page_title: Richard I of England
section_title: Occupation of Sicily
hierarchical_section_title: Richard I of England / King and crusader / Occupation of Sicily
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: IIIe croisade&#160;: Rencontre de Philippe Auguste et Richard CÅ“ur de Lion Guillaume de Tyr, Les Histoires d'Outremer. Traduction et continuation jusqu'Ã l'an 1261. Manuscrit sur parchemin (336 feuillets, 33,5 x 23,5 cm). XIVe siÃ¨cle. Paris, 1330-1340. BnF, Manuscrits (Fr 24209 fol. 272v)
context_page_description: Richard I was King of England from 1189 until his death. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, and Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes, and was overlord of Brittany at various times during the same period. He was the third of five sons of King Henry II of England and Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine and seemed unlikely to become king, but all his brothers except the youngest, John, predeceased their father. Richard is known as Richard Cœur de Lion or Richard the Lionheart because of his reputation as a great military leader and warrior. The troubador Bertran de Born also called him Richard Oc-e-Non, possibly from a reputation for terseness.
  By the age of 16, Richard had taken command of his own army, putting down rebellions in Poitou against his father. Richard was an important Christian commander during the Third Crusade, leading the campaign after the departure of Philip II of France and achieving considerable victories against his Muslim counterpart, Saladin, although he failed to retake Jerusalem.
  Richard probably spoke both French and Occitan.
context_section_description: In September 1190 Richard and Philip arrived in Sicily. After the death of King William II of Sicily in 1189 his cousin Tancred had seized power, although the legal heir was William's aunt Constance, wife of Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor. Tancred had imprisoned William's widow, Queen Joan, who was Richard's sister and did not give her the money she had inherited in William's will. When Richard arrived he demanded that his sister be released and given her inheritance; she was freed on 28 September, but without the inheritance. The presence of foreign troops also caused unrest: in October, the people of Messina revolted, demanding that the foreigners leave. Richard attacked Messina, capturing it on 4 October 1190. After looting and burning the city Richard established his base there, but this created tension between Richard and Philip Augustus. He remained there until Tancred finally agreed to sign a treaty on 4 March 1191. The treaty was signed by Richard, Philip, and Tancred. Its main terms were:
  Joan was to receive 20,000 ounces (570 kg) of gold as compensation for her inheritance, which Tancred kept.
  Richard officially proclaimed his nephew, Arthur of Brittany, son of Geoffrey, as his heir, and Tancred promised to marry one of his daughters to Arthur when he came of age, giving a further 20,000 ounces (570 kg) of gold that would be returned by Richard if Arthur did not marry Tancred's daughter.
  The two kings stayed on in Sicily for a while, but this resulted in increasing tensions between them and their men, with Philip Augustus plotting with Tancred against Richard.  The two kings finally met to clear the air and reached an agreement, including the end of Richard's betrothal to Philip's sister Alys.
caption: Richard and Philip of France, French manuscript of 1261. Bibliothèque Nationale de France.
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