Richard I (Coeur De Lion) Of ENGLAND KING

Male 1157 - 1199  (41 years)


Personal Information    |    Notes    |    All

  • Name Richard I (Coeur De Lion) Of ENGLAND KING 
    Born 08 Sep 1157  Beaumont Palace, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Died 06 Apr 1199  Chalus, Haute-Vienne, France Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Buried Fontevrault Abbey, Maine-Et-Loire, Anjou, France Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Person ID I10730  Bob-Millie Family Tree
    Last Modified 12 Oct 2022 

    Father King of England Henry ll CURMANTLE
              b. 05 Mar 1133, Lemans, Sarthe, France Find all individuals with events at this location
              d. 06 Jul 1189, Chinon, Indre-Et-Loire, France Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 56 years) 
    Relationship natural 
    Mother Princess Eleanor DE AQUITAINE
              b. 1121, Bordeaux, France Find all individuals with events at this location
              d. 03 Mar 1204, Fontevrault abbey, Maine-Et-Loire, France Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 83 years) 
    Relationship natural 
    Married 11 May 1153  Bordeaux, Gironde, France Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Family ID F4625  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Princess Berengaria Of NAVARRA 
    Married 12 May 1191  Limassol, Cyprus Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Children 
     1. NONE  [natural]
    Last Modified 12 Oct 2022 
    Family ID F4672  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Notes 
    • NOTE 1./
      Richard I, the Lion-hearted, spent much of his youth in his mother's court at Poitiers. Richard cared much more for the continental possessions of his mother than for England - he also cared much more for his mother than for his father. Family considerations influenced much of his life: he fought along side of his brothers Prince Henry and Geoffrey in their rebellion of 1173-4; he fought for his father against his brothers when they supported an 1183 revolt in Aquitane; and he joined Philip II of France against his father in 1188, defeating Henry in 1189.

      Richard spent but six months of his ten-year reign in England. He acted upon a promise to his father to join the Third Crusade and departed for the Holy Land in 1190 (accompanied by his partner-rival Philip II of France). In 1191, he conquered Cyprus en route to Jerusalem and performed admirably against Saladin, nearly taking the holy city twice. Philip II, in the meantime, returned to France and schemed with Richard's brother John. The Crusade failed in its primary objective of liberating the Holy Land from Moslem Turks, but did have a positive result - easier access to the region for Christian pilgrims through a truce with Saladin. Richard received word of John's treachery and decided to return home; he was captured by Leopold V of Austria and imprisoned by Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI. The administrative machinery of Henry II insured the continuance of royal authority, as Richard was unable to return to his realm until 1194. Upon his return, he crushed a coup attempt by John and regained lands lost to Philip II during the German captivity. Richard's war with Philip continued sporadically until the French were finally defeated near Gisors in 1198.

      Richard died April 6, 1199, from a wound received in a skirmish at the castle of Chalus in the Limousin. Near his death, Richard finally reconciled his position with his late father, as evidenced by Sir Richard Baker in A Chronicle of the Kings of England: "The remorse for his undutifulness towards his father, was living in him till he died; for at his death he remembered it with bewailing, and desired to be buried as near him as might be, perhaps as thinking they should meet the sooner, that he might ask him forgiveness in another world." Richard's prowess and courage in battle earned him the nickname Coeur De Lion ("heart of the lion"), but the training of his mother's court is revealed in a verse Richard composed during his german captivity: