Richard I - LionHeart

.Richard I - LionHeart

. Itty-bitty details

One of the most prominent figures of the Third Crusade was Richard I, nicknamed Lionhearted. He was born on September 8^th, 1157 and he later died on April 6, 1199

(Britannica, Vol 10, p.43). He was the third son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitane (Dictionary of the Middle Ages, Vol 10, p.383). He eventually acquired the nickname LionHeart (which in French, would be Coeur de Lion) due to his incredible amount of courage (Britannica, Vol 10, p.43). There are actually two variations of his nickname; "lionheart" and "lionhearted" (Dictionary of the Middle Ages, Vol 10, p.383). In 1168 he became the Duke of Aquitane and then, in 1172, the Duke of Poitiers (Britannica, Vol 10, p.43). King Louis of France got in a fight with King Henry of England (Richard's dad) and Louis became violently ill during the feud and died in 1180 (Jones and Ereira, p.171). Before Louis died, Henry was in constant battle with his three sons from 1173-74. Eventually his father gave some land in Aquitane to him (Britannica, Vol 10, p.43). In fact, most of Richard's military knowledge came from his many battles with his father (Jones and Ereira, p.171). He had many problems with his father, but his mother seemed to favor him. This is why he became Duke of Aquitane, and thus having control of southwest France (Dictionary of the Middle Ages, Vol 10, p.383).

. Revolutions

In 1183 the Gascons along with "Young King" Henry (Henry II's eldest son) revolted against King Henry II of England. But in the summer of 1183, young Henry died suddenly and the revolution was over (Britannica, Vol 10, p.43). This left Richard as the heir to England, Normandy, and Anjou. Richard's father wanted Richard to give Aquitane to his younger brother John, but Richard refuse (Britannica, Vol 10, p.43). In 1188, Philip II of Augustus encouraged and helped Richard in his battles with Richard's father (Dictionary of the Middle Ages, Vol 10, p.383). Philip wanted this because he was trying to get the Henry family out of France (Jones and Ereira, p.172). Richard and King Philip of France joined forces against Henry II in 1189. "They chased him from Le Mans to Saumur" and eventually Henry II died from the tormenting on July 6, 1189 (Britannica, Vol 10, p.43).

. A new ruler

On September 3^rd (still 1189), Richard arrived in England and was crowned king (Dictionary of the Middle Ages, Vol 10, p.383), Richard never liked England and he spent very little time there. He found the country; wet, boring, and she complained that they spoke the wrong language. He was even quoted as saying "I would sell London if I could find a buyer" (Jones and Ereira, p.172). it seems as if Richard was only interested in England for it's money (Britannica, Vol 10, p.43). Most, (practically all of the money), was spent on the Crusades and to fund his wars (Dictionary of the Middle Ages, Vol 10, p.383). Richard also hated England because of the Massacre at York in 1190. During some riots in London, many Jew were slaughtered. Richard didn't appreciate this because the Jews were a major source of money (Jones and Ereira, p.172).

. The Crusades

Richard was only interested in fighting in the crusades instead of building up political power, while Philip only wanted to rule his land (Britannica, Vol 10, p.43). But they both went on the Third Crusade together even though they were enemies. How could this be, you might ask, well, since the King of England (Richard) owned half of France they both had to go because if one stayed the king that would be gone would come back to find his taken over by the other king. So they decided to go together (Jones and Ereira, p.172). Leaving Marseilles on August 7, 1190, Richard started his voyage. His first stop was Messina in Sicily (Dictionary of the Middle Ages, Vol 10, p.383). The main point of going there was to get his sister (Joan of England) released from her imprisonment by Tancred of Lecce (Britannica, Vol 10, p.43). She was eventually released via the Treaty of Messina but Richard gave up some land and a lot of cash for her release (Dictionary of the Middle Ages, Vol 10, p.383).

What did these guys look like?

What did Richard and Philip look like? Richard was tall, strong, red-haired, and *very* handsome. Philip, on the other hand, looked like he'd been run over a couple of times by a large truck. He was dumb, weak, and was missing an eye (Jones and Ereira, p.172).

. More Adventures

While in Sicily, Richard took a hawk from a peasant. An unruly mob quickly assembled, surrounding Richard. Richard, incredibly, managed to fight his way out (Jones and Ereira, p.174). After leaving Messina, Richard headed towards his final goal. the Holy Land. But on his way he decided to conquer the island of Cyprus (Dictionary of the Middle Ages, Vol 10, p.383). It was here on Cyprus that he married Berengaria of Navarre (Britannica, Vol 10, p.43). Eventually, on June 8, 1191, Richard and his army of crusaders arrived in Acre (Dictionary of the Middle Ages, Vol 10, p.383). Richard got within a couple of miles of Jerusalem twice during the Third Crusade, but he never made it (Britannica, Vol 10, p.43).

. Treachery!

After the crusaders captured Acre, Philip left for France because he was 'sick' (Dictionary of the Middle Ages, Vol 10, p.383). but Philip was actually faking illness (clever!) so that he could take back Richard's land in Franc (Britannica, Vol 10, p.43). Richard eventually figured out the scam and made a truce with the Islamic commander, Saladin. The truce allowed safe passage of Christians into the Holy Land (Dictionary of the Middle Ages, Vol 10, p.383). Fearing to travel through French, Richard returned to his home land by passing through Germany (Jones and Ereira, p.174). In December 1192, Richard was captured by a German Duke, and handed over to King Henry VI (the German king at the time) (Britannica, Vol 10, p.43). Henry VI was an ally of Philip and he threatened to return Richard to Philip unless Richard paid the ransom (Dictionary of the Middle Ages, Vol 10, p.383). The (evidently huge) ransom of 150,000 marks of silver, was paid by Richard, so he was released on February 4, 1194 (Dictionary of the Middle Ages, Vol 10, p.383).

. Payback

He returned to England in March and was re-crowned king on April 17^th (Jones and Ereira, p.174). A month later he left for France to wage revenge against Philip. He recaptured all of the land and castles that were lost while he was on the Third Crusade (Dictionary of the Middle Ages, Vol 10, p.383). But he finally died while besieging the castle of Chalus. An arrow, tipped with manure, hit him in the left shoulder (Jones and Ereira, p.174). Richard died ten days later on April 6, 1199 (Britannica, Vol 10, p.43).

. The stunning conclusion

And now, for some tabloid-esque facts... Richard was believed to be homosexual (Britannica, Vol 10, p.43).