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Richard I of England

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: British History 1500 and
before (including Roman Britain); Monarchs of Great Britain

                                Richard I
    By the Grace of God, King of the English, Duke of the Normans and
   Aquitanians, Count of the Angevins
                    Image:Richard coeurdelion g.jpg
   Reign       6 July 1189 – 6 April 1199
   Coronation  3 September 1189
   Born        8 September 1157
               Beaumont Palace, Oxford
   Died        April 6, 1199 (aged 41)
               Châlus, in Limousin
   Buried      Fontevraud Abbey, Fontevraud-l'Abbaye, France
   Predecessor Henry II
   Successor   John
   Consort     Berengaria of Navarre
               (c. 1165/ 1170 – 1230)
   Issue       Died without legitimate posterity
   Royal House Plantagenet
   Father      Henry II ( 1133– 1189)
   Mother      Eleanor of Aquitaine ( 1124– 1204)

   Richard I ( 8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from
   1189 to 1199. In his own time, the troubadour Bertran de Born called
   him Òc-e-Non ('Yes-and-No'), while some later writers referred to him
   as Richard the Lionheart, or Cœur de Leon. Richard spent more years of
   his reign away from his kingdom, since the greater part of his domain
   was in France. He also took part in the Third Crusade, with campaigns
   in Sicily and Cyprus on the way, and afterwards a period under arrest
   by Leopold V of Austria.

Family

   The third legitimate son of King Henry II of England, Richard was never
   expected to ascend the throne. He is often depicted as having been the
   favourite son of his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine. Richard was a
   younger maternal half-brother of Marie de Champagne and Alix of France.
   He was a younger brother of William, Count of Poitiers, Henry the Young
   King and Matilda of England. He was also an older brother of Geoffrey
   II, Duke of Brittany, Leonora of England, Joan Plantagenet and John,
   Count of Mortain (who succeeded him as king).

Life

   Although born at Beaumont Palace, Oxford, England, like most of the
   Royal Family at the time he was essentially French. When his parents
   effectively separated, he remained with Eleanor, and was invested with
   her duchy of Aquitaine in 1168, and county of Poitiers in 1172.
   Meanwhile, his eldest surviving brother, Henry the Young King, was
   simultaneously crowned as his father's successor.

   Richard was an educated man. He was a man who who composed poetry. He
   wrote them in French and Occitan, he was said to be very attractive;
   his hair between red and blond, light-eyed, with a pale complexion. He
   was apparently of above average height, but since his bones have been
   lost since at least the French Revolution, his exact height is unknown.
   By the end of his life, he was somewhat overweight. From an early age
   he appeared to have significant political and military abilities,
   became noted for his chivalry and courage, and fought hard to control
   the rebellious nobles of his own territory. Like his brothers, Richard
   frequently challenged his father's authority, and his sense of
   responsibility was open to question.

   Eleanor's alleged favouritism of Richard was claimed by Matthew Paris
   to have been predicted by Merlin: "The eagle of the broken covenant
   shall rejoice in [Eleanor]'s third nesting." Paris only counted
   Eleanor's male children in these "nestings", ignoring Richard's older
   sisters Marie and Alix de France, and Matilda of England.

Revolt against Henry II

   In 1170, his elder brother Henry the Young King was crowned king of
   England as Henry III. Historians know him as Henry "the Young King" so
   as not to confuse him with the later king of the same name who was his
   nephew. In 1173, Richard joined his brothers, Henry and Geoffrey, in a
   revolt against their father. They were planning to dethrone their
   father and leave the Young King as the only king of England. In the
   revolt that followed, only Normandy remained faithful to Henry II at
   first; by August, however, Henry had largely crushed the rebellion in
   his own lands, and moved on to invade Poitou and Aquitaine, domains of
   Richard's mother, Eleanor, who was captured and imprisoned towards the
   end of the year by her husband. At the age of seventeen, Richard was
   the last of the brothers to hold out against Henry; though, in the end,
   he refused to fight him face to face and humbly begged his pardon. In
   1174, after the end of the failed revolt, Richard gave a new oath of
   subservience to his father.
            English Royalty
         House of Plantagenet
   Armorial of Plantagenet
               Henry II
       William, Count of Poitiers
       Henry, Count of Anjou
      Richard I the Lionheart
       Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany
      John
       Matilda, Duchess of Saxony
       Leonora, Queen of Castile
       Joan, Queen of Sicily
               Richard I

