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 purpose he levied a carucage of 2s., and called on a third of the knighthood of England to follow him across the Channel. He had honestly intended to return to the east, and from his German prison had despatched Saul de Bruil with a message of assurance to his nephew in Acre. That he did not so return was entirely due to the treachery of Philip and John. He could not leave his continental lordships till he had crushed or crippled the unscrupulous enemy on the frontier, nor his island kingdom till he had insured it against his brother's craft. Hence the rest of his reign is the story of petty border warfare—warfare forced upon him unwillingly, when he longed to be back in Palestine.

In May 1194 Richard left England for the last time. Philip had once more broken into Normandy, and was already besieging Verneuil when the news of Richard's arrival forced him to retreat (28 May). Verneuil relieved, Richard hurried on to help the troops of his brother-in-law Sancho of Navarre in the siege of Loches. Meanwhile his lieutenant in Normandy, the Earl of Leicester, fell into Philip's hands (15 June) (cf. Chron. of Melr. p. 102). This misfortune led to negotiations for a peace; and, when these fell through, Richard returned to Normandy, driving Philip in headlong flight before him, seizing on his treasure, and forcing him to seek concealment in a wayside church. From the north Richard now marched south against Geoffrey de Rançon and the rebels of Aquitaine; here, too, he was triumphant, and from Angoulême itself could write home word of his brilliant successes (22 July 1194). Next day (23 July) the representatives of both kings, aided by Cardinal Meiler and the abbot of Cîteaux, made a peace till November 1195. In reality it did not last so long; for in the summer of 1195 the emperor Henry sent Richard a golden crown, accompanied with an invitation to join in an attack on France. Philip, suspecting these negotiations, tried to seize Richard's envoy, William Longchamp, and, failing in this, invaded Normandy once more. An attempted reconciliation, which was intended to bring about the marriage of Philip's son Louis to Richard's niece Eleanor, fell through owing to the emperor's opposition, and the autumn of the same year found Richard besieging Arques and Philip burning Dieppe with the English shipping in its harbour (c 10 Nov.?). Somewhat earlier in the year (20 Aug.) Richard restored Alice to her brother, who married her to the Count of Ponthieu. In the same year Richard's mercenary soldiers, under Merchadeus, were warring in Berry; Issoudun was captured, and when Philip came up to the attack and a battle seemed imminent, the two kings met on horseback between the two armies and concluded a temporary peace (5 Dec.). Early next year (January 1196) they settled fuller terms: Philip was to have Gisors and the Norman Vexin, Richard Issoudun and other places in Berry: the one king was to pardon his Aquitaine rebels, the other was to set the Earl of Leicester free. This peace lasted hardly longer than the previous one. The Count of Flanders had died in December 1195; and next June his son Baldwin swore fealty to Philip (June 1196). Philip encouraged Richard's nephew Arthur to revolt, and protected the archbishop of Rouen when Richard drove him out of Normandy in his quarrel for the ownership of the island of Andely in the Seine, on whose banks the English king was building the fortress of Château-Gaillard to safeguard his Norman frontier—a design which does credit to his prescience as a strategist. Archbishop Walter laid Normandy under an interdict and appealed to Rome. Richard had to plead his cause in the papal court, and it was in the course of these negotiations that the English envoy, Richard's chancellor, William Longchamp, died at Poitiers on his way to Italy (1 Feb. 1197). Meanwhile, in the summer of 1196, the war had broken out once more; Philip laid siege to Albemarle, and, despite the English efforts to relieve it, took it after a siege of more than seven weeks. In 1197 Richard was more successful. He had already pacified his nephew Arthur and the Count of Toulouse whom he married to his sister Joan; he now burnt the castle of St. Valez (15 April), and on 19 May his brother John and Merchadeus took prisoner Philip's cousin and namesake, the warlike bishop of Beauvais. Hardly less successful was Richard himself in Auvergne. Later still in the summer Philip Augustus was in the greatest peril. Richard had united against him the Counts of Flanders, Champagne, and Boulogne. In July the former count laid siege to Arras (14 Aug.), and Philip, marching to oppose him, was forced to an ignominious capitulation.

Meanwhile the Duke of Austria's death (December 1194) had freed Richard from an open enemy; and now the death of Henry VI (28 Sept. 1197) left the empire without a head. Richard was summoned to assist at the election of a new emperor at Cologne (22 Feb. 1198), and his influence procured the office for his nephew Otto. It was at this moment that Celestine III died (8 Jan.), having before his death removed the interdict from Normandy, and reconciled Richard and the archbishop of Rouen. Philip and Richard had already concluded a truce to last from