Richard Faced Brother's 80,000-Mark Betrayal

After King Richard the Lionheart returned from the Third Crusade, Duke Leopold of Austria captured him near Vienna and eventually handed him to Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI in 1193. The emperor imprisoned Richard at Trifels Castle and demanded a ransom of 150,000 silver marks, worth two to three times the English Crown's annual income. Richard's younger brother John Lackland and French king Philip II jointly offered Henry 80,000 marks to keep Richard imprisoned until Michaelmas 1194, but the emperor rejected their proposal. England raised the ransom, and Richard regained his freedom on February 4, 1194.

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