A letter from Richard I, king of England (1193, April 19)

Translated letter:

Richard, by the grace of God King of England, Duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, and Count of Anjou, to Eleanor by that same grace Queen of England his dearest mother, and his justices, and all his faithful throughout England, greetings. Let it be known to your whole community that after our beloved Hubert, venerable bishop of Salisbury, and William, our prothonotary of the church of St. Mary, left us, our dearest chancellor, William, bishop of Ely, came to us: and with him mediating faithfully between the Lord Emperor and us, it came about that from the castle of Trivellis in which we were held, we went to meet the Emperor at Hagenau, where we were honorably received by that Emperor and the whole Court. There the Lord Emperor and the Lady Empress honored us with great and various gifts; and, what is most important, a mutual and indissoluble pact of love was contracted between the Lord Emperor and us; obtaining and retaining that should help. We are, honorably, staying with that Emperor; until the negotiations between him and us are finished and until we swear to him the seventy thousand marks of silver which you are sollicitously seeking in cash, and you our justices who preside over others in our kingdom, should offer an example to others: That you assist us honorably and magnificently from your property and from those things which you can obtain on credit/borrow from others, and give the example to our other faithful of doing the same. Receive all the gold and silver of the churches from the prelates of those churches with diligent observance and written testimony: affirm to them that it will be fully restored by your oath and those of whatever barons you wish. Receive guarantors/hostages from all our barons so that when our most faithful Chancellor comes to England, our negotiations in Germany being concluded as swiftly as possible, he find those hostages with our dearest mother the Queen, so that he may send us expeditiously those about whom it has been agreed between us and the Lord Emperor: Let our freedom not suffer delay through the absence of hostages and your negligence. Similarly, the money collected by my mother and others she wishes, should be handed over: whoever we find prompt in our need, will find us a friend and remunerator in their needs; he will be more pleasing to us if he helps us in any way in our absence than if he helped doubly in our presence. We wish also that the names of individual magnates and the subventions which they make now, be recorded by the seal of our mother for us, so that we may know how much we are to show gratitude to each. Know for certain that if we are restored to full power in England, we shall give as much or more money as we now give to the Lord Emperor to execute the pacts, which we have now concluded by the grace of God: And if we did not have that money in advance, we would hand our own body over to the Emperor until the money is paid; before that is done it will remain imperfect/undone. In the gold bull of the Lord Emperor, our Chancellor carries said testimony to you. Witnessed by us at Hagenau, 13 kalends of May.

Original letter:

Richardus, Dei Gratia Rex Angliae, Dux Normanniae & Aquitaniae, & Comes Andegaviae, Alienorae eadem Gratia Regina Angliae charissimae matri suae, & Justiciariis suis, & omnibus fidelibus suis per Angliam constitutis, Salutem. Notum sit Universitati vestrae quod postquam recesserunt a nobis dilecti nostri Hubertus venerabilis Episcopus Sarisbiriensis, & Willelmus de Sanctae Mariae Ecclesiae Protonotarius noster, venit ad nos charissimus Cancellarius noster Willielmus Eliensis Episcopus: Et eo inter Dominum Imperatorum, & nos fideliter interloquente, eo usque res pervenit, quod de Castello de Trivellis, in quo detinebamur, obviam venimus Imperatori apud Hagenou, ubi honorifice ab ipso Imperatore & tota Curia recepti fuimus. Ibique Dominus Imperator & Domina Imperatrix nos magnis, & variis munieribus honoraverunt; &, quod praecipuum est, mutuum foedus amoris & indissolubile inter Dominum Imperatorem contractum est, & nos; ita obtinendo, & retinendo, juvare debet. Honeste autem circa ipsum Imperatorem moram facimus; donec ipsius & nostra negotia perficiantur, & donec ei Septuaginta Millia Marcarum Argenti adjuramus, quatenus in hac pecunia perquirenda solliciti sitis, & vos Justiciarii nostri, qui aliis in Regno nostro praeestis, exemplum aliis praebeatis: Ut ita honorifice & magnifice de proprio nobis subveniatis, & etiam de his, quae de aliis mutuo accipere poteritis, & aliis fidelibus nostris exemplum detis similia faciendi. Universum autem Aurum & Argentum Ecclesiarum diligenti observatione, & scripti testimonio ab ipsarum Ecclesiarum Praelatis accipiatis: Eisque per Sacramentum vestrum, & aliorum Baronum nostrorum quos volueritis affirmetis, quod eis plenarie restituentur. Universorum etiam Baronum nostrorum obsides recipiatis, ut cum fidelissimus Cancellarius noster, quam cito peractis in Allemannia negotiis nostris, in Anglia venerit, eosdem obsides penes Charissimam matrem nostram Reginam reperiat, ut eos, de quibus inter nos, & Dominum Imperatorem convenit, expedite possit ad nos transmittere: Ne liberatio nostra per absentiam obsidum & negligentiam vestram moram patiatur. Pecunia autem collecta similiter matri meae, & aliis, quibus ipsa voluerit, tradatur: Quem autem in necessitate nostra promptum inveniemus, in suis necessitatibus amicum nos reperiet, & remuneratorem; gratiusque nobis erit, si quis in absentia nostra in aliquo nobis subveniat, quam si in praesentia nostra in duplo quis nobis subveniret. Volumus autem ut singulorum magnatum nomina, & subventiones, quae praesentialiter fient, per Sigillum matris nostrae nobis significentur, ut sciamus, quantum unicuique in gratiarum actionibus teneamur. Sciatis pro certo, quod si in Anglia in libera potestate nostra essemus constituti, tantam vel majorem pecuniam Domino Imperatori daremus quam modo damus pro pactionibus consequendis, quas per Dei gratiam consecuti sumus: Et si etiam pecuniam non prae manibus haberemus, proprium corpus nostrum Imperatori traderemus, donec pecunia solveretur; antequam quod factum est relinqueretur imperfectum. In bulla autem Domini Imperatoris aurea fert vobis Cancellarius noster praedictam testificationem. Testibus nobis ipsis apud Hagenou, 13 Cal. Maii.

Historical context:

Richard asks his mother to raise the money and the justices of England to collect the hostages he needs for his release from captivity, according to the agreement he has made with the Emperor of Germany.

Printed source:

Rymer, Foedera, 1.26 (3rd ed.).

Date:

1193, April 19