0:06

Before we start, a strong content

0:09

warning. Lots of medieval history

0:11

is pretty violent, but this episode

0:13

contains some of the darkest stuff yet.

0:16

There's reference to suicide, a description

0:18

of racist violence and sexual

0:20

abuse, so please

0:22

be aware. The

0:26

hillsides around the walled town of

0:28

Vézelay in central France are

0:31

covered in tents. Thousands

0:33

of them. Milling around the tents, tens

0:36

of thousands of people, perhaps even

0:39

as many as a hundred thousand.

0:42

It's a hot July day in 1190 and

0:45

everywhere you turn you can hear

0:47

excited voices chattering away

0:49

in a great babble of different languages

0:51

and dialects. Black

0:54

animals are snorting and stamping. Blacksmiths

0:57

are fixing horseshoes. Cooking fires

1:00

are crackling. Some

1:02

of the folk in this huge festival-sized

1:04

crowd are well off, while others

1:07

are carrying pretty much everything they

1:09

own on their backs. There

1:11

are experienced soldiers bumping up

1:13

next to pilgrims who are just tagging along,

1:16

hoping to pitch in any way they

1:18

can. The

1:20

here though is connected by a single

1:23

badge and vowel. On

1:25

their clothes

1:26

they all wear the distinctive

1:28

cross of crusaders. In

1:31

their hearts they're all committed

1:33

to a holy oath they've sworn.

1:38

Three years ago to the day, thousands

1:41

of miles away near the Sea of Galilee

1:44

in medieval Palestine, A

1:46

powerful Muslim sultan known as Saladin

1:49

swept to victory in battle over

1:52

a Christian army.

1:54

Saladin slaughtered the finest knights

1:56

in the Holy Land and captured

1:58

the King of Jerusalem. He

2:00

even confiscated Christianity's

2:03

holiest relic, a large chunk

2:05

of the true cross on which Christ

2:08

was believed to have been crucified.

2:10

Then Saladin marched on

2:13

Jerusalem itself and

2:15

conquered the city. The

2:18

people huddled in tents on this French

2:20

hillside have all vowed

2:23

to go and take revenge. Today,

2:26

finally, after years of preparation,

2:29

they're ready to go. Gossiping

2:32

voices ask each other, what strange

2:34

lands will we see? How's it going to

2:36

play out? Do you think we'll ever be back

2:38

here again?

2:42

In Vesel A. Abbey, a huge,

2:44

stunning stone church at the top

2:46

of the hill, the two grandest

2:49

Most crusade leaders are making their own

2:51

preparations and are probably sharing

2:54

similar anxieties, not only

2:56

about the mission,

2:58

but their trust in each other.

3:00

They are Richard the Lionheart,

3:03

the 32-year-old King of England, and

3:05

Philip Augustus, the 24-year-old

3:08

King of France. For

3:11

much of their adult lives, they've been the

3:13

best of friends and political allies.

3:17

three years ago, they promised to go

3:19

crusading together and it felt like

3:21

the climax of the greatest bromance

3:24

the world had ever known. Today

3:27

though, things are

3:28

a little different. At the height

3:31

of their friendship, Richard was a duke and

3:33

Philip was a king. It kind of worked.

3:36

But a few months ago, Richard

3:38

succeeded his father as King of England,

3:41

which was when things got awkward.

3:44

It isn't often that monarchs of England and

3:46

France manage to buddy up successfully,

3:49

especially considering Richard's Plantagenet

3:51

Empire also includes lands

3:54

all over modern-day France,

3:56

meaning there are plenty of border disputes

3:59

to deal with. And in this case,

4:01

there are lingering tensions over a promise

4:03

Richard made, and made, and

4:06

made again, to marry Philip's

4:08

sister Alice.

4:10

They were first betrothed years ago,

4:13

and for reasons Philip doesn't quite

4:15

understand, Richard just won't

4:17

go through with the wedding. The

4:20

English king wouldn't even have Alice

4:22

present at his coronation last

4:24

autumn, which hardly bodes well

4:27

for a successful marriage.

4:29

Philip is beginning to suspect that

4:32

he's being played like a cheap violin.

4:38

Besides all that,

4:39

both Richard and Philip have personal

4:41

issues they're working through. Philip

4:44

has recently lost his wife, Queen Isabella,

4:47

in childbirth. Like

4:49

any medieval king, he's both grieving

4:52

and calculating who he's going to marry

4:54

next.

