nPostednon April 6, 2015
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Backnin 1199, when Richard I of England was killed, life was shorter, more brutish, way more violent.
Backnin 1199, when Richard I of England was killed, life was shorter, more brutish, way more violent. n
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nRichard was called “Lionheart” becausenhe was thought of as a great military leader and warrior. He has beennan iconic, honored hero to England even though he lived most of hisnadult life in southwestern France, he didn’t speak English (he spokena French dialect called langue d’oil and a local Romancenlanguage called Occitan), and even during the ten years thatnhe was king, he was only in England, all together, maybe six months.
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nHenapparently didn’t think to himself, “How can I make my subjects’nlives better?”
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nInstead,nhe treated his kingdom as a source of financial support for hisnarmies. Some people call him “the absentee king.”
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nNowadays,nmost people have heroes who are musicians or athletes or actors. Somenof us have heroes who are astronauts or writers or scientists. I amnso happy that most of us these days do NOT idolize the guy who’snkilled the most people!
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Britishnhistorian Steven Runciman wrote that Richard the Lionheart “wasna bad son, a bad husband, and a bad king, but a gallant and splendidnsoldier.” He wasn’t even a conqueror, even though he won a lot of battles…Because he had no interest in ruling his kingdom, he didn’t fight battles in order to conquernlands and enlarge his kingdom – instead, once he’d won a battle, he would generally just sell offnanything that was worth having.
Britishnhistorian Steven Runciman wrote that Richard the Lionheart “wasna bad son, a bad husband, and a bad king, but a gallant and splendidnsoldier.” He wasn’t even a conqueror, even though he won a lot of battles…Because he had no interest in ruling his kingdom, he didn’t fight battles in order to conquernlands and enlarge his kingdom – instead, once he’d won a battle, he would generally just sell offnanything that was worth having.n
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nHe just liked to win!
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nItnstrikes me that, in the modern world, Richard would’ve been a greatnsports star. Of course great athletes have to be willing to work hard, practice a ton, keep fit – but to be really great, they also have to love winning!
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nRichard died at age 42 because he was inspecting a castle he was tryingnto conquer for no apparent reason at all. It wasn’t a big, important castle in a strategic part of Europe; it was just a small, unimportant castle. (Pretty stupid, huh?) His army had surrounded the castle and was laying siege to the castle, and the king had decided to inspect the work ofnhis sappers who were preparing to breach the wall….without wearingnhis chain mail. (Stupid.) Every once in a while one of the peopleninside the castle would send an arrow or rock overnthe walls towards Richard’s army…but he paid little attention tonthe missiles. (Very stupid.) One crossbowman had a skillet in hisnhand by which he shielded himself from Richard’s army’s arrows, andnRichard thought that was funny – and when the crossbowman aimed atnRichard, the king just stood there and applauded, rather than taking cover. (Very, verynstupid.)
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nRichardngot an arrow in the neck. I read one account in which it was thenarrow of the crossbowman he had just applauded; I read another innwhich it was another’s arrow. Whoever shot the arrow, the woundnturned gangrenous, and Richard became mortally ill. Knowing he wasndying, the king sent for the crossbowman who had shot him. Again,nreports differ: some say the person who shot Richard was just a boy,nand others claim he was a grown man.
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Richardnis said to have forgiven the boy (or man) who shot him, and even gavenhim 100 shillings before he sent him on his way. However, oncenRichard died, the crossbowman was ordered executed by a captain innRichard’s army.
Richardnis said to have forgiven the boy (or man) who shot him, and even gavenhim 100 shillings before he sent him on his way. However, oncenRichard died, the crossbowman was ordered executed by a captain innRichard’s army.n
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nAll I can say is – thank goodness we don’t live such violent lives nowadays!
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nAlsonon this date:
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nDyngusnDay
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nTeflonDay
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nPainternJohn William Waterhouse’s birthday
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nChakrinDay in Thailand
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nAnniversarynof the first modern Olympic Games
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nBensure to check out the story of Robert Garrett, pictured here. It’snpretty strange and cool!
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nNationalnTartan Day
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nPlannahead:
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nChecknout my Pinterest boards for:
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nApriln holidays
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nAndnhere are my Pinterest boards for:
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nMayn holidays
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nMayn birthdays
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nHistoricaln anniversaries in May
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