King Richard I
Known as the Lionhearted
Compiled by D. A.
Sharpe
Richard the Lionhearted was born September 8, 1157. He is my 10th cousin, 23 times removed, being
related through the Abney family line of my
Mother. Richard led the third one of the
Crusades and ruled in England from 1189, succeeding his father on the English
throne, Henry II, until his death May 12, 1191 at his age of 41 at Chalus,
Duchy of Aquitaine (now Limousin, France) on April 6, 1199.
Richard sustained a wound received in a skirmish at the castle of Chalus in the Limousin. He died
from an infection received with the removal of an arrow from his shoulder.
Richard
acceded to the English throne on July 7, 1189.
His coronation was not until September 3, 1189.
Described another way, Richard is
the 13th great grand uncle of
Sir Edward Southworth, the first
husband of Alice Carpenter, my 7th great grandmother. I am descended from Alice through Gov. William Bradford, Alice's second husband.
"He is known in history as Richard the
Lion-Hearted, or Richard Coeurde Lion. He
was a son of Henry II, the first king of the Plantagenet dynasty, and Eleanor
of Aquitaine. After Richard
became king, he joined Philip II of France in a crusade to the Holy Land, which
then was under the control of the Muslims.
Richard captured Acre (now called Akko), but soon realized that
Jerusalem could not be recovered.
"During the crusade, Richard
aroused the hatred of Leopold
V, Duke of Austria. In 1192, while Richard was on his
journey home, Leopold seized him. Leopold
kept Richard in a castle as a prisoner of the Holy Roman emperor, Henry VI.
Richard was later taken to Henry, who released him in 1194 after a ransom was
paid.
"Even though Richard was born
in Oxford, England, he spent nearly all of his life in France. In 1183, Richard's older brother
died. However, their father, Henry II, refused to recognize Richard as heir to
the throne of England. Richard
rebelled against his father several times.
"Richard finally defeated his
father, Henry II, in 1189. As a Plantagenet,
Richard had inherited not only England, but also most of northern and western
France. While Richard was in
prison, Philip I seized some of the Plantagenet lands in France. Richard spent the rest of his reign
fighting to get the lands back. He
left efficient ministers in charge of England while he concentrated on the war
with Philip. In 1199, Richard
was killed during the siege of a castle, and his younger brother John became
king. "
Source: John Gillingham,
Senior Lecturer, London School of Economics and Political Science, Univ. of
London, World Book Encyclopedia 1998.
Richard married Brengaria
of Navarre on May 12, 1191,
the same day that she was crowned Queen Consort of
England. She was the eldest daughter of Sancho VI of Navarre and Sancha of Castile. As is the case with many of
the medieval English queens, relatively
little is known of her life. Traditionally known as "the only English
queen never to set foot in the country", she may in fact have visited the
country after her husband's death, but did not do so before, nor did she see
much of him during her marriage, which was childless. She did (unusually for
the wife of a Crusader) accompany him on the start of
the Third Crusade, but mostly lived in his French
possessions, where she gave generously to the Church, despite difficulties in
collecting the pension she was due from Richard's brother and successor John after she became a widow.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berengaria_of_Navarre
Richard spent but six months of his
ten-year reign in England. He acted upon a promise to his father to join the
Third Crusade and departed for the Holy Land in 1190 (accompanied by his
partner-rival Philip II of France). In 1191, he conquered Cyprus en route to Jerusalem, and performed admirably against Saladin,
nearly taking the holy city twice. Philip II, in the meantime, returned to
France and schemed with Richard's brother John. The Crusade failed in its
primary objective of liberating the Holy Land from Moslem Turks,
but did have a positive result - easier access to the region for
Christian pilgrims through a truce with Saladin. Richard received word of John's treachery and
decided to return home; he was captured by Leopold V of Austria and imprisoned
by Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI.
The administrative machinery of
Henry II insured the continuance of royal authority, as Richard was unable to
return to his realm until 1194.Upon his return, he crushed a coup attempt by
John and regained lands lost to Philip II during the German captivity.
Richard's war with Philip continued sporadically until the French were finally
defeated near Gisors in 1198.
Richard died April 6, 1199, from a
wound received in a skirmish at the castle of Chalus
in the Limousin. Near his death, Richard finally
reconciled his position with his late father, as evidenced by Sir Richard Baker
in A
Chronicle of the Kings of England:
"The remorse for his undutifulness towards his
father, was living in him till he died; for at his death he remembered it with
bewailing, and desired to be buried as near him as might be, perhaps as
thinking they should meet the sooner, that he might ask him forgiveness in
another world. "Richard's prowess and courage in battle earned him the
nickname Coeur De Lion ("heart of the lion"), but the training of his
mother's court is revealed in a verse Richard composed during his German
captivity: "No one will tell me the
cause of my sorrow. Why they
have made me a prisoner here? Wherefore with dolour,
I now make my moan; Friends had I many, but help have
I none. Shameful it is that they leave me to ransom, to languish here two
winters long."
Source: http://www.britannia.com/history/monarchs/mon27.html
Compiled by
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