Note 1866 — Chapter VIII · THE LATER YEARS OF RICHARD. 1194–1199.

R. Diceto tells the story of the prophecy made to Fulk the Good in two places; in the Abbreviationes Historiarum (Stubbs, vol. i. p. 149) and in the Opuscula (vol. ii. pp. 267, 268). In the latter place he adds: “Quod quondam probavit regnum Jerosolimitanum; quod adhuc ostendit regnum Anglorum; quod suo tempore declarabit Romanum imperium.” This, as Bishop Stubbs notes, “looks like an anticipation of the election of Otto IV. to the empire.... As Bishop Longchamp died in 1197, before which date we must suppose MS. R to have been written” [the MS. from which the Opuscula are printed, and which begins with a dedication to William of Longchamp], “it can scarcely be a prophecy after the event.” As William of Longchamp died January 31, 1197 (R. Diceto, vol. ii. p. 150; February 1 according to Gerv. Cant., Stubbs, vol. i. p. 543), it seems indeed to shew that the possibility of one or other of Richard’s nephews becoming Emperor at the next vacancy was already in contemplation more than eight months before the death of Henry VI. Or was Ralf dreaming rather of a transfer of the imperial crown to Richard himself? for it is to be observed that Otto can be included within the “nine generations” only by excluding from them Fulk the Good himself; but this mode of computing would fail if applied to the eastern branch of the Angevin house, where it would give only eight generations, so that we can hardly suppose it to have been adopted by Ralf. According to R. Coggeshall (Stevenson), p. 88, and Gerv. Cant. as above, p. 545, a party among the electors actually did choose Richard, and—much more strangely—another party chose Philip of France.