4:56

Richard doesn't have quite the same tragedy

4:58

to deal with, but he's got a lot

5:00

to think about. Going on Crusade

5:03

means leaving his brand new kingdom

5:05

behind. And as a newcomer

5:08

to his crown, he's not absolutely

5:10

confident it's in safe hands.

5:13

Will his slippery young brother John

5:15

make a play for the throne in his absence?

5:18

Are the bureaucrats he's appointed to run the

5:20

various parts of his Plantagenet Empire

5:23

going to be able to deal with the uppity barons.

5:26

Richard would like to leave his mother, Eleanor

5:29

of Accretain, in charge of everything, but

5:31

he's packed her off on an urgent,

5:34

dangerous, and top-secret

5:36

mission to a neighbouring kingdom.

5:38

How will that go down? No

5:40

one said being a king would be easy,

5:43

but being a crusader king is

5:45

a special kind of difficult. Then

5:49

again, when Richard and Philip look out

5:51

from the abbey over their tens of thousands

5:53

of followers, or eagerly waiting

5:56

to march to the rescue of Christ's

5:58

kingdom. They must.

6:00

be filled with a sense of excitement and

6:02

awesome responsibility. And

6:05

when they lead that army down from the

6:07

French hillside and head east, they'll

6:10

be embarking on one of the most

6:12

extraordinary journeys in all

6:14

of history. It's a journey

6:16

that will change Richard and Philip

6:19

and their world forever. We

6:22

call it the Third Crusade.

6:26

I'm Dan Jones and from Something

6:28

Else and Sony Music Entertainment, this

6:31

is History, Season 2 of

6:34

A Dynasty to Die For. Episode 2,

6:37

Blood and Gold.

6:49

Looking back more than eight centuries after

6:51

the fact, we might say that 1190 was the year

6:54

of peak crusade frenzy.

6:56

Last season we heard so

6:59

much about Richard and Philip's planned crusade

7:01

against Saladin that it all started

7:03

to sound kind of normal.

7:06

So it's worth reminding ourselves

7:08

what Richard and Philip Augustus are actually

7:11

proposing to do in 1190, because

7:14

it is very much not

7:17

normal. The

7:19

two most important rulers in

7:21

Western Europe are going to abandon

7:23

their kingdoms for a minimum of

7:26

a year, probably more, and

7:28

go to fight on the front line of a war

7:30

nearly 3,000 miles

7:32

away.

7:34

To them the cause is righteous, but

7:37

fighting on a crusade is more than just

7:40

dangerous.

7:41

It's a very reliable way to get killed,

7:44

either in battle or from disease or

7:46

plain bad luck. Case

7:49

in point, only weeks before

7:51

Richard and Philip assemble their armies, the

7:54

German Emperor Frederick Barbarossa,

7:56

the other greatest monarch in Europe drowned

7:59

baby

8:00

in a river in Asia Minor while

8:02

on his own journey east.

8:04

Even if you don't die, there

8:06

are a million other ways to come to

8:08

grief. Being taken prisoner,

8:11

struck down with dysentery or even

8:14

mauled by a bear, as happened

8:16

to one unfortunate leader of the First

8:18

Crusade back in the 1090s.

8:21

And on top of all that, there's the

8:23

cost, which is absolutely

8:26

staggering. We're talking about

8:28

a minimum of £100,000 in

8:32

an age where the King of England's average

8:34

yearly revenue was about

8:36

half that.

8:38

For a very rough comparison, consider

8:41

that today the UK government makes

8:43

about £800 billion

8:45

a year in tax revenue.

8:48

That would make it £1.6 trillion for a crusade. That's

8:54

not exact by any means, but

8:56

you get the idea. In

8:59

fact, even before Richard left on

9:01

Crusade in 1190, his

9:04

urgent need for money had already

9:06

set the tone for his reign.

9:09

As we heard last time, he was crowned

9:11

in September 1189 with

9:13

his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, overseeing

9:16

the pomp and ceremony.

9:18

As soon as that's done, Richard

9:20

effectively puts his kingdom on

9:23

the market. What does

9:25

that mean in practice? Well, as

9:27

a chronicler called Roger of Howden describes

9:30

it, Everything was put up for sale.

9:32

Offices, lordships, earldoms,

9:35

sherifdoms, castles, towns, lands,

9:37

the lot.

9:39

Richard squeezes every source

9:41

of revenue he can. Another

9:43

chronicler says he makes himself the richest

9:45

king of England there ever was. himself

9:49

is said to joke about it at the time, saying,

9:51

I would sell London if I could

9:54

find a buyer.