   Though placated by titles such as Count of Poitou, Richard wanted more.
   Henry seemed unwilling to entrust any of his sons with resources that
   could be used against him, for obvious reasons. Second, it was
   suspected that Henry had appropriated Princess Alys Richard's
   betrothed, the daughter of Louis VII of France by his second wife, as
   his mistress. This made a marriage between Richard and Alys technically
   impossible in the eyes of the church, but Henry prevaricated: Alys's
   dowry, the Vexin, was valuable. Richard himself was discouraged from
   renouncing Alys because she was the sister of King Philip II of France,
   a close ally.

   After his failure to overthrow his father, Richard concentrated on
   putting down internal revolts by the nobles of Aquitaine, especially
   the territory of Gascony. The increasing cruelty of his reign led to a
   major revolt there in 1179. The rebels hoped to dethrone Richard and
   asked his brothers Henry and Geoffrey to help them succeed. The turning
   point came in the Charente Valley in spring 1179. The fortress of
   Taillebourg was extremely well defended and considered impregnable. The
   castle was surrounded by a cliff on three sides and a town on the
   fourth side with a three-layer wall. Richard first destroyed and looted
   the farms and lands surrounding the fortress, leaving its defenders no
   reinforcements or outs. The inhabitants of the fortress were so afraid
   of Richard at this point, that they left the safety of their castle and
   attacked Richard outside its walls. Richard was able to subdue the army
   and then followed the defenders inside the open gates, where he easily
   took over the castle in two days. Richard’s victory at Taillebourg
   deterred many barons thinking of rebelling and forced them to declare
   their loyalty. It also won Richard a reputation as a skilled military
   commander.

   In 1181- 1182, Richard faced a revolt over the succession to the county
   of Angoulême. His opponents turned to Philip II of France for support,
   and the fighting spread through the Limousin and Périgord. Richard was
   accused of numerous cruelties against his subjects, including rape: "He
   carried off by force the wives, daughters and female relatives of his
   free men, and made them his concubines; and after he had extinguished
   the ardour of his lust on them, he handed them over to his soldiers for
   whoring." However, with support from his father and from the Young
   King, Richard succeeded in bringing the Viscount Aimar V of Limoges and
   Count Elie of Périgord to terms.

   After Richard subdued his rebellious barons, he again challenged his
   father for the throne. From 1180 to 1183 the tension between Henry and
   Richard grew, as King Henry commanded Richard to pay homage to Henry
   the Young King, but Richard refused. Finally, in 1183, Henry the Young
   King and Geoffrey, Duke of Brittany invaded Aquitaine in an attempt to
   subdue Richard. Richard’s barons joined in the fray and turned against
   their Duke. However, Richard and his army were able to hold back the
   invading armies and executed any prisoners. The conflict took a brief
   pause in June of 1183 when the Young King died. However, Henry II soon
   gave his youngest son John permission to invade Aquitaine. With the
   death of Henry the Young King, Richard was now the eldest son and heir
   to the English crown, but still he continued to fight his father.

   To strengthen his position, in 1187 Richard allied himself with Philip
   II, who was the son of Eleanor's ex-husband Louis VII by his third
   wife, Adele of Champagne. Roger of Hoveden wrote:

          "The King of England was struck with great astonishment, and
          wondered what [this alliance] could mean, and, taking
          precautions for the future, frequently sent messengers into
          France for the purpose of recalling his son Richard; who,
          pretending that he was peaceably inclined and ready to come to
          his father, made his way to Chinon, and, in spite of the person
          who had the custody thereof, carried off the greater part of his
          father's treasures, and fortified his castles in Poitou with the
          same, refusing to go to his father."

