He was renowned for his martial prowess and bravery.
Boooring.
His exploits in the Third Crusade are legendary.
Yawn.
One of the most illustrious monarchs of England.
Wake me up when this article is over.
Also rumors have it he was gay.
WHOAH! Now you have my attention!
Richard was one of the children of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine (we said a lot about that couple HERE).
He became Duke of Aquitaine and Count of Poitou when he was 15. Most boys his age would be delighted in his position. I mean, what else does it take to make a teenage boy happy? Some pokemon video games, some prostitutes, some junk food and a duchy or two. However, Richard was greedy.
Alas, one year later, in 1173, Richie got carried away due to the influence of his older brother, Henry the Young King, and participated in the rebellion the latter organized against their father.Despite the aid of King Louis VII of France, the rebellion failed. Richard showed up at his father's court, knelt and begged for forgiveness.
King Henry II forgave him. He was his son, after all! What parent wouldn't forgive their child's teenage slip, even if it was a slip that had cost the English taxpayers tons of dough and thousands of lives?
One would say that, after that, Richard learnt his lesson and he would never do something as impetuous as taking up arms against his father again.
Not!
In 1187, Richard allied himself with France against his father anew, this time with Philip II (the latter's father, Louis VII, had kicked the bucket in the meantime), even going as far as to offer the French monarch Normandy and Anjou in exchange (and the 'son of the year' award goes to...)
Henry II's forces were crushed this time. Defeated and depressed, the old king passed away in 1189. Nevertheless, on his deathbed, he declared Richard his successor.
And so, Richard found himself King of England, Duke of Normandy and Count of Anjou, whereas his brother, John, inherited nothing, hence his nickname (John Lackland).
'I'll have the last laugh, Richard,' John yelled. 'History will vindicate me. I'm pretty sure that, centuries later, in children's cartoons, you will be portrayed as the asshole that you really are whereas I'll be the good guy.'
Then, breaking the fourth wall, John turned towards us and snapped, 'Why are you laughing? Have I said something funny?'
Richard reigned for 10 years, during which he spent in England 6 months or so! During the rest of that period, he was busy with Crusades and various other wars.
To raise money for the Third Crusade, Richard emptied his father's treasury and sold titles, lands etc (in short, pretty much anything he could sell except his kidneys; probably!)
Anyway, Richard finally went on the Third Crusade in 1190. His first stop was Silicy, where his cousin, Tancred, had seized the throne by imprisoning Joan, Richard's sister and the widow of the previous king (William II), and withheld her monetary inheritance on top of that. Why? Umm, because he could, duh!
Richard's forces cooled down the ambitious usurper, who, despite remaining king, was forced to compensate Joan and acknowledge Arthur of Brittany, Richard's nephew, as his successor.
Richard's fleet resumed their journey, only to end up on the island of Cyprus due to a storm. The ruler of the island, Isaac Komnenos, took prisoners as many of Richard's men as he could, which the English king didn't find cool at all, so he went ahead and conquered the whole island while he was at it!
On Cyprus, he also married Berengaria of Navarre. Their marriage was childless, which, along with the fact that Richard had once shared a bed with King Philip II, as a symbol of unity between the two nations, led to rumors regarding his sexuality.
About Richard's exploits in the Third Crusade, we said a lot of things in the relevant article HERE. What we will add now is that, when the Crusaders' forces captured Acre, Duke Leopold V of Austria demanded that his flag was raised alongside the English and French ones. Both Richard and Philip felt offended that a mere, humble duke wanted to be treated as equal to kings.
However, Richard went as far as to command his men to tear the flag down and throw it into the water. Leopold left, fuming. That, seemingly trivial back then, incident would cause Richie trouble after the Crusade, though.
You see, Leopold wanted revenge and was waiting for a chance. In 1192, on the way back to England, Richard was captured by Leopold's men near Vienna. He had disguised himself, but someone recognized the royal ring he was wearing. (Moral: Always keep condoms and royal rings in your car.)
Leopold handed the prisoner over to Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI, whose vassal he was. Richie's mother, Eleanor, raised a huge ransom to release him. (Yaay, keep paying, dear poor and hard working English taxpayers!)
When Richard finally returned to England, he was crowned a second time. Then he engaged into warfare against the French king, until his death on the battlefield, in 1199. Pierre Basile, a lad wielding a crossbow, mortally wounded him, because Richard had killed his family and he wanted revenge.
When the aforementioned lad was brought before him, Richard, perhaps realizing that his end was near and not wanting to end his life with a cruel action, surprisingly, spared him.
However, Mercadier, one of the king's henchmen, was not that forgiving. He killed the boy by removing his skin (yikes!)
Anyway, that's all for today.
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See you next time!
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