9:56

But it isn't all jokes, because

9:59

there's a very

10:00

very dark side to Richard's

10:02

drive to raise money in the name of crusading

10:04

in 1190. It takes the form

10:07

of one of the most notorious outbreaks

10:09

of anti-Semitic persecution in

10:12

British history.

10:14

There's

10:14

a clear link in medieval European

10:16

minds between finance and Judaism.

10:19

Money lending with interest is technically

10:22

banned by church law in the Middle Ages.

10:24

It's the sin of usury. That means

10:27

the only people who are allowed to openly

10:29

lend money at interest are Jewish

10:31

people.

10:32

In England and some other realms, Jews

10:35

can work as money lenders under the special

10:37

protection of the crown. That special

10:40

protection means it's illegal, punishable

10:42

by anything up to death, to harm

10:45

a Jewish financier.

10:47

But from time to time, resentment

10:49

at the special status of these Jewish

10:51

financiers combines with an ancient,

10:54

poisonous antisemitism that

10:57

is deeply rooted in medieval culture.

11:00

And then the law goes out the window.

11:04

That's what happens in 1189-90 in England. The

11:08

violence begins right from Richard's coronation,

11:11

the official start of a new reign set

11:13

to be defined by military action

11:16

against the so-called enemies of Christ.

11:19

That sentiment, along with existing

11:21

resentments towards Jewish moneylenders,

11:24

is a deadly combination.

11:27

At the feast that follows the coronation, some

11:30

of Richard's Jewish subjects arrive

11:32

trying to present the king with gifts. There's

11:35

a scuffle at the gates, which

11:37

turns into a bloody fight.

11:39

Things escalate, and

11:41

soon a mob is tearing through

11:43

London, hunting down Jewish people,

11:46

their houses, robbing and

11:48

murdering them.

11:51

Richard hangs a few of the rioters in

11:53

the days that follow, but

11:55

it's nowhere near enough to stem

11:57

the tide of violence.

11:59

a few months later. Later there's an even worse

12:01

massacre, this time in the

12:03

northern city of York. Jews

12:05

are attacked and their homes raided.

12:09

Around 150 Jewish people and their

12:11

families take refuge in the

12:13

royal stronghold of York Castle, but

12:16

they're surrounded by a mob baying

12:18

for blood.

12:20

Many of them choose suicide rather

12:22

than facing the mob,

12:23

and the rest, who come out of the castle to

12:26

plead for their lives, are murdered.

12:30

So there's a terrible human cost to

12:32

Richard's crusade before it even

12:34

leaves England. And for Jews

12:36

in medieval England, the constant menace

12:39

of discrimination, violence and

12:41

death

12:42

never really goes away. Which

12:46

brings us back to the army Richard

12:48

and Philip march out of Vaisalay in

12:51

July 1190. The two

12:53

kings head south until they bring

12:55

their crusaders to the city of Lyon.

12:58

But when they get there, there's a disaster

13:01

at a bridge over the River Rome. So

13:03

many people pile onto the bridge that

13:05

it collapses under their weight.

13:10

Hundreds plunge into the waters

13:12

and some drown. It's

13:15

not a great start.

13:18

At this point,

13:19

Richard and Philip agree that the army is simply

13:22

too huge to manage properly. They

13:24

decide to split their forces.

13:27

The French will go to Genoa and hire

13:29

ships to take them to the Holy Land. Richard

13:32

will take his men to Marseille, where

13:35

he's expecting his own fleet of ships, replete

13:37

with even more English crusaders

13:40

to meet him. They'll

13:41

then rendezvous on Sicily

13:43

within striking distance of their goal.

13:46

Sounds good? Well,

13:48

Philip goes off to Genoa and his bit of

13:50

the plan turns out as hoped.

13:52

But when Richard gets to Marseille,

13:55

his fleet is nowhere to be seen.

13:58

Why? Well, the sailors are have

14:00

taken their sweet time making

14:02

their way from the south coast of England into

14:04

the Mediterranean. In fact, they've

14:06

stopped off at Lisbon, Portugal, and

14:08

have,

14:09

well, totally lost their minds. When

14:12

the English ships docked, the sailors

14:14

piled off and streamed into the city,

14:17

apparently determined to cause havoc.

14:20

First, and most obviously, they

14:22

got blind drunk. Then

14:25

they plundered the houses of all the Jews

14:27

and Muslims they could find living there.