   Hoveden mentions how Richard and King Philip "ate from the same dish
   and at night slept in one bed" and had a "strong love between them",
   which some modern writers have construed to imply homosexual intimacy.
   There are allusions to the book of Samuel's depiction of Jonathan and
   David in this passage, but the politics of the relationship are
   Hoveden's chief concern.

   In exchange for Philip's help against his father, Richard promised to
   concede to him his rights to both Normandy and Anjou. Richard did
   homage to Philip in November of the same year. With news arriving of
   the battle of Hattin, he took the cross at Tours, in the company of a
   number of other French nobles.

   In 1188 Henry II planned to concede Aquitaine to his youngest son John.
   The following year, 1189 Richard attempted to take the throne of
   England for himself by joining Philip's expedition against his father.
   On 4 July 1189, Richard and Philip’s forces defeated Henry's army at
   Ballans. Henry, with John's consent, agreed to name Richard his heir.
   On 6 July Henry II died in Chinon, and Richard I succeeded him as King
   of England, Duke of Normandy, and Count of Anjou. Roger of Hoveden
   claimed that Henry's corpse bled from the nose in Richard's presence,
   which was taken as a sign that Richard had caused his death. He was
   officially crowned duke on 20 July and king in Westminster on 3
   September.

Anti-Semitic violence

   When Richard I was crowned King of England, he barred all Jews and
   women from the ceremony (apparently a concession to the fact that his
   coronation was not merely one of a king but of a crusader), but some
   Jewish leaders arrived to present gifts for the new king. According to
   Ralph of Diceto, Richard's courtiers stripped and flogged the Jews,
   then flung them out of court. When a rumour spread that Richard had
   ordered all Jews to be killed, the people of London began a massacre.
   Many Jews were beaten to death, robbed, and burnt alive. Many Jewish
   homes were burned down and several Jews were forcibly baptised. Some
   sought sanctuary in the Tower of London, and others managed to escape.
   Among those killed was Jacob of Orléans, widely regarded as one of the
   most learned of the age. Roger of Howeden, in his Gesta Regis Ricardi,
   claimed that the rioting was started by the jealous and bigoted
   citizens, and that Richard punished the perpetrators, allowing a
   forcibly converted Jew to return to Judaism. Archbishop of Canterbury
   Baldwin of Exeter reacted by remarking, "If the King is not God's man,
   he had better be the devil's," a reference to the supposedly infernal
   blood in the Angevin line.

   Realising that the assaults could destabilize his realm on the eve of
   his departure on crusade, Richard ordered the execution of those
   responsible for the most egregious murders and persecutions. (Most of
   those hanged were rioters who had accidentally burnt down Christian
   homes.) He distributed a royal writ demanding that the Jews be left
   alone. However, the edict was loosely enforced, as the following March
   there was further violence, including a massacre at York.

Crusade plans

   Richard had already taken the cross as Count of Poitou in 1187. His
   father Henry II of England and Philip II of France had done so at
   Gisors on 21 January 1188, after receiving news of the fall of
   Jerusalem to Saladin. Having become king, Richard and Philip agreed to
   go on the Third Crusade together, since each feared that, during his
   absence, the other might usurp his territories.

   Richard swore an oath to renounce his past wickedness in order to show
   himself worthy to take the cross. He started to raise and equip a new
   crusader army. He spent most of his father's treasury (filled with
   money raised by the Saladin tithe), raised taxes, and even agreed to
   free King William I of Scotland from his oath of subservience to
   Richard in exchange for 10,000 marks. To raise even more money he sold
   official positions, rights, and lands to those interested in them. Even
   those already appointed were forced to pay huge sums to retain their
   posts. Even William Longchamp, Bishop of Ely and the King's Chancellor,
   made a show of bidding £3,000 to remain as Chancellor. He was
   apparently outbid by a certain Reginald the Italian, but his bid was
   refused.

