Ransom for Richard the Lionheart

Examples of the amount of silver mentioned in popular science literature that was paid for the release of Richard the Lionheart.

The night of 21 to 22 December 1192, when the King of England was captured at Vienna in connection with the events at Acre, opened a new chapter in the history of Austria. Its prince, Leopold V Babenberg, could now decide the fate of a ruler of exceptional fame and enormous influence, and he felt so confident that in January of the following year he began talks with the Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI Hohenstaufen about how to use the situation to Germany’s advantage, but he stood firm and kept the prisoner at his place for the time being. At stake was the expected ransom for Richard the Lionheart, which they were to share.

The King of England’s stay in prison

Richard”s first place of residence after his capture, probably not counting a few days in Vienna, was Dürnstein Castle, located on the Danube in the Wachau region, near the Lower Austrian city of Krems, and which was then the seat of Hadmar II. von Kuenring, an important official and Leopold’s confidant.

From the beginning of his imprisonment, the king enjoyed a great deal of freedom and was shown due respect [1]. Not only was he not subjected to torture, but his comfort was even taken care of, providing good food, serving excellent wines, for which the Wachau is still famous today, and organizing games and other attractions so that such an important inmate would not suffer damage to his body and mind. Dürnstein thus kept Richard through the winter.

In the spring of 1193, the prisoner was transported to the west of the Holy Roman Empire, to Speyer (German: Speyer) on the Rhine in Rhineland-Palatinate. There, as a result of a trial brought against him to justify his arrest, Richard the Lionheart humbled himself before the emperor and accepted the terms of the ransom. After a few days, his second longer place of residence was the castle of Trifels (German: Reichsburg Trifels), which belonged to Henry VI during his term as emperor, located in the same land, less than fifty kilometers to the west. It was probably there that the king lived to see his release, which took place on February 4, 1194, i.e. after a little 13 months of imprisonment.

Ransom for Richard the Lionheart

The agreed redemption amount included a commitment to provide a certain amount of silver, other goods in the form of men and equipment, and to give the emperor certain important hostages to secure the payment in the event of release before the full obligation was paid. From the very beginning, however, the main part of the ransom – the heap of silver – attracted the most attention. A reader who only has popular science literature at his disposal may, however, feel confused by apparent or real discrepancies in the value of bullion. Namely, it is given both in the historical unit of mass (colloquially weight) – the Cologne Mark (German: Kölner Mark), which by name is rather associated with old German coins, and in kilograms or tons, which in turn sounds quite modern and gives some idea of the amount of this metal. For example, we are talking about:

• 100,000 silver Cologne marks (to be divided between Leopold V and Henry VI), i.e. “about 25 tons of silver, or perhaps only 11,690 kg” [2];
• 100,000 pieces of silver [3];
• 100,000 silver marks, or about 23 tons of silver [4];
• 30,000 Cologne thalers, or about 10 tons of silver [5];
• 50,000 silver pieces [6].

If we accept the amount of 100,000 Cologne marks calculated according to their weight of about 234 grams, the ransom for Richard the Lionheart amounted to about 23.4 tons of silver. The silver collected in England by the king’s mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, was given in the form in which it was obtained, i.e. without the minting of German coins: as various coins, chalices, bowls, jewelry and other objects of pure silver. The differences in the number of Markings may also be due to the division of the ransom between the emperor and the prince. Leopold seems to have received 30,000 or 50,000, which he then skillfully used. Richard the Lionheart was released after paying 2/3 of the ransom, i.e. 100,000 silver Cologne marks (of the total ransom amount agreed upon by both parties, which was 150,000 [7]).

To which Lepopold V spent the ransom money

The Duke of Austria not only became greatly wealthy from the King of England, but also spent the ransom he received to strengthen his reign by making the following investments:

• On the previous adaptation of the old fortifications from the times of the Roman camp, Vindobnon erected a 4.5 km long [8] city wall surrounding Vienna (German: Ringmauer), which survived as a concept of a defensive structure until the mid-nineteenth century;
• financed the founding of the city of Wiener Neustadt, about 60 km to the south, and moved the mint from Krems to Vienna [9] and
• renovated the fortifications of the cities of Enns and Heinburg and
• began to mint new silver coins – the so-called Viennese Pfennigs (German: Wiener Pfennig) [10]. Leopold V appointed a certain Schlomo or Slomo – the first Jew in Vienna mentioned in written sources – as a minter of the newly established mint. This specialist lived in the area of today’s Seitenstettengasse [11].

Summary

The story of the rivalry between Prince Leopold V of Austria and King Richard the Lionheart of England, which began in such dramatic circumstances during the siege of Acre in the Kingdom of Jerusalem and ended with the release of a prisoner from captivity in the Holy Roman Empire, is generally seen as an adventure of a Roman knight that ended happily. Certain aspects of it – for example, the comic circumstances of the capture of the king roasting chickens in a pub near Vienna, or his artistic work in the form of songs and recitations – seem to really fit such a picture. On the other hand, both the Crusades and the rivalry between the European rulers themselves meant suffering and death for countless people.

This mini-series of three articles was intended to familiarize readers with events that not only resonated widely in Europe, but also had a huge impact on the development of Austria, with an emphasis on Vienna. Today, you can take a walk through the streets of this city, looking for places and objects related to the history of the Middle Ages. Who knows what else you will discover during the tour…

The article is a semi-machine translation of the original in Polish.

References

1. [↑] An information board in the ruins of the castle informs about the so-called knight’s arrest (German: ritterliche Haft).
2. [↑] Ackerl, Isabella; Kleindel, Walter. Die Chronik Österreichs. Wien: Chronik Verlag im Bertelsmann Lexikon Verlag GmbH, 1994. P. 99.
3. [↑] Reston, James Jr. Trzecia krucjata. Ryszard Lwie Serce i Saladyn. Kraków: Astra, 2020. P. 398.
4. [↑] Sinfonie aus Silber, Gold, Platin und Leidenschaft. Information brochure of the Mint of the Austrian National Bank. P. 10.
5. [↑] Sachslehner, Johannes. Wien Stadtgeschichte Kompakt. Wien: Pichler Verlag, 1998. P. 44.
6. [↑] Anwander, Berndt. Unterirdisches Wien: Ein Führer in den Untergrund Wiens. Die Katakomben, der Dritte Mann und vieles mehr. Wien: Falter Verlag, 2000. P. 137.
7. [↑] External link: britannica.com
8. [↑] Anwander, Berndt. Unterirdisches Wien: Ein Führer in den Untergrund Wiens. Die Katakomben, der Dritte Mann und vieles mehr. Wien: Falter Verlag, 2000. P. 137.
9. [↑] Sachslehner, Johannes. Wien Stadtgeschichte Kompakt. Wien: Pichler Verlag, 1998. P. 44.
10. [↑] Sinfonie aus Silber, Gold, Platin und Leidenschaft. Information brochure of the Mint at the Austrian National Bank. P. 10.
11. [↑] Brandstätter, Christian. Stadtchronik Wien: 2000 Jahre in Daten, Dokumenten und Bildern. Wien: Verlag Christian Brandstätter, 1986. P. 73.