General Notes

Richard left the kingdom in the hands of his brother John and went to the crusades. When he t ook his vows 1187, against the will of his father. While on the crusade he had  a problem wit h the Count of Toulouse, over the dowrey of his sister Joan, the widow of King William II an d he wanted it back for use on the crusade, and when Tancred, count of Lecce refused, they we nt to war with Count of Toulouse.  Richard's heir was Arthur of Britanny. Richard was a patro n to a number of poets, notably the Monk of Montaudo who laments Richards captivity, and Gauc elm Faidit, who urges him to fulfill his promise to depart for Palestine. He arrived in Acr e in June 1191 having conquered Cyprus on the way, taking it away from the Bizantine empire , because they had attacked the ship that he was on. Richard was a great military leader bu t poor politition.  He was not a good administrator.  He was in competition with Philip of Fr ance for power in France.  He was larage in statur, Red headed and 33 years old. He wore th e English crown and was the prototype of the belligerent and flighty knight whose noble ideal s did little to conceal his baffling brutality and complete lack of scruples.He had been accu sed of killing Conrad of Germany, which may have been correct as they had many falling outs o ver who should controle the territory.  He went to Acre to help Guy of Lusignon conquer it .  They wanted Acre as it was the most desired shipping port in the area.  When Saladine trie d to isolate Acre he was unable to do it and was forced to surender.  Saladine was charged 20 0,000 Dinar ransome and had to give up 1500 christian prisoners loose as well as give the cro ss back to the christians.  When Lwopole of Austria took the citadale and raised the Austria n flag on it Richard removed the flag and claimed Acre for himself. Richard tried to get hi s family to marry into the Musalem world thinking that he would gain power in both camps bu t none of his offers were accepted.