Here were collected all the nobles of the empire, and before them King Richard was brought.

It was a grand assembly.

Upon a raised throne on the dais sat the emperor himself, and beside him and near him were the great feudatories of the empire, and along the sides of the walls were ranged in long rows the lesser barons.

When the doors were opened and King Richard entered, the whole assembly, save the emperor, rose in respect to the captive monarch.

Although pale from his long confinement, the proud air of Richard was in no way abated, and the eyes that had flashed so fearlessly upon the Saracens looked as sternly down the long lines of the barons of Germany.