Crusade against the Pope

Chapter 280: Death of Guy
For Guy, now it is not just about continuing to sit on the throne and wear the crown, but about his own life and property.

Faced with such a predicament, the young animal still fought to the death. After all, he is a man.

However, just as Guy was ready to face the crowd and give an impassioned speech, he planned to make the mob recognize their position and retreat on their own.

The development of things was not satisfactory.

To be more precise, Guy was recognized the moment he walked out of the door of his house.

Then came a cry: "There he is!"

Immediately afterwards, several stones were thrown at him without saying a word. Not to mention those that fell at his feet, one of the stones hit the crown on his head directly.

With a clang, the crown was smashed down, and then with another crisp sound, it fell to the ground and rolled several times.

There was no chance for Guy to make a speech. The Franks outside the mansion were fine as long as they didn't see Guy, but when they saw Guy come out, they started to form a human wall without saying a word and tried to climb into the yard.

Guy was so frightened that he didn't care about his royal dignity. He crawled back into the door with the help of the knight beside him.

The heart in my chest was beating so fast and I couldn't even calm down my breathing. This was no longer an ordinary mob, this was a mob that couldn't even speak!

"Guy! Come down!"

Along with such a shout, a stone was thrown and smashed the second-floor window with a clang.

An inseparable part of medieval urban life is "mob culture".

Especially when social contradictions intensified, they often became the protagonists of historical events. The town mob was not only the collective actor at the bottom of society, but also a political force that could not be ignored in medieval urban life.

From artisans, vendors, coolies, landless farmers, marginalized people in society... they will all participate.

Contrary to what many people imagined in later generations, medieval towns were small and densely populated, and rioters usually acted in groups of neighbors or guilds.

These groups were somewhat organized during the riots. They did not simply engage in looting, smashing, and burning. Instead, they wanted to demonstrate the power of the urban middle class, safeguard their own rights to autonomy, and express certain political demands.

Guy need not be ashamed of himself, he was the Holy Roman Emperor Maximian I, the one who married Maria of Burgundy.

Whenever he tried to suppress the rebellion in Bruges and led his troops in person, he was surrounded and armed by the citizens and became a prisoner of Bruges.

The fighting power of the urban mobs around the Mediterranean is truly obvious to all and they are fearless.

Without going too far, as the Franks surrounded Guy's mansion, they brought a tree trunk from somewhere, added a few hemp ropes to it and used it as a battering ram, and began to "attack the city".

The door of an ordinary house could not withstand such impact and cracked after just a few hits.

Dozens of citizens holding torches rushed into the two-story mansion and searched every room.

Guy was the first to be caught on the second floor. He was discussing with his two brothers how to escape when the citizens saw him. Guy felt something was wrong and turned around to run, but he was blocked in the room with no way to go.

For a moment, Guy was in a panic. Facing the citizens who were rushing towards him, he shouted, "I am the king, what are you doing?" while punching and kicking, struggling desperately.

The Frank veterans were all seasoned warriors, and they responded calmly to Jui's punches and kicks. They pinned the guy to the ground and kicked him again and again, first in the head, then in the chest, and then in the genitals.

During this process, some people wanted to hold back at first, but then they found that they couldn't hold back at all, because even if each of them only kicked twice, Guy would be unable to breathe.

Then someone said, "Stop hitting me! Stop hitting me! I'm going to kill him if you keep hitting me!"

After all, Guy was the king, so everyone stopped and no one was charged with regicide.

To put it bluntly, no one really wanted Guy to die. To ordinary Franks, Guy was just a vegetable and not "bad".

From a subjective point of view, Guy would never want to deliberately lose the war.

There is a difference between being bad and being incompetent, and reasonable people can tell the difference. If you want to kill someone just because he is bad, it will inevitably lead to everyone being in danger.

However, even though this is true, by the time the many Frank veterans stopped attacking Guy, he was already in such a miserable state with broken arms and legs, and was obviously seriously injured.

Everyone tacitly took a few steps back, calmed the impulse in their heads, and then left the room. Before leaving, they did not forget to close the door, leaving Guy groaning alone in the room.

Of course, there were also many people who took away anything they could put in their pockets before leaving the room.

As for Ameri and Jeffrey, they were pinned to the ground during this process.

But the people on the side were saying, "These are not Guy! These are not Guy!"

So after they were pinned down, no one punched or kicked them, but they thought they were in the way, so they just threw them out of the window, from the second floor to outside the house.

……

What happened in Tyre not only shocked the Second Kingdom, but also because there were already fixed merchant ships running directly from Tyre to Cyprus.

Only three days later, Cyprus received newspapers from Tyre.

Even the Lion-Hearted Richard, who was repairing the troops stationed here, was holding a newspaper in his hand with a gloomy look on his face.

The current situation in Palestine has changed suddenly. For Richard, who is eager to make achievements, it seems to have become a muddy water that is not suitable for him to get involved in.

Even the situation of the British and French Crusaders in Cyprus was slightly embarrassing.

When the British and French Crusaders led by Richard "The Lionheart" set foot in Cyprus, they were welcomed by the Cypriot Church.

In order to welcome these crusaders who came from afar, Cyprus specially held a grand banquet. Anthony, Nicholas, and all the powerful figures in Cyprus attended the banquet.

Richard had a great time at the banquet, and the Cypriots also worked hard during the subsequent garrison repairs.

Not only were the barracks prepared in advance, but even food supplies were provided as much as possible. As long as the Crusaders paid the money, they could get as much Greek olives, Syrian wheat, and Cypriot salted fish as they wanted.

