The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1912-06-17

famous atrocities; NyMM
q blackguard who
has been praised \SNxS2 -
by poets and nov RIG HARD l.
elists for virtues he never dreamed OF
possessing. He was King Richard /.
of England, nicknamed Occur de Lion
("Lion HeartO.
When Richard was only 15 Tin 1873
he Joined a rebellion against his own
father, King Henry II. The rebellion
was crushed and Henry freely forgave
his unnatural son. But ten years later.
Richard was once more up In arms
against his father; joining Henry's
bitter enemy. the king Of France. and
doing all in his power to injure not
only Henry, but also the country he
expected one day to rule.
Richard and the French king at last
conquered Henry and forced him to
sign a peace treaty. The shame OF be-
ing humiliated by his son was too
much for the old monarch. He died
broken hearted two days after the
treaty was signed. Richard was now
king Of England. He had spent most
of his life in France. He had not
taken the trouble to learn the English
language. He had. apparently, no in
terest at all either in England nor In
its people, save as he could wiring from
them huge sums of money with which
to indulge his favorite pastime Of war
fare.
Yet, for the moment, he was re-
morseful over his treatment OF his
dead father, and he won much sympa-
thy by weeping in maudlin fashion at
the dead kings tomb. Then, less than
two months after he was crowned, he
left England and joined a crusade
which was aimed to win back the Holy
Land from the Saracens.
Richard wanted money for this ven
ture. So he not only overtaxed his peo-
pie, but sold back England's rulershiD
of Scotland, which his father had won
by hard fighting. Having done as much
harm to his kingdom in two brief
months as he comfortably could, Rich
ard set out on the Crusade.
OF all the many crusader chiefs in
all the various crusades, none, per-
haps, has won as much fame as Rich
ard-and on SO little justification. Be-
yond the capture of one Saracen city
Acres surrender were not fulfilled
to his liking, he retaliated by massa-
creing 200 helpless Saracen prisoners
whom he had captured.
While certain deeds Of ferocious
courage in Palestine won for him the
title of Lion Heart" yet he did far
more harm than good to the cause OF
the Crusade. 1t was largely through
him that the leaders quarreled among
themselves and failed to conquer Jeru-
salem. There were two rival candi-
dates for the title Of King Of Jerusa-
lem" (They conferred the title be.
fore taking the trouble to capture the
Holy city, These candidates were
Conrad of Montferrat and Guy de Lu-
signan. Richard favored Guys claims.
But he was forced to consent to Con-
RAIDS election. Conrad was at once
murdered, and Richard was charged
whether rightly or not-with the
crime
After twice advancing to within
sight OF Jerusalem, Richard gave up
the Crusade in disgust and started
home. He was shipwrecked on the
way and was imprisoned by Archduke
Leopold of Austria, whom he had once
insulted and struck In Palestine. Leo
pold turned him over to the German
emperor and Richard lay for months
In prison. Finally, by taxing his pSo-
pie again and by swearing to hold the
English throne as a mere servant of
the emperor, he won his freedom.
He hurried back to England, where
he found his younger brother John and
the king of France had stirred up q
rebellion against him. He put down
the revolt, forgave John, and made
war on France. Again he only stayed
two months in England-just long
enough to raise more money. He went
to France, where, in 1899, after five
years war, he was killed while attack
ing the castle OF a nobleman who he'd
found some buried treasure Richard
was greedy to seize.
During his ten years reign Richard
had spent just four months In Eng
land. He had impoverished his coun-
try and had done nothing for 1t In re-
turn. So died Richard Lion Heart;
bad son, bad husband, bad king, and
worse man.
England has had three kings nam I'd
Richard" All three were more or
less blackguards and all died violent
ha