Richard I – The Lionhearted King

Richard Plantagenet was born at Beaumont Palace, Oxford, on 8th September, 1157 as the third son of Henry II and his French wife Eleanor of Aquitaine. During the rule of Plantagenet, the kingdom of England was known as Angevin empire. Richard was a younger brother of William, Count of Poitiers, Henry the Young King and Matilda of England. He was the third legitimate son of King Henry II of England. He was also an older brother of Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany, Leonora of England, Joan Plantagenet and John, Count of Mortain. Richard was the younger maternal half-brother of Marie de Champagne and Alix of France. Richard was the favourite son of his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine. After the birth of their youngest child, John, Richard’s parents drifted into open enmity. King Henry made the beautiful Rosamund Clifford his mistress. The neglected queen returned to her native Aquitaine, there establishing her own court and taking Richard along with her. Richard was designated as her heir.

He was known as “Richard the Lionhearted” or “Cœur de Lion”, even before he was crowned as king, because of his reputation as a great military leader. From the outset, he exhibited the volatile disposition and demonic energy inherent in the Plantagenet family. He was said to be fond of quoting the Angevin family legend “From the Devil we sprang and to the Devil we shall go.” He is also referred to as “the absent king” because throughout his reign, he remained in England for just six months. Some writers have criticised him for this. He appears in Sir Walter Scott’s famous novel Ivanhoe. King Richard is best known for his bravery and the great wars he fought, especially the Third Crusade, where he appeared the counterpart of Saladin.

Although born in London, Richard was essentially French. Richard was an educated man who composed poetry and writings in French. Richard was known to be fond of music and was nurtured in the troubadour culture of his mother’s southern homeland. In 1172, when he was fourteen years old, Richard was given his mother’s inheritance of Aquitaine at Poiters and Limoges. This was his consolation prize for the fact that his eldest brother, Henry the Young King, was simultaneously crowned as his father’s successor. During the last years of Henry’s reign, Queen Eleanor constantly plotted against Henry II. Encouraged by their mother, Richard and his brothers campaigned against their father in France. Eleanor of Aquitaine attempted to join them in Paris, traveling dressed as a man. However, she was captured by one of her husband’s patrols and was imprisoned for the remainder of Henry II’s reign.

Richard had one major reason for hating his father. Henry had appropriated Princess Alice, the daughter of the French king (not his half sister, Alix of France) and Richard’s engaged, as his mistress. This made a marriage between Richard and Alice technically impossible in the eyes of the church. Henry however never confessed to his misdeed. As for Richard, he was discouraged from renouncing Alice because she was Philip’s sister.

In 1170, Richard’s elder brother, King Henry III, was crowned king even though their father had not died. Historians know Henry III as Henry “the Young King” so as not to confuse him with the later king of this name who was his nephew. In 1173, Richard joined his brothers, Henry and Geoffrey the Duke of Brittany, in a revolt against their father. They were planning to dethrone their father and leave the Young King as the only king of England. Henry II invaded the Aquitaine twice. At the age of seventeen, Richard was the last of the brothers to hold out against his father. In 1174, after the failure of the revolt, Richard swore a new oath of subservience to his father.

After his failure, Richard concentrated on putting down internal revolts by the nobles of Aquitaine, especially in Gascony. The increasing acts of cruelty during his reign led to a major revolt of Gascony in 1183. The rebels hoped to overthrow Richard and asked his brothers, Henry and Geoffrey, to help them succeed. Their father, Henry II feared that the war between his three sons could lead to the devastation of his kingdom. So, he led a part of his army that served in his French territories in support of Richard. Henry III, Richard’s elder brother, perished on June 11, 1183. Afterwards, the revolt ended, and Richard remained on his throne.

Young Henry’s death left Richard as the eldest surviving son and thereby natural heir to the throne. Nonetheless, there was some uncertainty over King Henry’s intentions. When Geoffrey also died, Richard was the only realistic possibility, since his John was too weak and inexperienced to be seriously considered. Richard was considered — though not officially proclaimed — heir to the joint thrones of England, Normandy and Anjou. In 1188 Henry II planned to concede Aquitaine to his youngest son John Lackland who later became King John of England. In opposition to his father’s plans, Richard allied himself with King Philip II of France, the son of Eleanor’s ex-husband Louis VII by his third wife, Adela of Blois. In exchange for Philip’s help against his father, Richard promised to concede his rights to both Normandy and Anjou to Philip. Richard gave an oath of subservience to Philip in November of the same year. In 1189 Richard attempted to take the throne of England for himself by joining Philip’s expedition against his father. They were victorious! Henry, with John’s consent, agreed to name Richard his heir. On July 6, 1189 Henry II died in Chinon, and Richard succeeded him as King of England, Duke of Normandy, and Count of Anjou. His coronation took place in Westminster Abbey on the 23rd of September, 1189. During the ceremony, a bat was seen zigzagging around his head in its erratic flight. Many saw this as a bad omen.