   Richard made some final arrangements on the continent. He reconfirmed
   his father's appointment of William Fitz Ralph to the important post of
   seneschal of Normandy. In Anjou, Stephen of Tours was replaced as
   seneschal and temporarily imprisoned for fiscal mismanagement. Payn de
   Rochefort, an Angevin knight was elevated to the post of seneschal of
   Anjou. In Poitou, the ex-provost of Benon, Peter Bertin was made
   seneschal, and finally in Gascony, the household official Helie de La
   Celle was picked for the seneschalship there. After repositioning the
   part of his army he left behind to guard his French possessions,
   Richard finally set out on the crusade in summer 1190. (His delay was
   criticised by troubadours such as Bertran de Born). He appointed as
   regents, Hugh, Bishop of Durham, and William de Mandeville, 3rd Earl of
   Essex, who soon died and was replaced by Richard's chancellor William
   Longchamp. Richard's brother John was not satisfied by this decision
   and started scheming against William.

   Some writers have criticised Richard for spending only six months of
   his reign in England and siphoning the kingdom's resources to support
   his Crusade and campaigns in what is now France. He claimed England was
   "cold and always raining," and when he was raising funds for his
   Crusade, was said to declare, "I would have sold London if I could find
   a buyer." However, England was a minor part of his territories, only
   important in that it gave him a royal title with which to approach
   other kings as an equal. Like most of the Plantagenet kings before the
   14th century, he had no need to learn the English language. Leaving the
   country in the hands of various officials he designated (including his
   mother, at times), Richard was far more concerned with his more
   extensive French lands.

Occupation of Sicily

   In September 1190 both Richard and Philip arrived in Sicily. After the
   death of King William II of Sicily, his cousin Tancred of Lecce had
   seized power and been crowned early in 1190 as King Tancred I of
   Sicily, although the legal heir was William's aunt Constance, wife of
   the new Emperor Henry VI. Tancred had imprisoned William's widow, Queen
   Joan, who was Richard's sister, and did not give her the money she had
   inherited in William's will. When Richard arrived, he demanded that his
   sister be released and given her inheritance. The presence of foreign
   troops also caused unrest: in October, the people of Messina revolted,
   demanding that the foreigners leave. Richard attacked Messina,
   capturing it on 4 October 1190. After looting and burning the city
   Richard established his base there. He remained there until Tancred
   finally agreed to sign a treaty on 4 March 1191. The treaty was signed
   by Richard, Philip and Tancred. Its main terms were:
     * Joan was to be released, receiving her inheritance and the dowry
       her father had given to her late husband.
     * Richard and Philip recognized Tancred as King of Sicily and vowed
       to keep the peace between all three of their kingdoms.
     * Richard officially proclaimed his nephew, Arthur of Brittany, son
       of Geoffrey, as his heir, and Tancred promised to marry one of his
       daughters to Arthur when he came of age.
     * Richard and Tancred exchanged gifts; Richard gave Tancred a sword
       which he claimed was Excalibur, the sword of King Arthur.

   After signing the treaty Richard and Philip left Sicily. The treaty
   undermined England's relationships with the Holy Roman Empire and
   caused the revolt of Richard's brother John, who hoped to be proclaimed
   heir instead of their nephew. Although his revolt failed, John
   continued to scheme against his brother.

Conquest of Cyprus

   In April 1191, while on route to the Third Crusade, Richard stopped on
   the Byzantine island of Rhodes to avoid the stormy weather. It seems
   that Richard had previously met his fiancée Berengaria only once, years
   before their wedding. He had assigned his mother to represent him and
   convince her father, Sancho VI of Navarre, and her other relatives to
   agree to the wedding, and to bring the bride to him. Richard came to
   their rescue when they were shipwrecked on the coast of Cyprus. He left
   Rhodes in May but a new storm drove Richard's fleet to Cyprus.

   On 6 May 1191, Richard's fleet arrived in the port of Lemesos (now
   Limassol) on Cyprus, and he captured the city. The island's despot
   Isaac Komnenos arrived too late to stop the Crusaders, and retired to
   Kolossi. Richard called Isaac to negotiations but Isaac demanded his
   departure. Richard and his cavalry met Isaac's army in battle at
   Tremetusia. The few Cypriot Roman Catholics and those nobles who
   opposed Isaac's rule joined Richard's army. Though Isaac and his men
   fought bravely, Richard's army was bigger and better equipped, assuring
   his victory. He also received military assistance from the King of
   Jerusalem, Guy of Lusignan. Isaac resisted from the castles of
   Pentadactylos but after the siege of Kantara Castle, he finally
   surrendered. It was claimed that, once Isaac had been captured Richard
   had him confined with silver chains, because he had promised that he
   would not place him in irons. Isaac's young daughter was kept in the
   household of Berengaria and Joan. Richard looted the island and
   massacred those trying to resist him. He and most of his army left
   Cyprus for the Holy Land in early June, having gained for the Crusade a
   supply base that was not under immediate threat from the Turks as was
   Tyre.In his absence Cyprus was governed by Richard Camville.