14:29

They raped and burned and stole

14:32

and looted until the King of Portugal

14:34

had to bar the city gates and throw several

14:36

hundred English crusaders in jail.

14:39

The English captains got their men back

14:41

under control, eventually, but

14:44

the damage was done.

14:46

That's why Richard gets to Marseille and

14:48

finds no fleet waiting for him.

14:51

Amazingly though, this doesn't

14:53

seem to really faze him. is

14:56

keen to stick to the game plan and

14:59

meet Philip in Sicily.

15:00

If there are none of his own warships

15:02

to take him,

15:03

then he's just going to hire some transporter

15:06

ships to cruise down the Italian

15:08

coast to the Straits of Messina,

15:10

the stretch of water between mainland Italy

15:13

and the island of Sicily, and meet his

15:15

navy there.

15:19

It's a fairly madcap. Make

15:21

it up as you go a long way to go about a crusade

15:23

that has been planned for three full

15:25

years. But these are

15:27

mad times and Richard is never

15:30

one to wait about and think things through.

15:34

The English King and his army of thousands

15:37

pile onto the transporter ships. Then

15:40

they set off on their crews, occasionally

15:42

coming ashore to put the fear of God

15:45

into anyone and everyone who

15:47

sees them coming. They

15:49

take it easy. It's the summer

15:52

after all and the The coastline looks beautiful

15:54

and Richard himself must cut a grand

15:57

figure standing calmly at the prow

15:59

of the ship.

16:00

cloak billowing in the breeze. On

16:03

his hip, he carries a magnificent

16:06

sword that he claims is King

16:08

Arthur's legendary blade, Excalibur.

16:12

But inside, Richard is

16:14

far from calm. He's

16:16

just got wind of some news that has sent

16:18

him into a white-hot fury. And

16:21

when he gets to Sicily, he plans

16:25

to unleash it.

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18:38

Sicily is a seriously amazing

18:40

place.

18:41

I'm not just talking about the beaches, the

18:43

restaurants, the vino and the volcano. In

18:46

the middle ages it's a strategically

18:49

vital, culturally rich, economically

18:52

prosperous

18:53

and highly unstable pivot

18:55

point slap bang in the

18:57

heart of the Mediterranean. Over

19:00

the years it's been ruled by Romans,

19:03

Greeks, Arabs and by the

19:05

time we get to the 12th century Christian

19:07

kings descended from the same family

19:09

as William the Conqueror.

19:12

It's also well known Crusader

19:14

country. In fact, in

19:16

one telling this is where the Crusades

19:19

actually began. A Muslim

19:22

chronicler called Ibn al-Atir claims

19:25

that once upon a time some French

19:27

ambassadors came to the Christian ruler

19:29

of Sicily, then known as Count

19:32

Roger I. They

19:34

were trying to convince him to start

19:36

a war, to conquer a few rich cities

19:39

in North Africa. But Roger

19:41

wasn't having any of it. He

19:43

was so unimpressed by the ambassador's proposal

19:46

that at first he didn't even say anything. He

19:49

just lifted his leg and farted

19:51

at them. That's what I think of that,

19:53

he said. But if you want

19:56

to go cause trouble for Muslims and

19:58

conquer a nice juicy city May

20:00

I recommend to you Jerusalem?

20:04

Now this isn't the place to argue about whether or

20:06

not that's really how the crusade started

20:09

I just like that story and it's

20:11

a useful reminder that in the

20:13

medieval mindset one way or another

20:16

Sicily was intimately connected

20:19

to crusading

20:20

if you are on your way to the Holy Land

20:22

Especially by sea the island

20:24

was a useful place to call in in.

20:27

You could fix your ships, take on supplies

20:30

and get ready for the next phase of the journey.

20:32

That's

20:35

why, in the autumn of 1190, we

20:37

find Philip Augustus in Sicily.

20:41

It's partly why Richard's there too. Only

20:43

in Richard's case, he's also

20:46

come to take care of some plantagenet

20:48

family business.

