ABSTRACT
Although quick to take the cross, Richard· did not set off for the East until the summer of 1190. He and Philip Augustus overwintered in Sicily where events took a much more dramatic and violent turn than the Eracles accounts (paragraphs 101-2, 107) would suggest, and it was not until 10 April 1191 that Richard resumed his voyage. On 6 May he landed his men on the island of Cyprus at Limassol. Document 7a is the version of his conquest of Cyprus as given in the Colbert-Fontainebleau Eracles, 1 an account that diverges significantly from the one to be found in the Lyon Eracles from a point mid-way through paragraph 116. Richard's own announcement of his conquest of Cyprus as well as his success in recovering Acre are contained in a letter to his justiciar in England on 6 August 1191 (document 7b).2 In another letter, this time addressed to the abbot of Clairvaux and dated 1 October 1191 (document 7c).3 Richard reported on the massacre of his Muslim prisoners (see paragraphs 125-6) and his victory at Arsur (see paragraph 131). At the time of the Second Crusade, the then abbot of Clairvaux, Saint Bernard, had been the most effective crusade preacher, and it may be that Richard was hoping that the present abbot would seek to emulate his predecessor's eloquence and raise more troops and resources to sustain the crusade. Alternatively, he may have seen his letter more as part of a public relations exercise, designed to establish his credentials as the overall leader of the crusade in the eyes of Philip's subjects. Clairvaux was well away from the Angevin-controlled regions of France, and Richard could have been engaged in a piece of subtle oneupmanship at Philip's expense. In another letter dated the same day, he had some scathing remarks about the abandonment of the crusade by King Philip, and at the same time he reported that he himself had been wounded.4