Richard's marriage

   Before leaving Cyprus, Richard married Berengaria, first-born daughter
   of King Sancho VI of Navarre. The wedding was held in Limassol on 12
   May 1191 at the Chapel of St. George. It was attended by his sister
   Joan, whom Richard had brought from Sicily. It should be noted that
   when Richard married Berengaria he was still officially betrothed to
   Alys and that Richard pushed for the match, in order to obtain Navarre
   as a fief like Aquitaine for his father. Further, Eleanor championed
   the match, as Navarre bordered on Aquitaine, thereby securing her
   ancestral lands' borders to the south. Richard took his new wife with
   him briefly on this episode of the crusade. However, they returned
   separately. Berengaria had almost as much difficulty in making the
   journey home as her husband did, and did not see England until after
   his death. Although after his release from German captivity, Richard
   showed some degree of regret for his earlier conduct, he was not joined
   by his wife.

   Richard had to be ordered to reunite with and show fidelity to
   Berengaria in the future, being told to "remember the destruction of
   Sodom and abstain from illicit acts." This may be further evidence that
   Richard engaged in homosexual activities, although it is argued that "
   the sin of Sodom" could be interpreted more broadly: the Biblical story
   concerns attempted male rape; Richard had already been accused of
   raping women. Some modern writers, elaborating on the theory, have
   alleged that Berengaria's own brother, the future Sancho VII, was one
   of Richard's early lovers. Nevertheless, when Richard died in 1199,
   Berengaria was greatly distressed, apparently having loved her husband
   very much (although that does not imply mutuality on Richard's part).
   The picture is further muddied by the fact that she had to sue the
   Church to be recognised as his widow. Historians remain divided on the
   issue.

Richard in Outremer

   King Richard arrived at Acre in June 1191. He gave his support to his
   Poitevin vassal Guy of Lusignan, who had brought troops to help him in
   Cyprus. Guy was the widower of his father's cousin Sibylla of
   Jerusalem, and was trying to retain the kingship of Jerusalem, despite
   his wife's death during the siege of Acre the previous year. Guy's
   claim was challenged by Conrad of Montferrat, second husband of
   Sibylla's half-sister, Isabella: Conrad, whose defence of Tyre had
   saved the kingdom in 1187, was supported by Philip of France, son of
   his first cousin Louis VII of France, and by another cousin, Duke
   Leopold V of Austria. Richard also allied with Humphrey IV of Toron,
   Isabella's first husband, from whom she had been forcibly divorced in
   1190. Humphrey was loyal to Guy, and spoke Arabic fluently, so Richard
   used him as a translator and negotiator.

   Richard and his forces aided in the capture of Acre, despite the king's
   serious illness. At one point, while sick from scurvy, Richard is said
   to have picked off guards on the walls with a crossbow, while being
   carried on a stretcher. Eventually, Conrad of Montferrat concluded the
   surrender negotiations with Saladin, and raised the banners of the
   kings in the city. Richard quarrelled with Leopold V of Austria over
   the deposition of Isaac Komnenos (related to Leopold's Byzantine
   mother) and his position within the Crusade. Leopold's banner had been
   raised alongside the English and French standards. This was interpreted
   as arrogance by both Richard and Philip, as Leopold was a vassal of the
   Holy Roman Emperor (although he was now the highest-ranking surviving
   leader of the imperial forces). Richard's men tore the flag down and
   threw it in the moat of Acre. Leopold left the Crusade immediately.
   Philip also left soon afterwards, in poor health and after further
   disputes with Richard over the status of Cyprus (Philip demanded half
   the island) and the kingship of Jerusalem. Richard suddenly found
   himself without allies.

