Capture of the King of England at Vienna

Circumstances of the capture of Richard the Lionheart by Leopold V Babenberg near Vienna.

End of the Third Crusade

The capture of Acre on July 12, 1191 by the Crusaders and shortly afterwards the return home of King Philip II Augustus of France, who was participating in the decisive phase of the siege, meant for the King of England, Richard the Lionheart, taking over the main command of the further campaign of armed recapture of the lands of the declining Kingdom of Jerusalem. Despite some difficulty in maintaining a spirit of cooperation among some of the unfavorable barons, under whose command a large part of the troops remained, Richard the Lionheart was at the height of his fame after the capture of Acre for more than a year, successfully conducting warfare on a small strip of land on the coast. In June 1192, he approached Jerusalem with his army for the second time, at a distance of only a few kilometers. This time his army was united and determined to attack, and they were in good shape and had excellent armament, including machines ready for use in a siege. Suddenly, however, the king’s enthusiasm ended, and he unexpectedly lost faith in the possibility of conquering the city. Moreover, he handed over command to a twenty-member council of five representatives of the French nobility, the Hospitallers, the Knights Templar, and the people of Syria, [1] which ultimately decided not to storm, ordering a retreat on July 6. In this way, the main goal of the Third Crusade, the capture of Jerusalem, was not achieved.

On the other hand, Sultan Saladin tried to take advantage of the situation, who, after the retreat of the Crusader army, heading back to Acre, attacked Jaffa, an important port city further to the south (today’s Tel Aviv-Jaffa in Israel). The last defenders sheltered in its citadel would have been forced to surrender if it had not been for the relief from the sea with which the king arrived at the last moment. Saladin’s warriors also failed in an attempt to kill Richard [2], who was camping on the plain of Jaffa after the battle. After these events, both leaders, tired of war and also concerned about matters in their own kingdoms, expressed their readiness to sign a peace treaty, which was concluded by representatives of both sides – Richard and Saladin never met in person – on September 2, 1192 in Ramla. The borders were established, the captured cities were garrisoned and the rest of the army began demobilization.

Journey towards England

Also for Ryszard the Lionheart, the time has come to return home. However, this meant facing a problem: due to the weather, the Mediterranean Sea did not make it easy to travel safely through the Strait of Gibraltar in winter. In addition, it was in the west under the control of the king’s enemies, who would not hesitate to capture him, although in doing so they would break the papal prohibition against attacking crusaders returning from the crusade. The king therefore decided to set off on a sea voyage to the Adriatic to continue overland towards England. In this way, however, he came dangerously close to the sphere of influence of the Duke of Austria, Leopold V Babenberg, who had good memories of the insult he had suffered at Acre.

At the beginning of October, Richard boarded a ship and went first to Cyprus. At the end of November, he reached Corfu, an island in the Ionian Sea off the coast of present-day Albania. There, in the pirates’ nest, he hired two other ships and on them he went with his entourage further, towards Dubrovnik in today’s Croatia. The exact course of the further sea voyage seems to remain undocumented. In any case, the ship with Richard on board soon crashed near Aquileia [3] in Italy. The former commander-in-chief was now forced to embark on a dangerous overland crossing towards England, and he was to be helped by pretending to be a wealthy merchant assisted by the Templars. However, the trick failed. Richard was recognized by the local magnate, Meinhard II. von Görz, although he managed to escape. His further odyssey then took a surprising turn: the king, together with his men, unwittingly set off on horseback in a mad rush towards Vienna, eating little on the road and resting little, and apparently not knowing well in the unfamiliar terrain. Could Leopold, who ruled there, dream of a better opportunity to settle old scores?

Catch

The capital of Austria and the seat of Leopold V Babenberg was at the end of the 12th century a city surrounded by walls that were an adaptation of the old Roman fortifications of the Roman military camp of Vindobona, destroyed in the 5th century AD. About 2 kilometers southeast of Vienna lay the village of Ertpurch or Erdpurch, today a district of Vienna called Erdberg. It was there that the King of England arrived with his small, perhaps only a dozen or so people, bodyguard, enjoying a meal in an inn*, which is not a very exquisite place. Besides, the guest himself seemed to fit the circumstances with his appearance. King Richard I of England, once called Lionheart by Saladin’s soldiers, sat at a simple bench, dressed in the modest garb of a pilgrim, though he was still armed.

Contemporary, as well as later chroniclers and historians, have given various reasons for Richard’s unmasking and the exclusionary or complementary details of his capture. For example, it was mentioned that

• the king was betrayed by his behavior by a servant who, while buying food in the local market, lavishly spent large amounts of oriental coins [5],
• boasting of his service to a significant lord – worse still, with royal gloves on his belt [6];
• On the finger of one of the guests of the inn, who was dressed like a poor pilgrim, an extremely expensive ring was noticed [7].

