RICHARD THE LIONHEART

RICHARD THE LIONHEART

Noble, fierce and of matchless courage, Richard captured the imagination of his age, earing him the name of ‘Lionheart’.

Richard ‘the Lionheart’ has left behind a name which echoes down the centuries, synonymous with bravery, and has passed into the realms of legend.

Richard was born at Beaumont Palace in Oxford, on 8th September 1157.
He was the son of King Henry II and his Queen, the formidable Eleanor of Aquitaine.

From the first, Richard was his mother’s favourite son.
After his parents drifted apart, Queen Eleanor returned to her native Aquitaine, taking Richard with her.

Here, she established her own court, filled with chivalrous knights and courtly love.

Richard grew to be a tall man of around six feet four inches, a graceful figure, with long legs and an athletic build.

He had an abiding appreciation of poetry and music, and a love of fine clothing, probably inherited from his mother, Queen Eleanor.

His hair was red, like his father’s, his eyes grey and furious.
He had also inherited his full quota of the infamous Plantagenet temper, causing him to be ever at odds with his equally fiery-tempered father.

Richard’s relationship with his father, was openly hostile.
He was engaging in an open rebellion against his father, Henry II when the latter died in 1189.

On succeeding to the throne, Richard acted generously to all who had remained loyal to his father, and honoured his last wishes.

One of his first actions as king, was to order the release of his much-loved mother, Queen Eleanor, from the captivity she had endured for the last ten years.

Richard was crowned King of England, at Westminster Abbey, on 3rd September 1189.

At the age of 32, he was still relatively young, handsome, vigorous, and ready to lead the empire to new heights.

The lavish, and extravagant ceremony, that elevated him to his title – King of England, was so remarkable that Richard’s coronation is the first coronation for which a detailed account still exists.

Richard’s father had left England in a relatively peaceful state.
This allowed Richard to turn his attention to the Third Crusade, which he had promised to lead.

He spent most of his reign, on one campaign after another.
In his ten years as monarch, he only spent a few months in England.

It is doubtful, that he could actually even speak the English language.

The King spent very little time with his wife, Berengravia of Navarre, and there was no children born of the marriage.

In fact, there is reason to believe that Richard was actually gay, or at least bi-sexual.

Rumours swirled regarding his homosexuality in his lifetime, and he once did penance for the sin of sodomy.
Richard did have at least one illegitimate son, known as Phillip of Cognac.

On the evening of the 26th of March 1199, while Richard was walking around his castle directing a siege, an archer fired a crossbow bolt at him from the battlements.

Richard ducked too late, and the bolt embedded itself in his left shoulder.
In attempting to pull the bolt out, the shaft broke, leaving the iron head in his flesh.

A clumsy surgeon working by torchlight, succeeded in removing the arrowhead.
However, he made the wound far worse and gangrene set in.

? Richard’s devoted mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, rushed to his side, and was with him to the end.
Richard died in her arms on 6th April 1199.

Richard the Lionheart was interred at Fontevraud Abbey.
The grieving Eleanor accompanied her son’s body there, burying him as he had requested, at the feet of his father.

His heart was buried at Rouen in Normandy, and his entrails were bequeathed to Poitou in France.