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See also: king of
See also: England, nicknamed " Cceur de See also: Lion " and " Yea and See also: Nay," was the third son of See also: Henry II. by Eleanor of
See also: Aquitaine
.
See also: Born in See also: September 1157, he received at the age of eleven the duchy of Aquitaine, and was formally installed in 1172
.
In his new position he was allowed, probably from regard to Aquitanian susceptibilities, to govern with an independence which was studiously denied to his See also: brothers in their shares of the Angevin See also: inheritance
.
Yet in 1173 See also: Richard joined with the See also: young Henry and Geoffrey of See also: Brittany in their See also: rebellion; Aquitaine was twice invaded by the old king before the unruly youth would make submission
.
Richard was soon pardoned and reinstated in his duchy, where he distinguished himself by crushing a formidable revolt (1175) and exacting homage from the count of Toulouse
.
In a See also: short See also: time he was so powerful that his elder See also: brother Henry became alarmed and demanded, as heir-apparent, that Richard should do him homage for Aquitaine
.
Richard having scornfully rejected the demand, a fratricidal war ensued; the young Henry ' invaded Aquitaine and attracted to his See also: standard manyof Richard's vassals, who were exasperated by the iron See also: rule of . the duke
.
Henry II. marched to Richard's aid; but the war terminated abruptly with the See also: death of the elder See also: prince (1183)
.
Richard, being now the heir to England and See also: Normandy, was invited to renounce Aquitaine in favour of Prince See also: John
.
The proposal led to a new
See also: civil war; and, although a temposary compromise was arranged, Richard soon sought the help of See also: Philip
See also: Augustus, to whom he did homage for all the See also: continental possessions in the actual presence of his See also: father (See also: Conference of Bonmoulins, 18th of See also: November 1188) In the struggle which ensued the old king was overpowered, chased ignominiously from Le Mans to See also: Angers, and forced to buy See also: peace by conceding all that was demanded of him; in particular the immediate recognition of Richard as his successor
.
But the death of Henry II
.
(1189) at once dissolved the friend- See also: ship between Richard and Philip
.
Not only did Richard continue the continental policy of his father, but he also re, fused to fulfil his contract with Philip's See also: sister, See also: Alais, to whom he had been betrothed at the age of three
.
An open breach was only delayed by the See also: desire of both See also: kings to fulfil the crusading vows which they had recently taken
.
Richard, in particular, sacrificed all other interests to this scheme, and raised the necessary funds by the most reckless methods
.
He put up for See also: auction the highest offices and honours; even remitting to See also: William the Lion of Scotland, for a sum of 15,000 marks, the humiliating obligations which Henry II. had imposed at the treaty of
See also: Falaise
.
It is true that Richard indemnified himself on his return by resuming some of his most important grants and refusing to return the See also: purchase See also: money; but it is improbable that he had originally planned this repudiation of his See also: ill-considered bargains
.
By such expedients he raised and equipped a force which' may be estimated at 4000 men-at-arms and as many See also: foot-soldiers, with a See also: fleet of r oo transports (1191)
.
Richard did not return to his dominions until 1194
.
But his stay in See also: Palestine was limited to sixteen months
.
On the outward journey he wintered in See also: Sicily, where he employed himself in quarrelling with Philip and in exacting satisfaction from the usurper See also: Tancred for the dower of his widowed sister, See also: Queen See also: Joanna, and for his own share in the inheritance of William the See also: Good
.
Leaving See also: Messina in See also: March 1191, he interrupted his voyage to conquer
See also: Cyprus, and only joined the Christian besiegers of See also: Acre in See also: June
.
The reduction of that stronghold was largely due to his energy and skill
.
But his arrogance gave much offence . After the fall of Acre he inflicted a See also: gross insult upon Leopold of See also: Austria; and his relations with Philip were so strained that the latter seized the first pretext for returning to See also: France, and entered into negotiations with Prince John (see JoHN, king of England) for the See also: partition of Richard's See also: realm
.
Richard also threw himself into the disputes respecting the See also: crown of Jerusalem, and supported See also: Guy of See also: Lusignan against See also: Conrad of See also: Montferrat with so much heat that he incurred See also: grave, though unfounded, suspicions of complicity when Conrad was assassinated by emissaries of the Old See also: Man of the See also: Mountain
.
None the less Richard, whom even the French crusaders accepted as their See also: leader, upheld the failing cause of the Frankish Christians with valour and tenacity
.
He won a brilliant victory over the forces of Saladin at See also: Arsuf (1191), and twice led the Christian See also: host within a few See also: miles of Jerusalem
.
