High Middle Ages · Europe · Politics

1193

Richard I imprisoned by Henry VI

February 14, 1193

Leopold of Austria handed Richard over to Henry VI of Germany, who held him in the castle at Trifels in the Palatine forest and demanded a ransom of 150,000 silver marks - about twice the annual income of the English crown. Eleanor of Aquitaine organized its collection. The seventy-year-old queen mother, traveling tirelessly across England, proved herself the most effective administrator in the Plantagenet domains.