Lion Snared

‘Leopold, Grand Duke of Austria, was the first possessor of that noble country to whom the princely rank belonged. He had been raised to the ducal sway in the German Empire on account of his near relationship to the Emperor, Henry the Stern, and held under his government the finest provinces which are watered by the Danube. His character has been stained in history on account of one action of violence and perfidy, which arose out of these very transactions in the Holy Land; and yet the shame of having made Richard a prisoner when he returned through his dominions; unattended and in disguise, was not one which flowed from Leopold's natural disposition. He was rather a weak and a vain than an ambitious or tyrannical prince. His mental powers resembled the qualities of his person. He was tall, strong, and handsome, with a complexion in which red and white were strongly contrasted, and had long flowing locks of fair hair. But there was an awkwardness in his gait which seemed as if his size was not animated by energy sufficient to put in motion such a mass; and in the same manner, wearing the richest dresses, it always seemed as if they became him not. As a prince, he appeared too little familiar with his own dignity; and being often at a loss how to assert his authority when the occasion demanded it, he frequently thought himself obliged to recover, by acts and expressions of ill-timed violence, the ground which might have been easily and gracefully maintained by a little more presence of mind in the beginning of the controversy…’

On December 20^th, 1192, Austrian Duke Leopold V captured Richard I of England, the Lionheart, as he was passing through Austria.  Walter Scott covers the scene in “The Talisman”, which is set around the Third Crusade, which both Richard and Leopold fought in, and which Richard and the Sultan Saladin ended, through a treaty signed in September (2^nd) of 1192.

William the Lion of Scotland

'William derived his cognomen of the Lion from his being the first who adopted that animal as the armorial bearing of Scotland. From this emblem the chief of the Scottish heralds is called Lion king at arms. Chivalry was fast gaining ground in Scotland at this time, as appears from the importance attached by William and his elder brother Malcolm to the dignity of knighthood, and also from the romantic exclamation of William, when he joined the unequal conflict at Alnwick, " Now shall we see the best knights."


William the Lion was a legislator, and his laws are preserved. He was a strict, almost a severe administrator of justice; but the turn of the age and the temper of his subjects required, that justice, which in a more refined period can and ought to make many distinctions in the classification of crimes, should in barbarous times seize her harvest with less selection. The blot of William's reign was his rashness at Alnwick, and the precipitation with which he bartered the independence of Scotland for his own liberty. But his dexterous negotiation with Richard I. enabled him to recover that false step, and to leave his kingdom in the same condition in which he found it. By his wife, Ermengarde de Beaumont, William had a son, Alexander, who succeeded to him. By illicit intrigues he left a numerous family.'
 
William I of Scotland died this day, December 4, in the year 1214.  Sir Walter Scott discusses this king in his "History of Scotland" (above).  William is remembered for leading a revolt against the England's Henry II, which culminated in his being captured at the Battle of Alnwick (1174).  With few options, William pledged his allegiance to Henry, by signing the Treaty of Falaise (Normandy) in December of that year.  It took another "lion", Henry's successor Richard the Lionheart to release William of his pledge.  Richard was in need of funds to support his crusade in the Holy Lands.

Richard the Lionheart

Richard I of England took the throne in 1189, at 31 years of age.  The next two years of his life were spent en route to the Holy Land.  On July 12, 1192, he participated in taking Acre with Philip of France.  At the end of September of that year, Richard reached a truce with Saladin, and left for home. 

Shipwrecked near Aquilcia, he was taken prisoner by the Austrian Duke Leopold V, and ultimately ransomed, returning home in 1194  Austria gained a city, Wiener Neustadt, funded by the ransom money, and England had its king back.  It is at this point in time that Walter Scott's Ivanhoe is set.  Richard died on April 6, 1199.

From Chapter I:

"...Such being our chief scene, the date of our story refers to a period towards the end of the reign of Richard I., when his return from his long captivity had become an event rather wished than hoped for by his despairing subjects, who were in the meantime subjected to every species of subordinate oppression. The nobles, whose power had become exorbitant during the reign of Stephen, and whom the prudence of Henry the Second had scarce reduced to some degree of subjection to the crown, had now resumed their ancient license in its utmost extent; despising the feeble interference of the English Council of State, fortifying their castles, increasing the number of their dependants, reducing all around them to a state of vassalage, and striving by every means in their power, to place themselves each at the head of such forces as might enable him to make a figure in the national convulsions which appeared to be impending..."