General Notes

REFN: 1398AN
REFN: P1398
Born: 8 September 1157 at Beaumont Palace, Oxford
Died: 6 April 1 199 at Chalus, Aquitaine
Buried: Fontevrault Abbey, Anjou
Parents: Henry II a nd Eleanor of Aquitane
Siblings: William, Henry, Matilda, Geoffrey, Eleanor, J oan & John
Crowned: 2 September 1189 at Westminster Abbey, Middlesex
Married: 12 May 1191 at Limassol, Cyprus
Spouse: Berengia daughter of Sancho VI, King of Navarre
Offspring: None
Contemporaries: Philip II (King of France, 1180-12 23); Saladin (sultan of
Egypt and Syria); Henry VI (Holy Roman Emperor, 1190- 1197)
Richard I, the Lion-hearted, spent much of his youth in his mother's
c ourt at Poitiers. Richard cared much more for the continental
possessions of his mother than for England - he also cared much more for
his mother than for his father. Family considerations influenced much of
his life: he fought alo ng siDe of his brothers Prince Henry and Geoffrey
in their rebellion of 1173- 4; he fought for his father against his
brothers when they supported an 1183 revolt in Aquitane; and he joined
Philip II of France against his father in 1 188, defeating Henry in 1189.
Richard spent but six months of his ten-year rei gn in England. He acted
upon a promise to his father to join the Third Crusad e and departed for
the Holy Land in 1190 (accompanied by his partner-rival Ph ilip II of
France). In 1191, he conquered Cyprus en route to Jerusalem and pe rformed
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 reg ion for Christian pilgrims through a truce with Saladin. Richard
received wor d 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 administrativ e machinery of Henry II insured the
continuance of royal authority, as Richar d 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 e videnced by Sir Richard
Baker in A Chronicle of the Kings of England: "The re morse for his
undutifulness towards his father, was living in him till he die d; 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 co urage 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 compose d 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.