Richard himself is not a person who values ​​money very much. On the contrary, he attaches great importance to face. Therefore, with Cyprus being so reliable, the two sides get along quite happily.

Regarding Guy's affairs, he took a tacit attitude and did not speak out personally, but he did not rule out Guy continuing to hold the throne, or that the Lusignan family controlled the political arena of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Among them, Isabella's identity as a member of the House of Anjou was ignored by Richard. The concept of family was relatively special in 12th century Europe.

This is another point that is different from the development of China.

Clan surnames appeared relatively late in Europe, gradually forming around the Roman time. Their main purpose was to distinguish people with the same name. Then, after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the concept of surname and family declined again.

As a result, before the 10th century, surnames were not deeply rooted in people's minds. It was not until after the 11th century that people began to use additional descriptive words to identify themselves, which made surnames clear again.

Surnames in Western Europe were not truly institutionalized until the 14th century, and were not standardized until the 16th century.

To put it simply, in the 12th century, the concept of family in Europe was not a clear interest entity.

A person's surname comes from his territory, occupation, or ancestor's name, making it easier for people to distinguish him.

Isabella's grandfather was indeed Richard's great-grandfather, but the relationship between the two was merely that of close blood relatives. Although they were from the same family, they had no common interests, no common patriarch, and no common family property.

In Europe, territory is held by individuals, and strictly speaking, there is no such concept as "family territory".

Because of this, a family would often lose a piece of land easily, simply because the lord of that territory had no male heir.

The Celestial Empire's family sacrifices, ancestor worship, and ancestral temples brought about a clan and family identity that was difficult for Western Europe to understand and that was above the individual.

In this case, compared to an Angevin relative whom he had never met or known.

On the contrary, the three Lusignan brothers, all of whom were vassals of Richard, had a closer relationship with him.

If the Lusignans succeeded and abandoned their holdings in Poitiers, it would be good news for Richard.

But in the end, it was impossible for Guy to sit on the throne of Jerusalem again. The cause of the incident also stemmed from the disgust of the citizens of Tyre towards the British and French Crusaders.

In this case, wouldn't it be a waste of time to continue landing in Palestine?

And as for other news, it's not just newspapers, but also news from the Cyprus Church and their own messengers.

After receiving assistance from the German Crusaders, the Kingdom of Jerusalem was able to defeat Saladin without his support.

"Your Highness! Your Highness! You have to decide for us!"

In front of Richard the Lionheart, Geoffrey begged and cried. Ever since his three brothers were robbed that night, he found a boat overnight and took his two younger brothers to leave Tyre and come to Cyprus.

During this process, Guy was seriously injured and died before the ship reached the shore.

"That mob, regicide! Regicide! This is no longer just an ordinary rebellion!"

In this era, because the monarch was considered to be the representative of God, regicide was not just a simple murder, but was also seen as a betrayal of national order, religious beliefs and social system.

As a member of the ruling class, Geoffrey had reason to cry and denounce the actions of the Tyrian mob.

Richard also sympathized with Guy's situation, and then found himself in an even more embarrassing situation.

Because the wish expressed by Geoffrey was obviously that he hoped that the British and French Crusaders would simply stop fighting Saladin and quickly pacify the mobs in the Kingdom of Jerusalem!
Due to the internal factional problems of the Kingdom of Jerusalem at the time, it is obvious that even if the Kingdom of Jerusalem is willing to hand over the citizens who participated in the riot at the time, it will not allow the Lusignan family to try to get involved in the throne.

This could be a pretext for declaring war, but if war were really declared...

It was hell for the Crusaders to declare war on the most sacred kingdom in Christendom.

Richard gave Geoffrey a few excuses and sent his vassal away.

Soon after, a servant came with the message that Archbishop Anthony of Cyprus wanted to see him.

Obviously, at this point, Anthony's coming to meet him must be related to what happened to Tire a few days ago.

Anthony did not meet Richard in the military camp, but in a country estate, and he brought his guards with him.

It can be said that since the incident in Tyre, the relationship between the British and French Crusaders and Cyprus has become much more distant.

Richard was about the same age as Sibyl, but two years older. He was the kind of person who stood out in the crowd wherever he went.

His hair color is between red and gold. It is not the effect of Isabella's light brown reflected in the sun, but it is related to his bloodline. It is his natural hair color.

Apart from his hair color, there are several other impressive features about him, including his pale complexion, his piercing eyes, and his height of nearly two meters.

However, although Richard has these distinctive characteristics and displays a unique charm, in Anthony's opinion, he is not yet a mature king.

Of course, Richard the Lionheart has not yet become king.

If Gellis were alive, he would be able to give Richard a clearer summary from the perspective of future generations.

This guy is not a traditional wise king, so naturally he is also immature.

His great exploits, his military skill, his splendor and extravagance, his poetry, his spirit of adventure, could not conceal his lack of sympathy and consideration for his people.

His ambition is that of a simple warrior: he will fight for anything, but he will sell anything that is worth fighting for.

It should be said that the glory Richard pursued was victory, not conquest.

He was not a person who attached great importance to the throne. He could support his elder brother in rebelling against his father, and he could also choose to forgive his younger brother when he usurped his throne.

He is the kind of person who pursues honor and leaves his name in history, but does not care about conquering land. He has the feeling that one must do something in his life.

For him, participating in the Third Crusade was like a grand adventure.

Faced with such a person, Anthony, as a seasoned veteran, was relatively able to grasp the other person's mind.

Anthony did not discuss much about Guy with Richard, but instead made a big promise.

That big cake is called Egypt.

Now, Saladin's army is gathering in Palestine, and Egypt is left empty!
(End of this chapter)