For all the hyperbole, Richard was undeniably a supremely courageous, perhaps even reckless, knight and an inspirational king. Many reports confirm that the enemy often ran away when they heard he was coming: even King Philip of France had a tendency to depart quickly when Richard was expected. Despite his failure to take Jerusalem, the legend of Richard’s heroism in the service of Christ grew and spread to all parts of Europe. His enemies feared his return.
Negotiation started again immediately. Abu Bekr, al-Adil’s chamberlain, reported that Richard had said, ‘How long am I to go on making advances to the Sultan that he will not accept? More than anything I used to be anxious to return to my own country, but now the winter is here and the rain has begun, I have decided to remain.’
Richard fell ill with a fever again and once more demanded from Saladin peaches and pears and snow. There is something of the petulant child seeking signs of affection from a parent.
He also told Abu Bekr that he should speak to al-Adil:
Beg my brother to think about how he can induce the Sultan to make peace. Ask him to let me keep Ascalon. Then I shall leave and then he with little effort will be able to recover the rest of Frankish territory. My only object is to retain the position I hold amongst the Franks. If he insists on his claim to Ascalon, then let Al-Adil find me some indemnity for the expense I have incurred in fortifying Ascalon.
Richard sent Bishop Hubert Walter, his right-hand man, to conclude the deal, as he was too ill to leave his bed. Saladin agreed to allow Christians to travel to Jerusalem to fulfil their vows. Walter, speaking for Richard, agreed to demolish the walls of Ascalon. But what was it that persuaded him to give up Ascalon without being indemnified for his expenses?
When the truce was signed, four parties of pilgrims set off for Jerusalem. Hubert Walter led the first. In Jerusalem he had long conversations with Saladin, and was shown the True Cross. Saladin offered him any gift he desired, and he chose to have two Latin priests installed in the Holy Sepulchre. It is highly significant that Hubert did not ask for the True Cross, which he would undoubtedly have done if it had not already been granted. It is likely that Saladin, who knew he was going to die soon, gave it as an act of kindness; war had exhausted and weakened him. He understood perfectly Richard’s predicament. And he, too, wanted to keep the detail secret. There was to be no public disclosure.
Richard did not go to Jerusalem with the pilgrims. He had announced that he would be coming back, and it was known that he thought it demeaning to enter Jerusalem, except as conqueror.
11
For two weeks
I have been going through uncatalogued and recently acquired or bequeathed material in the Bodleian. There were a few news references to the havoc the Muslims had wrought on Jerusalem in 1187, but nothing on the lost art. And then yesterday I spotted an entry in the print-out of recent donations
: Gift of Descendants of the Earl of Huntingdon.
I remembered that my father’s friend was called Huntingdon. And I knew that an Earl of Huntingdon had gone on the Third Crusade, and probably sailed with Richard the Lionheart; I asked the Deputy Curator if I could look at them. She told me that the boxes had not yet been opened because of the programme of digitisation that was occupying the experts, but she had no objections to my looking at them.
‘Some of these bequests contain Victorian versions of medieval documents, and some – very rarely – contain important documents that change our view of history, even in a small way. That’s the exciting part. The Huntingdons were associated with Robin Hood, as I am sure you know. There is even one living member of the family whose name is Tarquin James Robin Hood Huntingdon. Something like that. It’s all legend, I believe. A recent research paper suggests that Hereward the Wake is the original source of the Robin Hood legend. Anyway, if you see anything interesting for your paper, get it scanned and we can find an expert to translate.’
The boxes arrive. They are placed on a table and I pull on white cotton gloves.
The first box seems to contain household accounts in Anglo-Norman French. I go through the second box. It holds more household accounts and a few documents about local matters that I can more or less decipher. The dust in this box, a fine tilth of old manuscripts and leather, may have been in these covers for seven or eight hundred years untouched. The third box appears to hold charters and shrievalties granted to the family by King Henry II and by William Longchamp, in the name of Richard I. Now an assistant arrives with a dictionary I have requested.
‘Anything interesting?’ she asks in a whisper.
‘Pretty routine. But there’s a way to go. Thanks for this.’
She hurries off.
Late in the day, as I am sorting through the fourth box, King Richard’s name leaps out at me from a sheet of vellum and immediately beside it, I see the Arabic title of Saladin, as used by Baha ad-Din ibn Shaddad. It is addressed:
From Richard, King of England, Duke of Normandy to
Salāh al-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb
– Righteousnesss of the Faith.
Lower down I see the words:
la Veraie Croiz
. My heart has become very volatile; is beating against my chest. This must be about the True Cross, which Richard was so keen to retrieve from Saladin, the cross that was lost at Hattin. The cross which Helena, the mother of Constantine, found in Jerusalem in
ad
328.
Richart, rei des Anglois et duc des Normands vos salue, cher ami Salqh al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub
Mis frères, sumes ambedui travailliez. Avons devastet le pays, comme savez, avons tot despenduz nostre tresor. Mes propres sires menace mes terres d’oltremar, maugres en ait nostre trieve juratz; y retornar me falt.
Vos clamez ke mie otroierez ke nos gardiens Ascalon a nostre depart en mer, et avez promis de nos en compenser; en plus, me faites saveir que vos tenez en main la Veraie Croiz com carte maistresse. Mais jo vos fais sermenz en nom de Dieu ke non partirai mie senz la Croiz, ke vos ne prisiez plus que leigne, et nos plus ke tote chose. Jo tiens en main non la carte de l’espee del tarot, mas bien m’espee Excalibur; ne m’en refuse mie, mes freres. Por destorner cest malheur ki vos tombera desus, il faldra me rendre la Veraie Croiz, sinon me verrez respandre le sang en tote la Terre Sainte tresk’a la prise de Jerusalem. D’issi tres jors, vos enverrai mon neveu Henri de Champagne avuec cinq de mes plus fizels cavaliers por prendre en main la Croiz. Ele fera chemin soz ma garde a moi, e prendra emplacement eternel dins la cathedrale de Rouen.