Different dates are also given, but not more than one day apart:

• 21 December 1192 [8] or
• December 22 [9].

Perhaps it should simply be assumed that Richard the Lionheart was recognized and then captured by Leopold’s soldiers on the night of December 21 to December 22 [10]. There is a funny story about the king’s last moments of freedom to this day, which, however, has the hallmarks of truth, taking into account his character and previous “adventures”. Realizing the seriousness of the situation, he was supposed to have time to run to the kitchen room of the inn, where the acrorats were roasting chickens, grab the spit and start turning it slowly, making an innocent face at the same time, like a cook doing only his job. Of course, this did not protect him from capture. It is also said that Leopold himself came to the inn to receive the sword of his exceptional prisoner with honors. In this way the king found himself in the hands of the prince, who, going to bed that night, could already see in his dream a handsome ransom for Richard the Lionheart.

1. [↑] Reston, James Jr. Trzecia krucjata. Ryszard Lwie Serce i Saladyn. Kraków: Astra, 2020. S. 336.
2. [↑] There, s. 350.
3. [↑] Ackerl, Isabella; Kleindel, Walter. Die Chronik Österreichs. Wien: Chronik Verlag im Bertelsmann Lexikon Verlag GmbH, 1994. S. 99.
4. [↑] Hiess, Peter. Löwenherz in Dürnstein. Ein Weg durchs Mittelalter. Dürnstein: im-plan-tat, 2011. Seite auf Deutsch.
5. [↑] Sinfonie aus Silber, Gold, Platin und Leidenschaft. Information brochure of the Mint of the Austrian National Bank. S. 10.
6. [↑] Reston, James Jr. Trzecia krucjata. Ryszard Lwie Serce i Saladyn. Kraków: Astra, 2020. S. 367.
7. [↑] {https://www.geschichtewiki.wien.gv.at/Richard_I._L%C3%B6wenherz}
8. [↑] Ackerl, Isabella; Kleindel, Walter. Die Chronik Österreichs. Wien: Chronik Verlag im Bertelsmann Lexikon Verlag GmbH, 1994. S. 99.
9. [↑] Brandstätter, Christian. Stadtchronik Wien: 2000 Jahre in Daten, Dokumenten und Bildern. Wien: Verlag Christian Brandstätter, 1986. S. 73.
10. [↑] Sachslehner, Johannes. Wien Stadtgeschichte Kompakt. Wien: Pichler Verlag, 1998. S. 44.

Addition

*Currently, on the site of the inn where the king of England was captured in 1192, there is a tenement house at 1030 Vienna, Erdbergstraße 41, and there is a restaurant serving Chinese cuisine on the corner (as of June 2023). In the inner courtyard of this part of the quarter, a commemorative plaque was installed (original spelling):

“An dieser Stelle stand das Jägerhaus, (Rüdenhaus) in welchem im Jahre 1192 Richard I. König von England durch Leopold von Österreich gefangen genommen und von da nach Schloss Dürnstein A.D.D gebracht wurde.”,

the content of which in translation reads:

In this place stood the inn where in 1192 Richard I, King of England, was captured by Leopold, Duke of Austria and then transported to Dürnstein Castle.

Wanting to take a good picture of the tenement house first, I approached a couple standing in front of the corner restaurant, who seemed willing to cooperate in the form of leaving the frame at my request. When I then went to the place located on the opposite corner of the intersection to press the camera button from there, it turned out that these people were still visible in the lens. So I repeated the request, this time giving only signs from a distance, and – after waiting a few more seconds for the cars to pass – I captured the object in a photo.

A moment later, I was back with the aforementioned couple to thank them for their cooperation and explain the reason for my treatments. The gentleman, introducing himself as a Viennese, replied that he did not know the history of Richard’s rivalry with Leopold. A moment later, when he went inside with his companion and sat down at the table, I saw, while still standing outside, his thoughtful face. Did he see the scene of Richard’s capture in his mind’s eye?

Satisfied with the photo, I also entered the restaurant, this time to ask the staff to allow me to enter the courtyard through the back, as the staircase used by the residents of the tenement house was guarded by an intercom. A friendly waiter with a Chinese appearance explained, however, that neither the restaurant employees could let anyone into the courtyard, nor would anyone open the intercom for me. When he said the last sentence, we were both smiling broadly at each other. It sounded more or less like this:

Sir! People from all over the world come here every day to see this plaque…

The article is a mechanical translation of the original in Polish.