King Richard III was killed at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, after reigning for barely two years. He led a cavalry charge directly at Henry Tudor, the Lancastrian claimant to the throne. King Richard died at the age of 41 from this wound. The throne passed to his brother John. A sad end for the Lion-Heart, and alas, also for poor Bertram the archer. Despite the King’s pardon he was flayed alive and then hanged. The results also resolved a debate about the nature of Richard's death. Contrary to what some people argued, Richard the Lionheart wasn't killed by a poison-tipped arrow. Instead, it seems likely that he died anticlimactically of gangrene or sepsis amid a battle for a rather inconsequential castle.

4/13/18
Historians/History
tags: Richard the Lionheart, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard I
by W. B. Bartlett

W. B. Bartlett has worked across the globe in almost twenty countries and has spent time in over fifty. He is the author of many history books including, his latest, Richard the Lionheart: The Crusader King of England (Amberley Publishing, 2018).

_{Effigy of Eleanor of Aquitaine in the church of Fontevraud Abbey - By Adam Bishop - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0}

Richard I (king of England from 1189 to 1199) is a man and a monarch probably best remembered for his role as a warrior. Much of his adult life was spent campaigning away from home, most famously during the Crusades. However, in terms of time spent he was campaigning for much longer periods in France both before and after his journey to the Holy Land (or Outremer, as it was known to the crusaders). He also spent over a year in captivity on his way home from Outremer. Much of his time away was spent mainly in the company of men; it was a famous maxim that only laundrywomen were allowed to go on his crusade for example (though one which was very superficially complied with). Therefore, it might appear that women played little part in his life; but this would be far away from the reality.

Most influential of these female personalities was the most famous woman in his life, his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine. She was an extraordinary personality, wife at one time of the king of France before taking on the same role with Henry II of England. When Henry’s sons rebelled against his rule, she was the one who suffered the most when their uprising was crushed (she was seen by Henry as its prime motivator). As a result, Eleanor spent 15 years under house arrest, living reasonably comfortably but without any opportunity of deploying her considerable political talents to good effect.

But when Henry II died and Richard inherited the English throne, she quickly threw her energies into becoming the new king’s main supporter in England. When shortly afterwards Richard left on his crusade, she played a pivotal role in running the government of the country (though in those very different times the main formal roles were left in the hands of men). When her youngest son John was later implicated in plots against Richard, it was Eleanor who led the resistance to him, proving a worthy lieutenant in the king’s absence. It was significantly thanks to her that Richard had a kingdom to come back to at all.

The indications we have suggest that Eleanor and Richard were close. She effectively brought him up from the time he was about eight years old when they lived together in Aquitaine. She was indefatigable in supporting him throughout his kingship and he relied on her support and acumen considerably. And when he died a premature death, expiring due to infection after being struck by a crossbow bolt, she led the mourners at his funeral at the revered nunnery at Fontevrault where Richard, and eventually Eleanor, were buried.

The relationship between Richard and Eleanor was very different from the one he had with his wife, Berengaria. It must have come as a surprise to many when the marriage in 1191 took place at all, for Richard had already been betrothed for over two decades – not to Berengaria but to Alice, sister of the French king, Philip. Alice was unceremoniously abandoned – gossips said that she had been involved in an illicit relationship with Henry II – and Berengaria became Richard’s bride when they married on Cyprus, where Richard was in the process of conquering the island.

Berengaria went on with Richard to Outremer but they spent most of their time there apart (the “laundrywomen only” rule was applied for a time though it was later relaxed). Then when Richard left the region and started for England, he and Berengaria travelled separately. Richard was captured and held for ransom and, although Berengaria worked hard for his release, they remained separated for a time. Even after his subsequent release and return to England they spent little time together.