Richard wasn’t fully interested in being a king. His interests were more concentrated on wars and triumphs over enemies. In his ten years as monarch, he has spent only about six months in England claiming it was “cold and always raining.” He once remarked that he would have sold the whole country if he could have found a buyer. Fortunately he couldn’t find anyone with the necessary funds. Richard has been criticized for doing little for England, diverting the kingdom’s resources by appointing Jewish moneylenders (not an uncommon practice of the time) to support warfare away on the Crusade.

When Richard Plantagenet was crowned King of England, he barred all Jews and women from the ceremony, but some Jewish leaders arrived to present gifts for the new king. It is said that, Richard’s courtiers stripped and flogged the Jews, and then flung them out of court. When a wrong rumor 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 burned alive. Many Jewish homes were burned down, and several Jews were forcibly baptized. Some sought sanctuary in the Tower of London, and others managed to escape. Among those killed was Jacob of Orleans who is 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 intolerant citizens, and that Richard punished the perpetrators, allowing a forcibly converted Jew to return to his native religion. 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.

Soon after his accession to the throne, King Richard decided to join the Third Crusade, inspired by the loss of Jerusalem to the “infidels” under the command of Saladin. Afraid that, during his absence, the French might conquer his territories, Richard tried to persuade Phillip to join the Crusade as well. Phillip agreed and both gave their crusader oaths on the same date. Richard made out a will leaving his nephew, Arthur of Brittany as heir to the entire Angevin Empire before leaving for the crusade. All the preparations being made by July 1190, the English, their French allies led by Phillip Augustus, and Holy Roman Empire forces led by Frederick I Barbarossa, who later drowned crossing a river, set out on the third crusade.

The crusaders stopped on the way at Sicily, where Richard’s sister, Joanna, the dowager Queen, was being held captive by her nephew, Tancred, the new King, who was also refusing to return her dowry. Tancred became more willing when Richard arrived on the scene and eventually released her. Phillip raised the issue of his sister, Alice, who had been betrothed to Richard since childhood. Richard informed Phillip that he intended to marry the Princess Berengaria of Navarre, the daughter of Sancho VI of Navarre, whom his mother was escorting to Sicily. Richard and Berengaria had met only once prior to their championship, at a tournament at Pamplona held by her father. There was little the insulted Phillip could do other than simmer.

The voyage to the Holy Land continued, but the ship carrying Berengaria and Joanna was shipwrecked on the coast of Cyprus. The Cyprians besieged the English survivors of the wreck at Limasoll. Richard dispatched a letter to the Emperor of Cyprus, Isaac Comnenus, which was ignored. Outraged, he unleashed the full force of the famed Plantagenet fury on the unfortunate Isaac. The Cyprian Emperor was overthrown and English governors were set up over the island which was used as a garrison for the crusade.

The crusaders arrived at Acre, in the Holy Land, at Whitsun, 1191. The siege of Acre had been begun two years previously. Richard’s reputation seemed to have arrived before him and on 11th of July, the defenders surrendered the city to the Christian army.

King Phillip Augustus of France was anxious to return home; he did not enjoy being eclipsed by Richard and was upset at the denial of his sister. King Phillip set sail for France on the 3rd of August, abandoning the crusade. An exchange of prisoners from Acre was arranged with Saladin, but problems arose in the arrangements. Richard believed Saladin was creating delays and consequently ordered the massacre of all the Muslim prisoners.

On 7th September, at Arsuf, the armies of Richard and Saladin met with each other. Saladin was forced to retreat. Richard then marched on Jaffa, and began to strengthen it as a garrison for Jerusalem. The army arrived at the foothills of the Holy City on 3rd January, 1192. However, the crusaders were exhausted, short of supplies, and plagued by disease. They were consequently obliged to return to the safety of the coast.

A ceasefire was negotiated with the Muslims. Richard proposed that Saladin should give the Holy Land to his nephew, Saphadin, whom he suggested should marry his sister Joanna, forming a peaceful alliance between Christian and Muslim. The bewildered Saladin, unable to believe his luck, accepted. Joanna, who possessed the famed family temper, refused outright to consider marriage with a Muslim, which resulted in a heated family dispute.