   Richard had kept 2700 Muslim prisoners as hostages against Saladin
   fulfilling all the terms of the surrender of the lands around Acre.
   Philip, before leaving, had entrusted his prisoners to Conrad, but
   Richard forced him to hand them over to him. Richard feared his forces
   being bottled up in Acre, as he believed his campaign could not advance
   with the prisoners in train. He therefore ordered all the prisoners
   killed. He then moved south, defeating Saladin's forces at the battle
   of Arsuf on 7 September. He attempted to negotiate with Saladin,
   offering his widowed sister, Joan of Sicily, as a bride for Saladin's
   brother Al-Adil, but this was unsuccessful. In the first half of 1192,
   he and his troops refortified Ascalon.

   An election forced Richard to accept Conrad of Montferrat as King of
   Jerusalem, and he sold Cyprus to his defeated protégé, Guy. However,
   only days later, on 28 April 1192, Conrad was stabbed to death by
   Hashshashin (Assassins) before he could be crowned. Eight days later,
   Richard's own nephew, Henry II of Champagne was married to the widowed
   Isabella, although she was carrying Conrad's child. The murder has
   never been conclusively solved, and Richard's contemporaries widely
   suspected his involvement.

   Realising that he had no hope of holding Jerusalem even if he took it,
   Richard ordered a retreat. There then commenced a period of minor
   skirmishes with Saladin's forces while Richard and Saladin negotiated a
   settlement to the conflict, as both realized that their respective
   positions were growing untenable. Richard knew that both Philip and his
   own brother John were starting to plot against him. However, Saladin
   insisted on the razing of Ascalon's fortifications, which Richard's men
   had rebuilt, and a few other points. Richard made one last attempt to
   strengthen his bargaining position by attempting to invade Egypt —
   Saladin's chief supply-base — but failed. In the end, time ran out for
   Richard. He realised that his return could be postponed no longer,
   since both Philip and John were taking advantage of his absence. He and
   Saladin finally came to a settlement on 2 September 1192 — this
   included the provisions demanding the destruction of Ascalon's wall as
   well as an agreement allowing Christian access to and presence in
   Jerusalem. It also included a three-year truce.

Captivity and return

   Castle ruins at Durnstein
   Castle ruins at Durnstein

   Bad weather forced Richard's ship to put in at Corfu, in the lands of
   the Byzantine Emperor Isaac II Angelos, who objected to Richard's
   annexation of Cyprus, formerly Byzantine territory. Disguised as a
   Knight Templar, Richard sailed from Corfu with four attendants, but his
   ship was wrecked near Aquileia, forcing Richard and his party into a
   dangerous land route through central Europe. On his way to the
   territory of Henry of Saxony, his brother-in-law, Richard was captured
   shortly before Christmas 1192, near Vienna, by Leopold V of Austria,
   who accused Richard of arranging the murder of his cousin Conrad of
   Montferrat. Richard and his retainers had been travelling in disguise
   as low-ranking pilgrims, but he was identified either because he was
   wearing an expensive ring, or because of his insistence on eating roast
   chicken, an aristocratic delicacy. The Duke handed him over as a
   prisoner to Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor after being held captive at
   Dürnstein. It was here that he wrote Ja nus hons pris or Ja nuls om
   pres, a song in French and Occitan versions, expressing his feelings of
   abandonment by his people. However, the conditions of his captivity
   were not severe. Richard declared to the emperor, "I am born of a rank
   which recognizes no superior but God".

   His mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, worked to raise the ransom of 150,000
   marks (perhaps five times the annual income for the English Crown under
   Richard) demanded by Henry. Both clergy and laymen were taxed for a
   quarter of the value of their property, the gold and silver treasures
   of the churches were confiscated, and money was raised from the scutage
   and the carucage taxes. The emperor demanded that 100,000 marks be
   delivered to him before he would release the king, the same amount
   raised by the Saladin tithe only a few years earlier. At the same time,
   John, Richard's brother, and King Philip of France offered 80,000 marks
   for the Emperor to hold Richard prisoner until Michaelmas 1194. The
   emperor turned down the offer. The money to rescue the King was
   transferred to Germany by the emperor's ambassadors, but "at the king's
   peril" (had it been lost along the way, Richard would have been held
   responsible), and finally, on 4 February 1194 Richard was released.
   Philip sent a message to John: "Look to yourself; the devil is loose."