There was little apparent warmth in their relationship. There were occasional reports that suggested physical intimacy between them but they were few and far between. Even at the end, it was Eleanor who attended Richard’s funeral and not Berengaria. Richard’s widow never remarried though, living out her life (which lasted several decades longer) in Le Mans, where she earned a reputation for simple living and piety. All in all, the indications are of a married life that was based mainly on political considerations rather than affection. Berengaria came from Navarre, a region now in Spain just over the borders from the south of France, which could and did prove a useful ally to Richard; that seems to have been far more of an attraction than any deep sense of romantic attachment.

Political considerations were probably behind Richard’s relationship with his sister Joanna too. Joanna married William II, king of Sicily, where she seems to have lived a complicated life; he allegedly kept a harem – Sicily had been heavily influenced by contemporary Islamic culture – so things cannot have been easy for her. They got worse though when William died and a usurper, Tancred, became king. She was thrown into prison and her future seemed extremely uncertain.

Fortunately, through an accident of timing she was rescued by Richard. He passed through Sicily on his way east and managed to force Joanna’s release. She then accompanied him to Outremer, though she spent most of her time there with Berengaria. Whilst there, Richard hatched a radical scheme to advance his interests which involved marrying off Joanna to Al-‘Adil, brother to the Muslim leader Saladin. The scheme came to nothing, allegedly because Richard had not told her of his plans and she was furious when she eventually found out.

In the company of Berengaria and Joanna in Outremer was a mysterious third woman. Called only The Damsel of Cyprus we do not even know her name. She was the daughter of Isaac Comnenus, king of Cyprus, who had been captured by Richard en route to Outremer. She effectively remained his prisoner and played a shadowy part in Richard’s life – some accounts say that he was infatuated with her – but the fact remains we know very little about her. But the three women, Berengaria, Joanna and the unnamed Damsel effectively formed a close coterie for the next few years.

Of these women, only Eleanor can claim to have played a significant part in Richard’s life and career. What roles Berengaria and Joanna played seems to have been almost exclusively political rather than based on any deep emotion. Marital politics in medieval times were largely about the making of strategic alliances though this did not necessarily exclude romantic attachment. But as far as Richard is concerned, there seems to have been little room in his life for deep attachment to any woman other than Eleanor; and then possibly only because of the undoubted support she brought in strengthening his political position.

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Richard I, byname Richard the Lionheart or Lionhearted, French Richard Coeur de Lion, (born September 8, 1157, Oxford, England—died April 6, 1199, Châlus, duchy of Aquitaine), duke of Aquitaine (from 1168) and of Poitiers (from 1172) and king of England, duke of Normandy, and count of Anjou (1189–99). His knightly manner and his prowess in the Third Crusade (1189–92) made him a popular king in his own time as well as the hero of countless romanticlegends. He has been viewed less kindly by more recent historians and scholars.

How did Richard I become king of England?

When his brother Henry died, Richard I became heir to the throne of England, and King Henry II asked Richard to yield Aquitaine to his brother John. Unwilling to surrender Aquitaine, Richard joined forces with King Philip II of France in 1189 and drove Henry into abject submission. They forced him to acknowledge Richard as his heir and harried him to his death.

What was Richard I like as a king?

Richard I spent little time in England during his reign as king. Rather than planning for the future of the English monarchy, he put everything up for sale to fund the Crusade that he would lead. He managed to raise a fleet and an army and departed for the Holy Land in 1191.

What happened to Richard I on his way back to England from the Crusade?

Sailing home via the Adriatic, Richard I was captured and imprisoned in the castle of Duke Leopold of Austria, whom he had insulted during the Crusade. He was later handed over to the German emperor Henry VI. He was released in 1194, once the enormous ransom that Henry demanded had been raised by the English.

How did Richard I die?

Richard I spent the last years of his life in France. In 1199 he was fatally wounded while besieging the castle of the vicomte of Limoges, who had refused to hand over a hoard of gold to Richard. He died at the age of 41.

