Leopold was not looking like a man who’d been well avenged, though, his mouth tautly drawn, his color high, and his fists clenched at his sides. Richard took heart from the Austrian duke’s discomfort, hoping it meant that he was making a convincing case on his own behalf.
“Nor did I seek to enrich myself at the expense of others; just the contrary is true. When King Tancred agreed to pay the forty thousand ounces of gold, the French king claimed half of that sum, arguing that we’d made a pact to share any booty won during our campaign. I agreed to give him a third, even though he could have no possible right to any of my sister’s dower. But I did it so there would be peace between us. After I seized a rich Saracen caravan in Outremer, I gave fully a third of the plunder and livestock to the French, for that was their price for taking part in the raid; the rest I shared amongst my soldiers. Nor did I profit personally from the conquest of Cyprus. I sold it to the Knights Templar so we’d have it as a supply base for the Holy Land. And when the Templars decided they no longer wanted the island, I arranged for it to go to the King of Jerusalem, Guy de Lusignan. The Templars had paid only forty thousand bezants and still owed another sixty thousand. I told Guy that if he repaid the Templars, I would waive payment of the sixty thousand. I did this to get Guy and his de Lusignan kindred out of Outremer, thus paving the way for Conrad, the Marquis of Montferrat, to become Jerusalem’s king.”
If possible, it became even quieter; the normal sounds in any assembly—shuffling of feet, coughing, throat clearing, and whispers—were absent. Richard glanced for the first time at Boniface of Montferrat. He was leaning back in his chair, arms folded across his chest, but his relaxed posture was belied by the narrowed eyes, the tightness of his jaw muscles.
“I admit there was no love lost between Conrad and myself. But our differences were political, not personal. I did not believe he should be crowned King of Jerusalem, for I thought his claim was tainted by the circumstances of his marriage. For those of you who are not that familiar with the tangled rivalries of the Holy Land, Guy de Lusignan’s claim to the throne was based upon his marriage to the Queen of Jerusalem, the Lady Sybilla, and when she died at the siege of Acre, he found himself in a precarious position. He argued that he was still a consecrated king, anointed with the sacred chrism, and should continue to rule. But many blamed him for the catastrophe the kingdom had suffered at the battle of H.at.t.in, which led to the fall of the Holy City to Saladin, and few of the Poulains—the native-born Christians—wanted him as their king.”
Richard swallowed with difficulty; his throat was getting dry. “I supported Guy for two reasons. The de Lusignans were my vassals back in Poitou, so I owed them my protection as their liege lord. And I was troubled by Conrad’s actions in pursuit of that crown. Upon Sybilla’s death, her younger sister, Isabella, had the strongest claim to the throne. But Isabella was wed to a man as unpopular as Guy was. Conrad convinced the Poulain lords that Isabella ought to leave her husband, Humphrey de Toron, and marry him. Although Isabella protested, not wanting to end her marriage, she was compelled to do so, for she was a young girl of only eighteen and without allies. I was not yet in the Holy Land, but my Archbishop of Canterbury was at Acre and he objected fiercely to this marriage, saying it would be bigamous and invalid. Had he not died of a fever, I think he may have prevailed. But as soon as he was dead, Isabella was wed to Conrad. One of the men most involved in this sordid affair was the Bishop of Beauvais, a man who never lets canon law or principles interfere with his own ambitions.”
The French bishop had been slouched in his seat, feigning boredom, but at that, he straightened up and glared at Richard, who ignored him. “This is why I could not support Conrad, for I thought his claim to the throne was ill-gotten. When we sought at Acre to reconcile the competing claims of Guy and Conrad, that compromise satisfied no one. Conrad was so disgruntled that he even refused to take part in the campaign against Saladin and withdrew to Tyre.”