“Counts and lords of the Empire of Germany, I, Richard, King of England, do deny your right to try me.  I am a king, and can only be tried by my peers and by the pope, who is the head of Christendom.  I might refuse to plead, refuse to take any part in this assembly, and appeal to the pope, who alone has power to punish kings.  But I will waive my rights.  I rely upon the honour and probity of the barons of Germany.  I have done no man wrong, and would appear as fearlessly before an assembly of peasants as before a gathering of barons.  Such faults as I may have, and none are without them, are not such as those with which I am charged.  I have slain many men in anger, but none by treachery.  When Richard of England strikes, he strikes in the light of day.  He leaves poison and treachery to his enemies, and I hurl back with indignation and scorn in the teeth of him who makes them the charges brought against me.”

So saying King Richard took his seat amidst a murmur of applause from the crowded hall.

The trial then commenced.  The accusations against Richard were of many kinds.  Chief among them was the murder of Conrad of Montferat; but there were charges of having brought the crusade to naught by thwarting the general plans, by his arrogance in refusing to be bound by the decision of the other leaders, and by having made a peace contrary to the interests of the crusaders.  The list was a long one; but the evidence adduced was pitiably weak.  Beyond the breath of suspicion, no word of real evidence connecting him with the murder of Conrad of Montferat was adduced, and the other charges were supported by no better evidence.  Many of the German barons who had been at the crusades themselves came forward to testify to the falsity of these charges, and the fact that Richard had himself placed Conrad of Montferat upon the throne, and had no possible interest in his death, was alone more than sufficient to nullify the vague rumours brought against him.  Richard himself in a few scornful words disposed of this accusation.  The accusation that he, Richard of England, would stoop to poison a man whom he could have crushed in an instant, was too absurd to be seriously treated.

“I am sure,” the king said, “that not one person here believes this idle tale.  That I did not always agree with the other leaders is true; but I call upon every one here to say whether, had they listened to me and followed my advice, the crusade would not have had another ending.  Even after Phillip of France had withdrawn; even after I had been deserted by John of Austria, I led the troops of the crusaders from every danger and every difficulty to within sight of the walls of Jerusalem.  Had I been supported with zeal, the holy city would have been ours; but the apathy, the folly, and the weakness of the leaders brought ruin upon the army.  They thought not of conquering Jerusalem, but of thwarting me; and I retort upon them the charge of having sacrificed