num_pages: 119
description: Richard I's reign is both controversial and seemingly contradictory. One of England's most famous medieval monarchs and a potent symbol of national identity he barely spent six months on English soil during a 10-year reign and spoke French as his first language. Contemporaries dubbed him the Lionheart reflecting a carefully cultivated reputation for bravery prowess and knightly virtue but this supposed paragon of chivalry butchered close to 3000 prisoners in cold blood on a single day. And though revered as Christian Europe's greatest crusader his grand campaign to the Holy Land failed to recover the city of Jerusalem from Islam. Seeking to reconcile this conflicting evidence Thomas Asbridge's incisive reappraisal of Richard I's career questions whether the Lionheart really did neglect his kingdom considers why he devoted himself to the cause of holy war and asks how the memory of his life came to be interwoven with myth. Richard emerges as a formidable warrior-king possessed of martial genius and a cultured intellect yet burdened by the legacy of his dysfunctional dynasty and obsessed with the pursuit of honor and renown.
language: English
title: Richard I: The Crusader King
publisher: Penguin UK