King Richard I
The Lion cub who became the King
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| Disney's version of the Lion Heart |
Richard I. What comes to mind when we think of him? For me it is his nickname "Lion Heart". King Richard has become associated with the legend of Robin Hood which an outlaw fights for justice who "steals from the rich and gives to the poor" while Richard is away on the crusades.
Richard was the second surviving son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine . He was born on the 8 September 1157 in Beaumont Palace in Oxford. Richard was thought to be Eleanor's favourite child and because of the loving relationship they had put a strain on the relationship between father and son.
"He was tall, of elegant build; the colour of his hair was between red and gold; his limbs were supple and straight. He had long arms suited to wielding a sword. His long legs matched the rest of his body."
While Henry II visited his lands from Scotland to France Richard spent his childhood growing up in England. In May 1165 he left England for the first for the continent when his mother took him to Normandy.
Even though he was born and lived in England until he was eight we don't really know how much English he could speak and understand, but Richard was well educated who composed poetry and wrote in Limousin (language of Aquitaine) and also in French, the native tongue of his parents.
Parents making marriage alliances for the offspring were very common among royalty and nobility in the Medieval era. When Richard was three years old Henry arranged for his son to marry one of the daughters of Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona but like so many alliances it was called off. Why? Well we don't know why but the families could of fallen out.
In the early 1160s there had been talks that Richard should marry Alys of France because of the rivalry between the kings of England and France, Louis obstructed the marriage. Alys' sister Margaret was betrothed to Richard's older brother Henry so this marriage would make the peace between the Plantagenets and the Capets more secure. A peace treaty was secured in January 1169 and Richard's betrothal to Alys was confirmed.
When the time came for Henry II to divide his lands between his three sons; Henry would become King of England and Count of Anjou, Maine, and Normandy, while Richard would inherit Aquitaine Poitou, and Geoffrey would get Brittany through marriage alliance with Constance of Brittany. At the ceremony where Richard's betrothal was confirmed, he paid homage to the King of France for Aquitaine, thus securing ties of vassalage between the two. This was decided before 1166 when John, Henry's youngest son, was born so the decision of inheritance had to thought on again.
In 1171 Henry bestowed the Duchy of Aquitaine on Richard before he left for his lands with his mother where they embarked on a tour in an attempt to secure the loyalty and love of the people. Together they laid the foundation stone of St Augustine's Monastery in Limoges. In June 1172 Richard was formally recognised as the Duke of Aquitaine when he was granted the lance and banner emblems of his office and the ceremony took place in Poitiers and then again in Limoges where he wore the ring of St Valerie, who was the personification of Aquitaine.
When Young Henry wanted to rule independently in 1173 he started a rebellion against his father. Henry left England for France to seek Louis' help and Richard and Geoffrey joined their older brother. Louis gave his support to the three sons and even knighted Richard, tying them together through vassalage. Their rebellion was described as a "war without love".
The three brothers made an oath at the French court that they would not make terms with their father without the consent of Louis VII and the French barons. While his brothers were gathering support from barons Richard went to Poitou to raise the barons who were loyal to himself and his mother and when Eleanor was captured Richard was left to lead his campaign in Aquitaine on his own. He marched to take La Rochelle, but was rejected by the inhabitants; he withdrew to the city of Saintes which he established as a base of operations.
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| Aquitaine |
In 1177, it was suspected that Henry had lain with Princess Alys, who at the time was still Richard's betrothed. This made a marriage between Richard and Alys technically impossible in the eyes of the Church, but Henry prevaricated: Alys's dowry was valuable. Richard was discouraged from renouncing Alys because she was the sister of King Philip II of France, a close ally.
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 invaded Aquitaine in an attempt to subdue Richard while his barons turned against him. However, Richard and his army were able to hold back the invading armies, and they executed any prisoners. The conflict took a brief pause in June 1183 when the Young Henry died making Richard heir to the English crown. King Henry demanded that Richard give up Aquitaine to give to John but Richard refused, and the strain on their relationship continued .