Later years and death

   Tomb at Fontevraud
   Tomb at Fontevraud

   During his absence, John had come close to seizing the throne. Richard
   forgave him when they met again, and, bowing to political necessity,
   named him as his heir in place of Arthur, whose mother Constance of
   Britanny was perhaps already open to the overtures of Philip II.
   Richard came into conflict with Philip. When the latter attacked
   Richard's fortress, Chateau-Gaillard ('The Saucy Castle'), he boasted
   that "if its walls were iron, yet would I take it," to which Richard
   replied, "If these walls were butter, yet would I hold them!"
   Tomb at Rouen Cathedral
   Tomb at Rouen Cathedral

   Determined to resist Philip's designs on contested Angevin lands such
   as the Vexin and Berry, Richard poured all his military expertise and
   vast resources into war on the French King. He constructed an alliance
   against Philip, including Baldwin IX of Flanders, Renaud, Count of
   Boulogne, and his father-in-law King Sancho VI of Navarre, who raided
   Philip's lands from the south. Most importantly, he managed to secure
   the Welf inheritance in Saxony for his nephew, Henry the Lion's son
   Otto of Poitou, who was elected Otto IV of Germany in 1198.

   Partly as a result of these and other intrigues, Richard won several
   victories over Philip. At Freteval in 1194, just after Richard's return
   from captivity and money-raising in England to France, Philip fled,
   leaving his entire archive of financial audits and documents to be
   captured by Richard. At the battle of Gisors (sometimes called
   Courcelles) in 1198 Richard took "Dieu et mon Droit" "God and my Right"
   as his motto, (still used by British Monarchs today) echoing his
   earlier boast to the Emperor Henry that his rank acknowledged no
   superior but God.

   In March 1199, Richard was in the Limousin, suppressing a revolt by
   Viscount Aimar V of Limoges. Although it was Lent, he "devastated the
   Viscount's land with fire and sword". He besieged the puny, virtually
   unarmed castle of Chalus-Chabrol. Some chroniclers claimed that this
   was because a local peasant had uncovered a treasure trove of Roman
   gold, which Richard claimed from Aimar in his position of feudal
   overlord: however, modern historians are sceptical of the story, which
   has the flavour of an exemplum, or moralising fable.

   In the early evening of the 25 March 1199, Richard was walking around
   the castle perimeter without his chainmail, investigating the progress
   of sappers on the castle walls. Arrows were occasionally fired from the
   castle walls, but these were given little attention. One defender in
   particular was of great amusement to the King - a man standing on the
   walls, crossbow in one hand, the other clutching a frying pan which he
   had been using all day as a shield to beat off missiles. He
   deliberately aimed an arrow at the King, which the King applauded.
   However, another arrow then struck him in the left shoulder near the
   neck. He tried to pull this out in the privacy of his tent, but failed;
   a surgeon, called a 'butcher' by Hoveden, removed it, 'carelessly
   mangling' the King's arm in the process. However, the wound swiftly
   became gangrenous. Accordingly, Richard asked to have the crossbowman
   brought before him; called alternatively Peter Basile, John Sabroz,
   Dudo and Bertran de Gurdun by chroniclers, the man proved a boy. This
   boy claimed that Richard had slain the boy's father and two brothers,
   and that he had slain Richard in vengeance. The boy expected to be
   slain; Richard, as a last act of mercy, forgave the boy his crime,
   saying, "Live on, and by my bounty behold the light of day," before
   ordering the boy to be freed and sent away with 100 shillings. Richard
   then set his affairs in order, bequeathing all his territory to his
   brother John and his jewels to his nephew Otto.

