by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2016

King Richard I of England was born on September 8, 1157, at Beaumont Palace in Oxford, England, the third son and the fourth of eight children of King Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Richard had seven siblings:

• William IX, Count of Poitiers (1153 – 1156), died in childhood
• Henry the Young King (1155 – 1183), married Marguerite of France, no children
• Matilda of England, Duchess of Saxony and Bavaria (1156 – 1189), married Heinrich the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria, had five children, including Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor
• Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany (1158 – 1186), married Constance, Duchess of Brittany, had three children
• Eleanor of England, Queen of Castile (1162 – 1214), married King Alfonso VIII of Castile, had twelve children including King Enrique I of Castile; Berengaria, Queen Regnant of Castile and Queen of León; Urraca, Queen of Portugal; Blanche, Queen of France, and Eleanor, Queen of Aragon
• Joan of England, Queen of Sicily (1165 – 1199), married (1) King William II of Sicily, no surviving children (2) Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse, had two children, Joan died in childbirth with her third child who also died
• King John of England (1166 – 1216), married 1) Isabella, 3rd Countess of Gloucester, marriage annulled, no children (2) Isabella, Countess of Angoulême; had five children, including King Henry III of England; Joan of England, Queen of Scots, and Isabella of England, Holy Roman Empress

Richard also had two half-sisters from his mother’s first (annulled) marriage to King Louis VII of France:

• Marie of France (1145 – 1198), married Henry I, Count of Champagne, had issue
• Alix of France (1151 – 1197/1198), married Theobald V, Count of Blois, had issue

Richard probably spent his childhood in England. His first recorded visit to the European mainland was in May 1165, when his mother took him to Normandy. Little is known about Richard’s education. Although he was born in Oxford and it appears he was brought up in England until the year he turned eight. It is not known to what extent he used or understood English. Richard was an educated man who composed poetry and wrote in his mother’s Occitan language and in French. A contemporary Latin prose narrative of the Third Crusade said of Richard: “He was tall, of elegant build; the color of his hair was between red and gold; his limbs were supple and straight. He had long arms suited to wielding a sword. His long legs matched the rest of his body.” From an early age, Richard showed significant political and military ability.

During the reign of Richard’s father, the Angevin Empire was vast and consisted of an area covering half of France, all of England, and parts of Ireland and Wales. The last part of Henry II’s reign was taken up by disputes with and between his sons, often encouraged by their mother Eleanor. As Henry and Eleanor’s children grew up, tensions over the future inheritance of the empire began to emerge, encouraged by King Louis VII of France and then his son King Philippe II of France. In 1173, Henry the Young King rebelled in protest and was joined by his brothers Richard and Geoffrey, and their mother, Eleanor. France, Scotland, Flanders, and Boulogne allied themselves with the rebels. Henry eventually defeated the revolt and had Eleanor imprisoned for the next sixteen years for her part in inciting their sons. In 1182–83, Henry the Young King had a falling out with his brother Richard when Richard refused to pay homage to him on the orders of King Henry II. As he was preparing to fight Richard, Henry the Young King became ill with dysentery (also called the bloody flux), the scourge of armies for centuries, and died. In 1186, Henry II’s third son Geoffrey was trampled to death during a jousting tournament in Paris.

By the time King Henry II turned 56 in 1189, he was prematurely aged. Two sons were left: Richard, the second son, Eleanor’s favorite and the heir since his elder brother’s death, and John, the youngest child and Henry’s favorite. King Philippe II of France successfully played upon Richard’s fears that Henry would make John King, and a final rebellion broke out in 1189. Decisively defeated by Philippe and Richard and suffering from a bleeding ulcer, Henry retreated to his favorite residence, the Château de Chinon in Anjou. There he was told that John had publicly sided with Richard in the rebellion, and this broke his heart. Only his illegitimate son Geoffrey, Archbishop of York was at Henry II’s deathbed when he died on July 6, 1189.

Upon hearing of his father’s death, Richard set out for England, stopping at Rouen, the capital of the Duchy of Normandy, where he was invested as Duke of Normandy on July 20, 1189. He was crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey on September 3, 1189. However, Richard spent very little time in England, perhaps as little as six months, during his ten-year reign. Rather than regarding the Kingdom of England as a responsibility requiring his presence as the king, Richard saw England as a source of revenue to support his armies. Most of his reign was spent on Crusade, in captivity, or defending his lands in France. Richard was back in Normandy by Christmas of 1189, preparing to leave on the Third Crusades.

Richard had met his future wife Berengaria of Navarre years before their marriage at a tournament in Pamplona, the capital of the Kingdom of Navarre.  Berengaria was the fourth of the seven children of King Sancho VI of Navarre and Sancha of Castile, daughter of King Alfonso VII of León and Castile and his first wife Berengaria of Barcelona. When Richard became king in 1189, he was urged to marry and his thoughts turned to Berengaria.