To strengthen his position, in 1187, Richard allied himself Philip II. "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."
In exchange for Philip's help against his father, Richard handed him his rights to Normandy and Anjou and paid 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 other French nobles.
In 1188 Henry II planned to concede Aquitaine to his youngest son John and the following year, 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 agreed to name Richard his heir and two days later Henry II died in Chinon, and Richard succeeded him as King of England, Duke of Normandy, and Count of Anjou. It is believed that Henry's corpse bled from the nose in Richard's presence, which was taken as a sign that Richard had caused his death.
When Richard was crowned in Westminster Abbey on the 3 September 1189 he barred all
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| Richard's Statue outside Westminster Palace |
When a rumour spread that Richard had ordered all Jews to be killed, the people of London began a massacre where many Jews were beaten to death, robbed, and burned alive and their homes were burned down, and several Jews were forcibly baptised into the Christain faith. Some sought sanctuary in the Tower of London, and others managed to escape and among those killed was Jacob of Orléans, a respected Jewish scholar. It is believed that the riot was started by the jealous and bigoted citizens, and that Richard punished the perpetrators, allowing a forcibly converted Jew to return to his native religion. Baldwin of Forde, Archbishop of Canterbury, reacted by remarking, "If the King is not God's man, he had better be the devil's".
Realising that this could destabilise his kingdom on the eve of his departure on crusade, Richard ordered the execution of those responsible for the most egregious murders and persecutions, including rioters who had accidentally burned down Christian homes.He distributed a royal writ demanding that the Jews be left alone. The edict was loosely enforced, however, and the following March there was further violence including a massacre at York.
We all know that Richard loved war and was always on a crusade when he should of being at home ruling England as seen in the tale of Robin Hood. He only spent a total of six months out of 10 year reign in England.
"He was a bad king: his great exploits, his military skill, his splendour and extravagance, his poetical tastes, his adventurous spirit, do not serve to cloak his entire want of sympathy, or even consideration, for his people. He was no Englishman, but it does not follow that he gave to Normandy, Anjou, or Aquitaine the love or care that he denied to his kingdom. His ambition was that of a mere warrior: he would fight for anything whatever, but he would sell everything that was worth fighting for. The glory that he sought was that of victory rather than conquest"While Richard was raising funds for his crusade, he was said to declare, "I would have sold London if I could find a buyer." However, although England was a major part of his lands and gave him a royal title with which to approach other kings as an equal but it faced no major internal or external threats during his reign, unlike his territories in France, and so did not require his constant presence there and left the country in the hands of various officials he designated which include his mother.
In November 1189 William II of Scilly died leaving Richard's younger sister Joan a widow. By the time Richard reached Scilly in September 1190 the King Tancred had imprisoned Joan and wouldn't give her the money she had inherited in William's will. Richard demanded that his sister be released and given her inheritance and she was freed on 28 September, but without the inheritance.
Richard attacked Messina, capturing it on 4 October 1190. After looting and burning the city Richard established his base there, but this created tension between Richard and Philip of France. He remained there until Tancred finally agreed to sign a treaty on 4 March 1191. The treaty was signed by Richard, Philip and Tancred and its main terms were:
- Joan was to receive 20,000 ounces of gold as compensation for her inheritance, which Tancred kept.
- 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, giving a further twenty thousand ounces of gold that would be returned by Richard if Arthur did not marry Tancred's daughter.
Before Richard left Cyprus in 1191, he married Berengaria of Navarre, first-born daughter
of King Sancho VI of Navarre, in Limassol on 12 May 1191 at the Chapel of St. George. Richard's sister Joan, whom Richard had brought from Sicily, witnessed the wedding. The marriage was celebrated with great pomp and splendour and many feasts and entertainments, and public parades, and celebrations followed, to commemorate the event. Among the other grand ceremonies was a double coronation. Richard caused himself to be crowned King of Cyprus, and Berengaria Queen of England and of Cyprus, too. But at the time of the marriage he was still officially betrothed to Alys. 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.