   Richard died on Tuesday, 6 April 1199 in the arms of his mother; it was
   later said that "As the day was closing, he ended his earthly day." His
   death was later referred to as 'the Lion [that] by the Ant was slain'.
   His last act of chivalry proved pointless: as soon as Richard was dead,
   his most infamous mercenary captain Mercadier had the boy who fired the
   fatal arrow flayed alive and then hanged.

   Richard's brain was buried at the abbey of Charroux in Poitou (for the
   land's perfidy towards him), his heart was buried at Rouen in Normandy,
   while the rest of his body was buried at the feet of his father at
   Fontevraud Abbey in Anjou, on his deathbed he beqeathed all his
   possessions to his brother John, having no legitimate heir.

Legacy

   This bronze equestrian statue of Richard I brandishing his sword by
   Carlo Marochetti stands outside the Palace of Westminster in London.
   This bronze equestrian statue of Richard I brandishing his sword by
   Carlo Marochetti stands outside the Palace of Westminster in London.

   Richard produced no legitimate heirs, and acknowledged only one
   illegitimate son, Philip of Cognac. As a result, he was succeeded by
   his brother John as King of England. However, his French territories
   initially rejected John as a successor, preferring his nephew Arthur of
   Brittany, the son of their late brother Geoffrey, whose claim is by
   modern standards better than John's. Significantly, the lack of any
   direct heirs from Richard was the first step in the dissolution of the
   Angevin Empire. While Kings of England continued to press claims to
   properties on the continent, they would never again command the
   territories Richard I inherited.

   Richard's legacy comprised several parts. First, he captured Cyprus,
   which proved immensely valuable in keeping the Frankish kingdoms in the
   Holy Land viable for another century. Second, his absence from the
   English political landscape meant that the highly efficient government
   created by his father was allowed to entrench itself, though King John
   would later abuse it to the breaking point. The last part of Richard's
   legacy was romantic and literary. No matter the facts of his reign, he
   left an indelible imprint on the imagination extending to the present,
   in large part because of his military exploits. This is reflected in
   Steven Runciman's final verdict of Richard I: "he was a bad son, a bad
   husband and a bad king, but a gallant and splendid soldier."

Medieval folklore

   By the 1260s a legend had developed that, after Richard's capture, his
   minstrel Blondel travelled Europe from castle to castle, loudly singing
   a song known only to the two of them (they had composed it together).
   Eventually, he came to the place where Richard was being held, and
   heard the song answered with the appropriate refrain, thus revealing
   where the king was incarcerated. The story was the basis of André
   Ernest Modeste Grétry's opera Richard Coeur-de-Lion ( 1784) and seems
   to be the inspiration for the opening to Richard Thorpe's film version
   of Ivanhoe (1952). It seems unconnected to the real Jean 'Blondel' de
   Nesle, an aristocratic trouvère.

   In the Arabic world, Richard became something of a bogeyman after his
   death. The mid-thirteenth-century Old French Continuation of William of
   Tyre claimed that Arab mothers would occasionally threaten unruly
   children with the admonition "King Richard will get you".

Later literature

   Richard has appeared frequently in fiction, as a result of the
   'chivalric revival' of the Romantic era. In 1822, he was the subject of
   Eleanor Anne Porden's epic poem, Cœur de Lion. After Ivanhoe, where he
   is depicted as initially adopting the pseudonym of Le Noir Fainéant
   ("The Black Sluggard"), Sir Walter Scott portrayed Richard in The
   Talisman, a highly fictionalised treatment of the Third Crusade. He is
   also a major character in James Goldman's play The Lion in Winter,
   which depicts him as homosexual. He features in Graham Shelby's The
   Kings of Vain Intent and, more centrally, in The Devil is Loose, Norah
   Lofts' The Lute-Player, and Jean Plaidy ( Eleanor Hibbert)'s The Heart
   of the Lion. He is portrayed as a merciless Muslim killer in a novel
   that follows Arn Magnusson in his Crusade Trilogy written by Swedish
   author Jan Guillou. He is seen as the reluctant husband of Berengaria
   of Navarre, and as Crusader, in Rachel Bard's Queen Without a Country.
   He is generally represented in a heroic role in children's fiction,
   such as Ronald Welch's Knight Crusader.
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