De cez matieres ne deit nessun riens saveir.
I take the document for scanning. The assistant doesn’t ask me any questions. It’s just another old document after all. She even gives the scan to me on a USB, and makes me two prints.
I hide the original document in another box, and I spend the rest of the day and most of the night translating as best I can:
Richard, King of England, Duke of Normandy to
Salāh al-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb
:
My brother, we are both tired. You know that we have laid waste to the country and expended our treasure. My lands across the sea are threatened by my overlord, despite our sworn truce, and I must leave. You say you will not permit us to keep Ascalon after I set sail for my lands, and you have promised to pay compensation. You have also sent word to me that the True Cross is a trump that you hold in your hand. I declare on God’s honour that I will not set sail without the cross which to you is nothing more than a piece of wood, but to us is of infinite value. In my hand I hold not a card, but Excalibur. Do not, my brother, deny me. The only way you can avert the disaster that will fall on you is to return to me the True Cross or I will cause the Holy Land to run with blood until I have taken Jerusalem. Three days from now I will send my nephew, Henry of Champagne, and five of my most loyal knights to your camp to receive the cross. The cross will travel with me and be placed in the cathedral of Rouen for evermore.
No other person must know.
Richard sails for Sicily on 9 October 1192. It is late in the sailing season; the winds are unpredictable and the Mediterranean is lined with his enemies, old and new.
I see his squadron leaving Acre, heading through squalls. The one hundred large ships and high-prowed galleys he sailed in from Messina eighteen months earlier are scattered. Richard’s sister, Joan, and his neglected wife, Berengaria, have gone ahead with a dozen ships. Many other ships have returned to Messina, many have been lost. Richard’s fleet now consists of twenty large ships and ten fighting galleys and the biggest, described by the chroniclers, the
Buscia magna
, is transporting the most famous and most feared king in the world.
Somewhere, hidden below deck, is the Holy Cross, which is destined for Rouen Cathedral.
12
Mr Macdonald called
me in the middle of the night. Sometimes when you are asleep you are taken without your consent into a world of uncertainty and anxiety; at other times you are serene and even blithe. You have no control of it. I was in one of the deep but disturbed sleeps when Mr Maconald called. I woke shakily, utterly confused.
‘Macdonald here. Sorry to disturb you.’
‘Oh yes. Mr Macdonald. What’s the news?’
‘It’s good. Ms Nassashibi is in our embassy in Cairo, having medical examinations and some assessment.’
‘Is she all right?’
‘She is thin apparently, and traumatised, but I think that is to be expected after three weeks as a hostage.’
‘What happens to her now?’
Ed has joined me, in flannel schoolboy pyjamas, and sits on the narrow bed. His face has a sympathetic strawberry flush to it, creeping up from inside the pyjamas.
‘As soon as the doctors give the word, she will be flown to Ottawa.’
‘Didn’t you say Toronto?’
‘Yes; well remembered. I did, but there’s been a change of plan.’
‘Can I speak to her at some time?’
‘I don’t think that will be possible. Only family members are allowed to speak to her.’
‘We are going to be married.’
‘The situation may change. She may request a call to you. But I believe that at the moment there is an embargo on all phone calls outside the immediate family.’
‘What do you mean there’s a fucking embargo on phone calls? I have waited more than three weeks to speak to her. She’s my fiancée for Chrissake. I want to talk to her.’
‘I am only the messenger, unfortunately. All I can do is tell you the situation as it is relayed to me.’
‘Can you pass a message to her at least?’
‘I am afraid not.’
‘Why not?’
‘I believe the family has placed this embargo on calls.’
‘What time was she freed?’
‘It was two days ago, I believe, at 9 p.m. That would be about 5 p.m., British time.’
‘Why didn’t you tell me?’
‘As I said, I am only the messenger.’
‘You are the organ grinder’s fucking monkey – is that what you are saying?’
‘Perhaps I am. I am so sorry to disturb you in the middle of the night, but I thought you would like to know that your fiancée is safe in the Embassy. I will do my best to keep you up to date. Goodnight. Once more my apologies, Mr Cathar.’
Ed has tried to piece together the conversation.
‘You called him the organ grinder’s monkey?’
‘Yes. Fucking monkey. He’s a slimy shit. He’s a sort of Uriah Heep and Richard III in one.’
‘Tell me what he said.’
‘Basically he said that Noor is safe, rescued, recovered two days ago, and that she is traumatised and will be flown to Ottawa – not Toronto as he said last time – as soon as the doctors give the word. And I can’t call her.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because the family have requested it, he says, she can’t accept any calls.’
‘It’s probably just because journalists have been trying to get a story.’
‘Do you think so? I don’t. They are trying to freeze me out.’
‘Well if Noor loves you . . .’
‘Which she does . . .’
‘Which she does, she will find a way of speaking to you.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘As you know, I didn’t have a fantastic record of success in understanding my own wife, but yes, I think she will.’
‘Nice pyjamas.’
‘Annabel gave them to me a few years ago.’
‘And you are still wearing them.’
‘They’re comfortable.’
‘And you are still in love with her.’
‘Yes. What can I say?’
‘How did we get to this?’
‘I don’t know. It’s . . . It seems to have happened very quickly.’
I think he is trying to talk about lost innocence.
‘Let’s have a cup of tea.’
‘Good idea. I’ll make it. Toast?’