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| Berengaria of Navarre |
Richard's sexuality has always been questioned. Was he straight? Did he prefer the company of men rather then women? Or was he bisexual? We don't know the answer but during his time on the crusade he had an illegitimate child with a local woman called Philip of Cognac. One thing is for sure Richard and Berengaria had no children but they were hardly ever together, she didn't even see England until after Richard's death.
On his way to the territory of his brother-in-law Henry of Saxony, Richard was captured shortly before Christmas 1192 near Vienna by Leopold V, Duke of Austria, who accused Richard of arranging the murder of his cousin Conrad of Montferrat. Moreover Richard had personally offended Leopold by casting down his standard from the walls of Acre.
On 28 March 1193 Richard was brought to Speyer and handed over to Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor, who was aggrieved both by the support which the Plantagenets had given to the family of Henry the Lion, and also by Richard's recognition of Tancred in Sicily, and who imprisoned him in Trifels Castle. Henry VI, needing money to raise an army and assert his rights over southern Italy, continued to hold Richard for ransom and in response Pope Celestine III excommunicated Henry VI along with Leopald for the continued wrongful imprisonment of Richard.
Richard famously refused to show deference to the emperor and declared to him, "I am born of a rank which recognises no superior but God". The emperor demanded that 150,000 marks to paid for his realise and 2–3 times the annual income for the English Crown under Richard. Eleanor of Aquitaine worked to raise the ransom and 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. At the same time, John 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 and on 4 February 1194 Richard was released. Philip sent a message to John: "Look to yourself; the devil is loose".
In Richard's absence, his brother John revolted with the aid of Philip; amongst Philip's conquests in the period of Richard's imprisonment was Normandy. Richard forgave John
when they met again and named him as his heir in place of Arthur.
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 and virtually unarmed castle of Chalus-Chabrol because a local peasant had uncovered a treasure trove of Roman gold, which Richard claimed from Aimar in his position as feudal overlord.
In the early evening of 25 March 1199, Richard was walking around the castle perimeter without his chainmail, investigating the progress of sappers on the castle walls. One defender in particular amused the king greatly—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 at the king, which the king applauded; however, another crossbowman then struck the king in the left shoulder near the neck. He tried to pull this out in the privacy of his tent but failed so a surgeon removed it, 'carelessly mangling' the King's arm in the process. The wound swiftly became gangrenous. Accordingly, Richard asked to have the crossbowman brought before him and the man turned out to be a boy who claimed that Richard had killed his father and two brothers, and that this was his revenge. The boy expected to be executed but Richard's last act of mercy was to forgive the boy of 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 6 April 1199 in the arms of his mother; it was later said that "As the day was closing, he ended his earthly day." Because of the nature of Richard's death, he was later referred to as 'the Lion by the Ant was slain'. According to history, Richard's last act of chivalry proved fruitless; in an orgy of medieval brutality, the infamous mercenary Captain Mercadier had the crossbowman flayed alive and hanged as soon as Richard died.
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| Richard's tomb |
Richard's heart was buried at Rouen in Normandy, the entrails in Châlus and the rest of his body was buried at the feet of his father at Fontevraud Abbey in Anjou. In 2012, scientists analysed the remains of Richard's heart and found that it had been embalmed with various substances, including frankincense, a symbolically important substance because it had been present both at the birth and embalming of the Christ.
A 13th century Bishop of Rochester wrote that Richard spent 33 years in purgatory as expiation for his sins, eventually ascending to Heaven in March 1232.
What are your opinions on Richard? Was he a good King? What was his sexuality? I believe that he was bisexual as he spent most of his life with men on crusades but he did enjoy women as he had a son who was illegitimate. He was brave to go and fight on a crusade but he didn't spend a lot of time in England where he was King.
Richard I has gone down in history as "Richard, the Lion Heart" and that is how he will always be remembered.
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