In the summer of 1190, Richard left to participate in the Third Crusade and asked his mother Eleanor of Aquitaine to go to Navarre and arrange his marriage with Berengaria, and then escort her to whatever point he reached on his way to the Crusades. In 1190, Eleanor met Berengaria’s brother King Sancho VII in Pamplona, where he hosted a banquet in the Palacio Real de Olite in her honor. Richard had been betrothed to Alys of France, sister of King Philippe II of France for many years, so his betrothal to Berengaria could not be celebrated until he terminated his betrothal to Alys, which he did when he arrived in Messina, Sicily. Eleanor escorted Berengaria as far as Messina where she handed her over to her recently widowed daughter Joan, Queen of Sicily.

Richard and Berengaria were to have married in Sicily but Richard postponed the wedding and set off for the Holy Land along with Berengaria and Joan who were on a separate ship.  Two days after setting sail, Richard’s fleet was hit by a strong storm. Several ships were lost and others were way off course.  Richard landed safely in Crete, but Berengaria and Joan’s ship was marooned near Cyprus.  Berengaria and Joan were about to be captured by the ruler of Cyprus when Richard’s ships appeared to rescue them.  On May 12, 1191, King Richard I of England married Berengaria of Navarre at the Chapel of St George in Limassol, Cyprus, and then his fleet, along with Berengaria and Joan, traveled to the Holy Land. Berengaria and Richard’s marriage was childless.

The Third Crusade also known as The Kings’ Crusade, was an attempt by European leaders to wrest the Holy Land from Saladin, Sultan of Egypt and Syria, and the Muslim military leader. However, the Third Crusade failed to capture Jerusalem and the only significant achievement was the capture of Acre in 1191. A truce was concluded with Saladin, against Richard’s wishes, and the Crusaders left for their homes.

On his way home from the Crusades, Richard was shipwrecked, forcing him to take a dangerous land route through central Europe. On his way to the territory of his brother-in-law Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria, Richard was arrested near Vienna in December 1192 by Leopold V, Duke of Austria, who had also participated in the Third Crusades and suspected Richard of murdering his cousin Conrad of Montferrat in Acre.  Leopold had also been offended by Richard throwing down his standard from the walls of Acre.

In March 1193, Richard was transferred to the custody of Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor, who demanded that a ransom of 150,000 marks (100,000 pounds of silver) be delivered to him before he would release Richard. This was an enormous amount, equal to two to three times the annual income of the English Crown at that time. Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard’s mother, worked to raise the ransom. At the same time, Richard’s brother John and King Philippe II of France, offered the emperor 80,000 marks to hold Richard prisoner until September 1194, but the offer was rejected. Finally, with the ransom in the emperor’s possession, Richard was released on February 4, 1194. Philippe II of France warned Richard’s brother John, “Look to yourself. The devil is loose.”

When Richard arrived in England in March 1194, he found that his brother John had been depleting the treasury and was planning to overthrow him. However, when Richard and John met in person, Richard forgave John and named him as his heir in place of their nephew Arthur, Duke of Brittany. Arthur was the posthumous son of Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany, King Henry II’s second eldest surviving son, and so Arthur had a better primogeniture claim to the English throne than John.

During Richard’s long absence, his French possessions were threatened by his enemies, including King Philippe II of France. Richard found it necessary to spend most of his time regaining lost territory and strengthening his hold over his French possessions. Richard had the great fortress in Normandy, the Château Gaillard built and it is possible that he may have been the architect. The purpose of the Château Gaillard was to guard the border between Normandy and France.

In March 1199, Richard was suppressing a revolt by Aimar V, Viscount of Limoges by besieging a castle, the Château de Châlus-Chabrol in Châlus in the present-day Limousin region in western France. On the evening of March 25, 1199, Richard was walking the perimeter of the castle observing the trenches that were being dug. Not wearing his chainmail, Richard was hit by an arrow from a crossbow shot by a soldier on the castle battlements. Richard unsuccessfully tried to pull out the arrow and a doctor did a less than adequate job of treating the injury which became infected with gangrene. Knowing he was dying, Richard forgave the man who shot the arrow and asked him to be set free. Richard’s mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, arrived before Richard’s death. He died in his mother’s arms on April 6, 1199, at the age of 41. After Richard’s death, the forgiven crossbowman was flayed alive and hanged by one of Richard’s mercenary captains Mercadier.

Richard’s heart was buried at Rouen Cathedral in Normandy, now in France, his entrails in the chapel at Châlus where he died, and the rest of his body was buried at Fontevrault Abbey in Anjou. All the remains at Fontevrault Abbey are believed to have been scattered by Huguenots in 1562 when they sacked and pillaged the abbey but the effigies remain. A search of the vaults in 1794 by French Revolutionaries found no remains. Richard’s heart monument survived both the Huguenots and the French Revolution and his entrails remain in Châlus. Richard’s youngest brother John succeeded him as king.

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• BBC: Richard the Lionheart’s mummified heart analysed
• Nature – Scientific Reports: The embalmed heart of Richard the Lionheart (1199 A.D.): a biological and anthropological analysis
• YouTube: The Face of Richard I (Photoshop Reconstruction)

England: House of Angevin Resources at Unofficial Royalty

• United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Index
• House of Angevin Index
• Coronations after the Norman Conquest (1066 – present)
• House of Angevin Burial Sites
• Norman and Plantagenet Weddings