Richard (Plantagenet) of England (1157 - 1199)

Born 8 Sep 1157 in Beaumont Palace, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England

Ancestors

Husband of Berengaria (Navarre) de Navarre — married 12 May 1191 in Limassol, Cyprus

Died 6 Apr 1199 at age 41 in Chalus, Haute Vienne, France

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Biography

Richard I (Plantagenet) of England is a member of the House of Plantagenet.

Richard "Lionheart" I of England

• Duke of Normandy
• 1172: Duc d'Aquitaine
• King Richard I of England on 6 July 1189, crowned 3 September 1189 at Westminster Abbey; styled 'Rex Anglaie, Dux Normanniae et Aquitainaie et Comes Andegavaie'.

Richard I "Lionheart" or Coeur de Lion ^[1][2] was the son of Henry II 'Curtmantle', King of the English, Duke of the Normans and Aquitanians and Count of the Angevins, and his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine. He was born on 8 September 1157 at Beaumont Palace, Oxford, England. ^[1]

Richard spent his youth in France training as a soldier and later fought his father, Henry II.

During the Crusade he captured Cyprus. On the way home, he was taken prisoner in Austria and held ransom. There is a legend that his faithful minstrel Blondel went from castle to castle strumming the notes of his master's favorite melody. Upon reaching the King's prison he was delighted to hear the response from his master's harp. Richard spent only two short periods of his reign in England, the rest of the time he was away on the Crusades or in France.

Marriage and Children

Married Berengaria (c.1162-aft.1230) daughter of Sancho VI, King of Navarre ^[1] on 12 May 1191 at Limassol, Cyprus while Richard was on Crusade. They had no children.

Illegitimate Children ^[1]

• Child of Richard I 'Coeur de Lion', King of England and Joan de St. Pol Fulk (?)
• Philip, Lord de Cognac died after 1201

Death and Burial

Richard was on campaign in Chaluz (Chalus - presently located in the Limousin region of France) when he was wounded by a crossbow bolt resulting in his death by blood poisoning. The king's viscera (entrails) were buried locally and his body at Fontevrault, almost 100 miles away, but his heart was buried separately in Rouen Cathedral. This is the first recorded example of a separate royal heart burial, and it appears to have been instructed by Richard himself in recognition of the loyalty of his Norman subjects. ^[3]

Note on Fontevrault Abbey. Known formally as the Royal Abbey of Our Lady of Fontevraud (or Fonterault) (in French: Abbaye de Fonteraud). It was built in the early 12th century and was then located in what was known as the Angevin Empire. Henry II, King of England, his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and their son, King Richard the Lionheart, were buried here at the end of the 12th century. It was disestablished as a monastery during the French Revolution of the 1790s during which time the royal tombs were disturbed. Fontevraud Abbey, wikipedia

Richard I's heart tomb at Rouen stood south of the high altar and was enclosed by a 'balustrade of silver,' which was melted down in 1250 to help pay the ransom of Louis IX. It was replaced by a stone effigy, which appears in 17th-century drawings showing the main figure with a pillow headrest and lion footrest, and lying on a flat slab supported by four lions. The effigy disappeared sometime after the 1780s and in 1838 an effigy was unearthed south of the Sanctuary together with a lead casket containing the remains of the king's heart. This was identified by an inscription on silver leaf, suggesting the effigy was his. In 1869 Richard's effigy was restored to the south ambulatory together with a tomb-chest, later replaced by a plain plinth. ^[3]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} : Ashley, Mike (2008). A Brief History of British Kings and Queens. Philadelphia, PA: Running Press Book Publishers. Print.
2. ↑ Alison Weir, Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy (London, U.K.: The Bodley Head, 1999), page 64-65; C.F.J. Hankinson, editor, DeBretts Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Companionage, 147th year (London, U.K.: Odhams Press, 1949), page 20; Matthew H.C.G., editor, Dictionary of National Biography on CD-ROM (Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press, 1995).
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Royal Tombs of Medieval England M. Duffy 2003 p. 22, 57-60

• Royal Ancestry by Douglas Richardson Vol. I p. 31

• Weir, Alison. Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy. Pgs 66-67. United Kingdom: Random House, 2011.

• John Gillingham. Richard I [called Richard Coeur de Lion, Richard the Lionheart (1157–1199). Published 8 October 2009. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. oxforddnb.com

• Alan V. Murray. Participants in the third crusade (act. 1190–1192). Published 21 May 2009, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. oxforddnb.com.

• Paris, Matthew, 1200-1259. Matthæi Parisiensis, monachi Sancti Albani, Chronica majora. Pgs 348-353. Published by London, Longman & co, 1872. archive.org.

• "Calendar of royal documents: Richard I (nos. 140-46)," in Westminster Abbey Charters, 1066 - c.1214, ed. Emma Mason (London: London Record Society, 1988), 75-77. British History Online, accessed October 24, 2021, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/london-record-soc/vol25/pp75-77.

• "A Short English Chronicle: London under Richard I and John (1189-1215)," in Three Fifteenth-Century Chronicles with Historical Memoranda by John Stowe, ed. James Gairdner (London: Camden Society, 1880), 31-38. British History Online, accessed October 24, 2021, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/camden-record-soc/vol28/pp31-38.

• Francis Blomefield. "The city of Norwich, chapter 10: Of the city in Richard I's time," in An Essay Towards A Topographical History of the County of Norfolk: Volume 3, the History of the City and County of Norwich, Part I, (London: W Miller, 1806), 35-39. British History Online, accessed October 24, 2021, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-hist-norfolk/vol3/pp35-39.

• "The Chronicle of the Grey Friars: Richard I," in Chronicle of the Grey Friars of London Camden Society Old Series: Volume 53, ed. J G Nichols (London: Camden Society, 1852), 1. British History Online, accessed October 24, 2021, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/camden-record-soc/vol53/p1.

• "Houses of Military Orders: The Temple," in A History of the County of London: Volume 1, London Within the Bars, Westminster and Southwark, ed. William Page (London: Victoria County History, 1909), 485-491. British History Online, accessed October 24, 2021, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/london/vol1/pp485-491.

• Bryce, James Bryce, Viscount, 1838-1922. The Holy Roman Empire. Published by London, Macmillan and Co., 1926. archive.org

• Round, J. Horace. Some English Crusaders of Richard I. The English Historical Review 18, no. 71 (1903): 475–81. http://www.jstor.org/stable/548873.

• Gillingham, John. The Unromantic Death of Richard I. Speculum 54, no. 1 (1979): 18–41. https://doi.org/10.2307/2852987.

See also:

• Cawley, Charles; Medlands,"ENGLAND Kings 1066-1603". 2021. Fmg.Ac.Henry of Anjou
• Peerage.com
• Wikipedia:Richard_I_of_England
• Richard I Coeur de Lion ('The Lionheart') r.1189-1199, The Official Website of the British Monarchy, 2008/9, accessed 19 December 2015.
• A History of Northumberland (Lodon, 1893) Vol. 1, Page 30: "Condemned by the church as an unchristian weapon, the 'balista', by which we are to understand the engine of war as well as the smaller cross-bow, was brought principally into use by Richard I., who was killed by a quarrel discharged from one." citing: Hewitt, Ancient Armour, 1860, i. pp. 158, 202
• Time Team, Season 20, Episode 7, "Horseshoe Hall" (Oakham Castle, Rutland)