Japanese War: The Battle on the Scha-Ho (London: Hugh
Rees, 1910); Solzhenitsyn, Alexandr Isaevich, August Che-
tyrnadtsatogo (August 1914), translated by Michael Glenny
(New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1972).
Richard I the Lion-Hearted (Richard Coeur de
Lion) (1157–1199) English king
Richard I was born on 8 September 1157 at Beaumont
Palace, Oxford, the third son of King Henry II and his
wife Eleanor of Aquitaine. At the age of 11, he was given
his mother’s duchy in Aquitaine, France, and in 1172 he
was given control of Poitiers. However, although Henry
had granted similar titles to all of his children, he had not
given any of them any substantive power, and by 1173
Richard was chafing for real control over the duchy. He
therefore sided with his elder brother Henry, the heir
to the throne, who was upset at his father’s infidelity
against their mother and launched a revolt, joined by
Richard and their brother Geoffrey. King Henry quickly
put down their rebellion, and Richard was forced to give
up on 21 September 1174 and beg his father for forgive-
ness. Soon, a war broke out between Richard and his
brother Henry in France, and though they eventually
made peace, Henry died of an illness on 11 June 1183,
making Richard the heir to the throne. Following the
death of King Henry II, Richard, now the eldest surviv-
ing son, was crowned as king of England at Westminster
on 3 September 1189, shortly before his 32nd birthday.
Although Richard came to England to take control
there, he concentrated on raising resources to fund a cru-
sade. Two years before, the Muslim warrior saladin had
captured Jerusalem, and Henry II had tried to arrange a
joint expedition with the French to rescue the city, but
he was still negotiating the matter when he died. Rich-
ard, however, took up the cause with enthusiasm. He
named William of Longchamp as chancellor of England
(regent), disregarding his brother John, and set out to
rescue Jerusalem.
In 1190, taking with him some of England’s best
knights, Richard left on what has become known as the
Third Crusade. He traveled with PhiliP ii, the French
king, and they spent the winter in Sicily. Early in 1191,
the two men separated, and Richard sailed for Rhodes.
However, some of his ships were wrecked on Cyprus,
and the island’s ruler maltreated the crews. Richard sailed
back to Cyprus and took the island before resuming his
journey. He reached Acre in the Holy Land on 8 June
- The city had been under siege by the Crusaders
for two years, but they had been kept at bay by the Mus-
lims’ using, among other weapons, “Greek fire”—pots of
a fiery compound made of sulfur, saltpeter, and naphtha,
like an early version of napalm. Richard quickly took
control of the assault, and the Crusaders at last breached
the walls of Acre, forcing the Muslims to flee. One of
Richard’s allies, Duke Leopold of Austria, raised his own
banner over the city, and Richard angrily tore it down.
Leopold pulled out his troops and departed, leaving
Richard with no more allies since he had also quarreled
with Philip II. He proved to be a merciless conqueror:
In taking Acre, he had seized some 3,000 Muslims as
prisoners, and he ordered that all be put to death.
On 7 September 1191, Saladin tried to attack
Richard’s forces near Arsuf, 10 miles from Jaffa along
the Galilee coast, but Richard won a brilliant victory in
which Saladin suffered some 7,000 casualties, including
32 emirs. Nevertheless, Richard soon realized that even
if he took Jerusalem, he could not hold it because of
dissent among his Crusading allies. At the same time, he
learned that his brother John was taking control of En-
gland. He therefore signed a three-year peace with
Saladin and departed from the Holy Land, leaving his
nephew, Henry I of Champagne, in command of the
armies there. Back in Europe, he was taken captive by
Duke Leopold, still holding a grudge from the slur
at Acre, and then turned over to Henry VI, the Holy
Roman Emperor, who demanded a ransom for him.
English knights, including Richard’s good friend Hu-
bert Walter (later the archbishop of Canterbury), raised
a sum of 150,000 marks, which left England financially
weak for many years, and Richard was released in 1194.
He returned to England, where he was coronated a sec-
ond time to demonstrate he was still king of England.
In May 1194, intending to take back lands lost to
his family in France, Richard departed England again—
never to return. He began an armed campaign against
Philip II, and during a battle at Gisors (10 October
1198), he allegedly yelled, “Dieu et mon droit!” (God
and my right), which is now the motto of English sover-
eigns. Wounded during a fight at the castle of Chaluz in
Aquitaine, France, Richard died there on 6 April 1199
at the age of 42. His remains were laid to rest in the
Fontevrault Abbey in Anjou, France, next to both his
parents. Sir Richard Baker writes: “The remorse for his
undutifulness towards his father, was living in him till
he died; for at his death he remembered it with bewail-
RichARD i the lion-heARteD