But the dissensions of the native Franks and the crusaders made it hopeless to continue the struggle; and Richard was alarmed by the See also: news which reached him of John's intrigues in England and Normandy
.
Hastily patching up a truce with Saladin, under which the Christians kept the See also: coast-towns and received See also: free See also: access to the See also: Holy Sepulchre, Richard started on his return (9th See also: October 1192)
.
His voyage was delayed by storms, and he appears to have been perplexed as to the safest route
.
The natural route over-See also: land through See also: Marseilles and Toulouse was held by his enemies; that through the See also: empire from the See also: head of the Adriatic was little safer, since Leopold of Austria was on the See also: watch for him
.
Having adopted the second of these alternatives, he was cap-
tured at Vienna in a mean disguise (See also: December 20th, 1192) and strictly confined in the duke's See also: castle of Diirenstein on the Danube
.
His mishap was soon known to England, but the regents were for some See also: weeks uncertain of his whereabouts
.
This is the foundation for the tale of his See also: discovery by the faithful See also: minstrel Blondel, which first occurs in a French romantic See also: chronicle of :the next century
.
Early in 1193 Leopold surrendered his prize, under compulsion, to the emperor Henry VI., who was aggrieved both by the support which the Plantagenets had given to the See also: family of Henry the Lion and also by Richard's recognition of Tancred in Sicily
.
Al-though the detention of a crusader was contrary to public See also: law, Richard was compelled to purchase his See also: release by the payment of a heavy ransom and by doing homage to the emperor for England
.
The ransom demanded was 150,000 marks; though it was never discharged in full, the resources of England were taxed to the utmost for the first instalments; and to this occasion we may trace the beginning of secular See also: taxation levied on movable See also: property
.
Richard reappeared in England in March 1194; but his stay lasted only a few weeks, and the See also: remainder of his reign was entirely devoted to his continental interests
.
He See also: left England to be governed by Hubert Walter (q.v.), and his See also: personal authority was seldom asserted except by demands for new subsidies
.
The rule of the Plantagenets was still popular in Normandy and Aquitaine; but these provinces were unable or unwilling to pay for their own defence
.
Though Richard proved himself consistently the See also: superior of Philip in the See also: field, the difficulty of raising and paying forces to resist the French increased
See also: year by year
.
Richard could only stand on the defensive; the keynote of his later policy is given by the See also: building of the famous Chateau See also: Gaillard at See also: Les Andelys (1196) to protect the See also: lower courses of the See also: Seine against invasion from the See also: side of France
.
He did not live to see the futility of such bulwarks
.
In 1199 a claim to treasure-trove embroiled him with the viscount of See also: Limoges
.
He harried the See also: Limousin and laid siege to the castle of Chalus; while directing an assault he was wounded in the shoulder by a crossbow See also: bolt, and, the wound mortifying from unskilful treatment or his own want of care, he died on the 6th of See also: April 1199
.
He was buried by his own desire at his father's feet in the See also: church of Fontevrault
.
Here his effigy may still be seen.' Though contemporary, it does not altogether agree with the portraits on his See also: Great See also: Seal, which give the impression of greater strength and even of cruelty
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The Fontevrault bust is no doubt idealized
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The most accomplished and versatile representative of his gifted family, Richard was, in his lifetime and long after-wards, a favourite See also: hero with troubadours and romancers
.
This was natural, as he belonged to their brotherhood and himself wrote lyrics of no mean quality
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But his See also: history shows that he by no means embodied the current ideal of chivalrous excellence
.
His memory is stained by one See also: act of needless cruelty, the See also: massacre of over two thousand Saracen prisoners at Acre; and his fury, when thwarted or humbled, was ungovernable
.
A brave soldier, an experienced and astute general, he was never happier than when engaged in war
.
As a ruler he was equally profuse and rapacious
.
Not one useful measure can be placed to his See also: credit; and it was by a fortunate accident that he found, in Hubert Walter, an See also: administrator who had the skill to mitigate the consequences of a reckless fiscal policy
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Richard's wife was Berengaria, daughter of Sancho VI., king of See also: Navarre, whom he married in Cyprus in May 1191
.
She was with the king at Acre later in the same year, and during his imprisonment passed her time in Sicily, in See also: Rome and in France
.
See also: Husband and wife met again in 1195, and the queen long survived the king, residing chiefly at Le Mans
.
She died 'The remains of Richard, together with those of Henry II. and his queen Eleanor, were removed in the 17th century from their tombs to another See also: part of the church
.
They were rediscovered in 1910 during the restoration of the abbey undertaken by the French See also: government.soon after 1230
.
Berengaria founded a Cistercian monastery at Espau
.
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