Early life

Richard was the third son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. He was given the duchy of Aquitaine, his mother’s inheritance, at age 11 and was enthroned as duke at Poitiers in 1172. Richard possessed precocious political and military ability, won fame for his knightly prowess, and quickly learned how to control the turbulent aristocracy of Poitou and Gascony. Like all of Henry II’s legitimate sons, he had little or no filial piety, foresight, or sense of responsibility. He joined his brothers in the great rebellion (1173–74) against their father, who invaded Aquitaine twice before Richard submitted and received pardon. Thereafter Richard was occupied with suppressing baronial revolts in his own duchy. His harshness infuriated the Gascons, who revolted in 1183 and called in the help of the “Young King” Henry and his brother Geoffrey of Brittany in an effort to drive Richard from his duchy altogether. Alarmed at the threatened disintegration of his empire, Henry II brought the feudal host of his continental lands to Richard’s aid, but the younger Henry died suddenly (June 11, 1183) and the uprising collapsed.

Richard was now heir to England and to Normandy and Anjou (which were regarded as inseparable), and his father wished him to yield Aquitaine to his youngest brother, John. But Richard, a true southerner, would not surrender the duchy in which he had grown up, and even appealed, against Henry II, to the young king of France, Philip II. In November 1188 he did homage to Philip for all the English holdings on French soil and in 1189 openly joined forces with Philip to drive Henry into abject submission. They chased him from Le Mans to Saumur, forced him to acknowledge Richard as his heir, and at last harried him to his death (July 6, 1189).

King of England

Richard received Normandy on July 20 and the English throne on September 30. Richard, unlike Philip, had only one ambition, to lead the Crusade prompted by Saladin’s capture of Jerusalem in 1187. He had no conception of planning for the future of the English monarchy and put up everything for sale to buy arms for the Crusade. Yet he had not become king to preside over the dismemberment of the Angevin empire. He broke with Philip and did not neglect Angevin defenses on the Continent. Open war was averted only because Philip also took the Crusader’s cross. Richard dipped deep into his father’s treasure and sold sheriffdoms and other offices. With all this he raised a formidable fleet and an army, and in 1190 he departed for the Holy Land, traveling via Sicily.

Sicily

Richard found the Sicilians hostile and took Messina by storm (October 4). To prevent the German emperor Henry VI from ruling their country, the Sicilians had elected the native Tancred of Lecce, who had imprisoned the late king’s wife, Joan of England (Richard’s sister), and denied her possession of her dower. By the Treaty of Messina Richard obtained for Joan her release and her dower, acknowledged Tancred as king of Sicily, declared Arthur of Brittany (Richard’s nephew) to be his own heir, and provided for Arthur to marry Tancred’s daughter. This treaty infuriated the Germans, who were also taking part in the Third Crusade, and it incited Richard’s brother John to treachery and rebellion. Richard joined the other Crusaders at Acre on June 8, 1191, having conquered Cyprus on his way there. While at Limassol in Cyprus, Richard married (May 12) Berengaria of Navarre. See full list on conrad.com.

The holy land

Acre fell in July 1191, and on September 7 Richard’s brilliant victory at Arsūf put the Crusaders in possession of Joppa. Twice Richard led his forces to within a few miles of Jerusalem. But the recapture of the city, which constituted the chief aim of the Third Crusade, eluded him. There were fierce quarrels among the French, German, and English contingents. Richard insulted Leopold V, duke of Austria, by tearing down his banner and quarreled with Philip II, who returned to France after the fall of Acre. Richard’s candidate for the crown of Jerusalem was his vassalGuy de Lusignan, whom he supported against the German candidate, Conrad of Montferrat. It was rumoured, unjustly, that Richard connived at Conrad’s murder. After a year’s unproductive skirmishing, Richard (September 1192) made a truce for three years with Saladin that permitted the Crusaders to hold Acre and a thin coastal strip and gave Christian pilgrims free access to the holy places.

born

September 8, 1157
Oxford, England

died

April 6, 1199 (aged 41)
Aquitaine, France

title / office

How Did Richard The Lionhearted Die

• king, England (1189-1199)

role in

house / dynasty

notable family members

King Richard The Lionheart Death

• father Henry II
• mother Eleanor of Aquitaine
• brother Henry the Young King
• brother Geoffrey IV
• brother John