20:51

For those of you with exceptional memories, you

20:53

may recall from season 1 that in 1177, Richard's

20:58

youngest sister Joan was packed off

21:00

aged 12 to marry the King of Sicily,

21:03

a descendant of Farty Roger known

21:06

as William II. Well,

21:10

in 1189, William died leaving

21:12

Joan a widow. He's been succeeded

21:14

by a cousin of his called Tankrede,

21:17

a short and unpleasant individual

21:20

Nicknamed the Monkey King, due

21:22

to the fact that he's absolutely covered

21:24

in hair. And Tancrede

21:27

hasn't treated poor old Joan very

21:30

courteously. In fact he's

21:32

put her under house arrest and taken

21:34

control of all her money. This

21:36

isn't a very nice thing to do

21:38

to a lady at the best of times, but

21:40

the Monkey King picks his moment phenomenally

21:43

badly. just a few months

21:45

later who's headed his way but

21:48

Jones' big brother Richard at

21:50

the head of a huge army. he

21:54

hears what tank readers been up to. He,

21:57

not entirely surprisingly, has been

22:00

flips his lid.

22:02

Richard is in the mood for a fight. He's

22:05

already got into a row on his way there, with

22:07

some peasants in southern Italy. He's

22:10

accused one of them of flying birds of prey,

22:12

a practice he believes should be reserved

22:14

for noblemen. He's whacked the

22:16

peasant with the flat of his sword, hard

22:18

enough that the blade snapped.

22:20

So the mighty King Richard has had to make

22:22

a sharp exit,

22:24

pursued by the angry Italian peasant

22:27

and all his mates.

22:28

Lionheart indeed.

22:31

So this is the general vibe of

22:33

Richard and his crusaders when they arrive

22:35

at the Sicilian harbour city of Messina

22:38

on September 22nd, 1190. Their

22:42

bloodthirsty naval comrades have

22:44

also arrived fresh from terrorising

22:47

Lisbon.

22:48

And this unsavoury bunch have

22:51

now convinced themselves that they're being ripped

22:53

off by the Sicilian shopkeepers. Richard

22:57

sees how he can kill two birds with

22:59

one stone. He musters his

23:01

troops and tells them that they're not just

23:03

coming to Messina for a spot of sightseeing

23:06

and a bowl of pasta. They're

23:08

going to conquer the place and see how the

23:10

monkey king tank reed feels about

23:12

that. Which

23:16

is exactly what they do.

23:18

His men have been itching for proper

23:21

action for weeks now, and

23:23

even though the people of Messina are very

23:25

much not the enemies of Christ, the

23:28

English go into destroy mode once

23:30

again. They tear

23:33

Messina to bits in little more

23:35

than an afternoon, watched by

23:37

the mildly horrified French army.

23:43

Richard has his banners raised over the

23:45

city in triumph and sends

23:47

his engineers out to build a temporary

23:49

castle to guard the city.

23:52

Lo and behold, in a matter of days,

23:55

word has come to him from Tancrede that

23:57

he's going to let Joan go and give back

23:59

to her.

24:00

all the money he's been withholding from

24:02

her. Smart decision.

24:05

For Richard, who grew up bullying

24:07

roughneck lords in Aquitaine and

24:09

besieging far tougher strongholds than

24:11

Messina, it's easy work.

24:15

But as usual, what he doesn't quite

24:17

realise is how much his constant

24:19

Bull in a China Shop act aggravates

24:22

people who have to live alongside him.

24:25

And on Sicily, man is

24:27

getting seriously ticked off with the

24:29

way Richard is going about the crusade.

24:31

I'm

24:32

not talking about Tancrede, he's

24:35

been well and truly put in his place. It's

24:37

someone Richard can far less afford

24:40

to turn into an enemy.

24:43

His crusade partner Philip Augustus

24:46

has very different ideas about the way

24:48

one ought to behave on a visit to a supposedly

24:51

friendly Christian kingdom. But

24:54

if he thinks Richard's to change his ways,

24:58

he's dead wrong.

25:01

In fact, Richard is about to turn

25:03

Philip Augustus' crusade into

25:06

a nightmare.

25:08

To find out how, come back for the next

25:10

episode of This is History.

25:25

Before you go, just

25:27

a reminder that the Plantagenet drama

25:30

doesn't end here. If you get on

25:32

This Is History Plus, then you'll discover

25:34

that every week when episodes drop,

25:37

I also release an extra episode

25:40

full of weird, wonderful and sometimes

25:42

completely random stuff we

25:44

don't have time for in the main story.

25:47

This week we dive right back to the

25:49

very beginning of Crusading and

25:52

discuss just why the great and and the good

25:54

were so desperate to go, despite

25:57

the terrifying risks, including

25:59

if you were

26:00

special, getting mauled

26:01

by a bear. What's more,

26:03

as a subscriber you'll get all our episodes

26:06

ad-free. Just visit This

26:08

Is History on Apple.