1X2 THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS
Augustus meet at Vezelay to begin the holy war. The two
armies, each fifty thousand strong, wintered in Sicily. The
throne of that island was occupied by the usurper, Tailored,
who had kept Richard's sister, Joanna, in captivity, Richard
demanded her release and a money payment as compensation,
and while negotiations were proceeding a quarrel broke out
between some English soldiers and a trader in Messina*
Both the English and Sicilians took to arms, and Richard,
perhaps glad of an excuse for an attack, led his army against
Messina, which he captured easily. Philip Augustus then
intervened, lie and Richard were old foes, and each was
jealous of the other. They had agreed that any conquests
made during the Crusade should be shared equally and
Philip now claimed half of Messina, a claim which Richard
rejected* Ultimately Richard was induced to take down his
flag from the ramparts of the town and give Messina into the
keeping of the Templars and Hospitallers until he had come
to an agreement with Tancred regarding Joanna.
Further causes of dispute arose not long afterwards. A
compromise had been reached between Richard and Tancred,
and they soon appeared to be on the best of terms. As a
proof of his friendship, Tancred produced letters purporting
to be from Philip and containing an invitation to the Sicilians
to co-operate in an attack on the English. Philip denied the
authenticity of the letters and accused Richard of making the
charge only to escape from his engagement to marry Alice,
sister of the French king* At that time Berengaria of
Navarre was indeed on the way to Sicily to marry Richard,
and Cceur de Lion had to pay ten thousand marks as the
price of breaking his promise to Alice* Philip and Richard
now thoroughly distrusted each other, and the distrust was
to affect the course of their joint expedition*
Philip set sail for the Holy Land at the end of March, and
Richard left Sicily two weeks later. The French reached
Acre safely in the middle of April, but Richard's ships were