The relationship between Richard and Saladin was not only one of enmity but of chivalry. Once when Richard lost his horse, Saladin sent him two fine horses as replacements. When Richard was wounded and his army was thirsty and hungry, Richard requested of Saladin fresh fruits and water. He received frozen snow and a variety of fresh fruits from the Muslim leader. It is commonly said that he did this so that he could place a spy of his in Richard’s army, but it is also said that he did this in accordance to the common belief that helping those who ask for help was one of the greatest duties of an honorable Muslim.

Richard received disturbing news from England that his younger brother, John, was plotting against him. He made a further approach to Jerusalem but again realized he could not take the city and that he must now urgently return home. Heartened, Saladin then re-took Jaffa. Richard staged a daring counter attack and, although heavily outnumbered, put the Muslims to flight. Having negotiated a three year truce, which retained his conquests and gave Christians access to Jerusalem, the king sailed for England.

On the return journey he was shipwrecked and taken prisoner by Duke Leopold of Austria, whom Richard had insulted gravely in the early stages of the crusade. The duke then handed him over to Henry VI, the new Holy Roman Emperor and son of the drowned Frederick I, for 75000 marks. Richard was imprisoned in Trifels Castle. Richard notably refused to show respect to the emperor and declared to him, “I am born of a rank which recognizes no superior but God”. The ransom for Richard was set at 150,000 marks. It was a sum equal to three times the annual income of Angevin empire ruled by Richard.

Richard’s mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, worked to raise the ransom of 150,000 marks demanded by Henry IV. 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 150,000 marks be delivered to him before he would release the king, the same amount raised by the scheme of “Saladin tithe” only a few years earlier by Richard as funds for his crusade. At the same time, John, Richard’s brother, and King Philip of France offered 80,000 marks for the Emperor to hold Richard prisoner. The emperor turned down the offer. The money to rescue the King was transferred to Germany by the emperor’s ambassadors. On February 4, 1194 Richard was released.

The last phase in Richard’s life was spent in strengthening the Angevin Empire from the intrigues of Phillip Augustus. He built the famed Chateau Gaillard to guard his dominions, on a strategic position, high on a rock at Les Andelys. Phillip boasted he would take it, “if its walls were made of steel”, Richard retorted he would hold it from Phillip “even if its walls were made of butter”.

The King spent very little time with his neglected wife, Berengaria of Navarre and there was no issue of the marriage. Richard did have at least one illegitimate son, known as Phillip of Cognac, who steps into the pages of history in Shakespeare’s ‘King John’.

In the spring of 1199, a mass of Roman treasure was discovered by a peasant ploughing a field in Chalus, near Limoges, which was delivered to his lord, Archard of Chalus. Richard, as overlord, claimed the find as his and besieged Chalus with his mercenary captain, Mercadier.

On the evening of 26th of March while Richard was directing the siege, one defender in particular was of great amusement to the king. A man was standing on the walls, crossbow in one hand and 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. Richard reacted too late, when he tried to pull the projectile out in the privacy of his tent but the shaft of the arrow broke. A surgeon, called a ‘butcher’ carelessly removed it making the wound much more fatal in the process; the wound swiftly became gangrenous. Richard asked to have the one that attacked him brought before him. The man turned out to be a boy. His name was Pierre Basille, alternatively called Bertran de Gurdun by chroniclers. The boy claimed that Richard had killed his father and two brothers, and that he had killed Richard in revenge. The boy expected to be executed, but Richard, as a last act of mercy, forgave the boy and gave him 100 shillings before sending him away. Richard then set his dealings in order, bequeathing all his territory to his brother John and his jewels to his nephew Otto.

Richard died on Tuesday, April 6, 1199 in the arms of his mother. His death was later referred to as “The Lion by the Ant was slain”. His last act of chivalry proved pointless. Richard’s infamous mercenary captain Mercadier in great medieval brutality had the crossbowman flayed alive and hanged as soon as Richard died.

Richard’s brain was buried at the abbey of Charroux in Poitou, his heart was buried at Rouen in Normandy, and the rest of his body was buried at the feet of his father at Fontevraud Abbey in Anjou.

Richard was succeeded by his brother, John. 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 was technically better than John’s.

And so the legendary era of “The Lionheart Richard”, one of the England’s most famed rulers came to an end.

Write-up by Subinxsubin

References:

  • “King Richard I – The Lionheart.” 2008, from http://www.templarhistory.com/richard.html.
  • “Richard the Lionheart.” 2008, from http://www.themiddleages.net/people/richard_lionheart.html.
  • “Richard I of England.” 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_I_of_England