Outside the Houses of Parliament there
stands a statue of Richard I seated on his horse
as testimony that he was one of
England’s bravest and greatest kings …or was he?
All English school children learn
about this great king who reigned from 1189-1199.
He earned the title ‘Coeur-de-Lion’
or 'Lion Heart'
as he was a brave soldier, a great
crusader, and won many battles against Saladin, the
leader of the Saracens who were occupying Jerusalem at
that time.
But was he really one of the greatest
kings of England -
or one of the worst?
It appears that he hadn’t much
interest in being king …in his ten years as monarch he
only spent a few months in England, and it is doubtful
that he could actually speak the English language. 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 was the son of King
Henry II and
Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine. He spent much of his
youth in his mother's court at Poitiers.
During the last years of Henry's reign, Queen Eleanor
constantly plotted against him. Encouraged by their
mother, Richard and
his brothers campaigned against their
father in France. King Henry was defeated in battle and
surrendered to Richard, and so on the
July 5th 1189, Richard became King of England, Duke of
Normandy and Count of Anjou.
After his coronation Richard, having
already taken the crusader’s vow, set out to join the
Third Crusade to free the Holy Land from Saladin, the
leader of the Turks.
Whilst wintering in Sicily, Richard
was met by his mother along with a potential bride
to-be…Berengaria of Navarre. He initially resisted the
match.
On
the way to the Holy Land,
part of Richard’s fleet was wrecked off Cyprus. The
island’s ruler Isaac I made the mistake of upsetting
Richard by badly treating his surviving crews. Richard
had landed in Rhodes but
immediately sailed back to Cyprus
where he defeated and deposed Isaac.
Whether it was the magic of the
island, the heightened senses from his victory or
something else entirely, it was in Cyprus that Richard
relented and married Berengaria of Navarre. An unlikely
place perhaps for an English king to get married,
nevertheless Berengaria was crowned Queen of England and
Cyprus.
 Richard continued with the Crusade,
landing and taking the city of Acre on 8 June 1191. Whilst reports of his daring deeds and
exploits in the Holy Land excited the folks back home
and in Rome, in reality he failed to achieve the main
objective which was to regain control of Jerusalem.
So in September, after concluding a
three years’ peace deal with Saladin he set off alone on
the long journey home. During the journey Richard was
shipwrecked in the Adriatic and eventually captured by
the Duke of Austria. A heavy ransom was demanded for his
release.
Kings apparently do not come cheap,
and in England it took a quarter of every man’s income
for a whole year to raise the funds for Richard’s
release. He eventually returned to England in March
1194.
However he didn’t spend much time in England
and spent the
rest of his life in France doing what he seemed to enjoy
most of all …fighting.
It was while besieging the castle at Chalus in France that he was shot by an arrow in the
shoulder. Gangrene set in and Richard ordered
the archer who had shot him, to come to his bed-side.
The archer’s name was Bertram, and Richard gave him a
hundred shillings and set him free.
King Richard died at the age
of 41 from this wound. The throne
passed to his brother John.
A sad end for the Lion-Heart, and alas, also
for
poor Bertram the archer. Despite the King’s pardon he
was first flayed alive and then hanged.
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