Richard I the Lionheart

[Draggingtree]

Plantagenet

Richard I the Lionheart

 

1189-99

 

 

 

Despite his faults, which were many, Richard I was the archetypal medieval warrior king. Noble, fierce and of matchless courage, he captured the imagination of his age. Richard 'the Lionheart' has left behind a name which echoes down the centuries and has passed into the realms of legend.

 

Parentage and Early Life

 

 

Richard was born at Beaumont Palace, Oxford, on 8th September, 1157, the third son of Henry II and his French wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, the daughter of William X, Duke of Aquitaine and ex wife of King Louis VII of France. Henry was Eleanor's second husband, she was eleven years his senior and their marriage proved to be a stormy one.

 

From the first, Richard was his mother's favourite son. His wet nurse, Hodierna, was the mother of Alexander Neckham, who was to become Abbot of Cirencester and a famous writer. After the birth of their youngest child, John, Richard's parents drifted into open enmity. King Henry made the beautiful Rosamund Clifford his mistress, it was said that he truly loved her, deeply wounding Richard's mother, Queen Eleanor. The neglected Queen returned to her native Aquitaine, there establishing her own court and taking Richard along with her, who was designated her heir.

 

Richard was known to be fond of music and was nurtured in the troubadour culture of his mother's southern homeland. From the outset, he exhibited the volatile disposition and energy inherent in the Plantagenet family. He was said to be fond of quoting the Angevin family legend "From the Devil we sprang and to the Devil we shall go."

 

In 1172, when he was fourteen years old, Richard was invested with his mother's inheritance of Aquitaine and Poitou at Limoges. He joined his discontented elder brother Henry in rebellion against their father, when Eleanor of Aquitaine attempted to join them in Paris, travelling dressed as a man, she was captured by one of her husband's patrols and was imprisoned for the remainder of Henry II's reign. The untimely death of the young Henry later made Richard heir to the entire Angevin Empire. In 1187, caught up in the crusading spirit which spread through Christendom, Richard made a solemn vow to free the Holy City, Jerusalem, from the clutches of the Moslem leader Saladin, by whom it had been captured.

 

Richard's appearance and character

 

 

Richard Plantagenet grew to be a tall man of around six feet four inches, a graceful figure with long legs and an athletic build, in later years he had a tendency to grow stouter. He had an abiding appreciation of poetry and music and a love of fine clothing, probably inherited from his mother, Queen Eleanor. His hair was red, like his father's, his eyes grey and furious, he had also inherited his full quota of the infamous Plantagenet temper, causing him to be ever at odds with his equally fiery tempered father.

 

Reign

 

 

Richard was in open rebellion against Henry II when the latter died in 1189 but on succeeding Read More

http://www.englishmonarchs.co.uk/plantagenet_2.htm

[Valin]

@Draggingtree

 

I love this stuff! I'm drawn to this kind of thing like a chubby 9 year year old to a Candy store!

 

May I recommend Richard and John: Kings at War

Book Description

Publication Date: October 23, 2007

Legend and lore surround the history of kings Richard and John, from the ballads of Robin Hood and the novels of Sir Walter Scott to Hollywood movies and television. In the myth-making, King Richard, defender of Christendom in the Holy Land, was the “good king,” and his younger brother John was the evil usurper of the kingdom, who lost not only the Crown jewels but also the power of the crown. How much, though, do these popular stereotypes correspond with reality? Frank McLynn, known for a wide range of historical studies, has returned to the original sources to discover what Richard and John, these warring sons of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, were really like, and how their history measures up to their myth. In riveting prose, and with attention to the sources, he turns the tables on modern revisionist historians, showing exactly how incompetent a king John was, despite his intellectual gifts, and how impressive Richard was, despite his long absence from the throne. This is history at its best-revealing and readable.

 

 

 

I don't know if you've ever seen "The Loin In Winter"? If not do yourself a big favor. Great acting and it shows the relationship between the main characters..Richard was something of a homicidal maniac, John a not particularly bright slimy whiny little twit, Geoffry...What can we say about Geoffry other that he was a scheming backstabbing amoral jerk...and no one was sad when he died.

[Draggingtree]

No I have not seen this movie, I do enjoy these types of movies.

[righteousmomma]

Good thread, Valin and Draggingtree

I love this kind of stuff too. One of the hardest things to explain to people is that one of the reasons I loved living in France for almost 4 years was the way history came alive. Not only in France but all over Europe.

 

Several times we rented a car and drove to Les Andelys to see the ruin of Chateau Gaillard. This was a fortress built by King Richard the Lionhearted in 1196. It over looks Petit Andely and has spectacular views up and down the river from chalky cliff tops. Think of the age of the fortress ruins -built 816 years ago. Then think how it fell to the French King in 1204 with much damage, then more of it was torn down in the 16th Century and now with only one of the original 5 towers intact one stands there and the past just comes alive.

 

We also stayed several times at the ancient Hotel de l' Abbaye in Beaugency. It is an 18th Century abbey with painted ceilings, huge old blazing fireplace in the winter dining room with a stuffed Jack rabbit standing guard. He wears a bandita type bullet vest. I think NCT once posted his picture here. I loved going up and down the wide curving stair case where 100s had worn down the stone as they lived out their days in the abby.

 

What made the place special though and why I post it here was the little Romanesque church of Notre Dame next door. There in 1152 the marriage of Louis VII and Eleanor of Aquitaine was annuled by the Council of Beaugency. This allowed Eleanor to marry Henry Plantagenet (future Henry II). Eleanor had huge lands in southwest France which passed to the English crown. The English already controlled Normandy, Maine, Anjou and Touraine. Long story short - the struggle

over these lands as French and English kings both claimed them went on for Centuries as did the claim for the French throne itself.

 

Btw my avatar heroine liberated Beaugency in about 1429 on her way to Orleans.