he could in making his arrangements and in concocting
all his plans.
The first thing was to provide funds. A great deal of money was
required for these expeditions. Ships were to be bought and equipped
for the purpose of transporting the troops to the East. Arms and
ammunition were to be provided, and large supplies of food. Then the
princes, and barons, and knights who were to accompany the expedition
required very expensive armor, and costly trappings and equipments of
all sorts; for, though the pretense was that they were going out to
fight for the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre under the influence of
religious zeal, the real motive which animated them was love of glory
and display. Thus it happened that the expense which a sovereign
incurred in fitting out a crusade was enormous.
Accordingly, King Richard, immediately on his arrival in England,
proceeded at once to Winchester, where his father, King Henry, had
kept his treasures. Richard found a large sum of money there in gold
and silver coin, and besides this there were stores of plate, of
jewelry, and of precious gems of great value. Richard caused all the
money to be counted in his presence, and an exact inventory to be made
of all the treasures. He then placed the whole under the charge of
trusty officers of his own, whom he appointed to take care of them.
The next thing that Richard did was to discard and dismiss all his own
former friends and adherents--the men who had taken part with him in
his rebellions against his father. "Men that would join me in
rebelling against my father," thought he to himself, "would join any
body else, if they thought they could gain by it, in rebelling against
me." So he concluded that they were not to be trusted. Indeed now, in
the altered circumstances in which he was placed, he could see the
guilt of rebellion and treason, though he had been blind to it before,
and he actually persecuted and punished some of those who had been his
confederates in his former crimes. A great many cases analogous to
this have occurred in English history. Sons have often made themselves
the centre and soul of all the opposition in t
|