Richard I of England

**Richard I of England** (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was the King of England from 1189 to 1199. He was also 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. He is sometimes called **Richard the Lionheart** or **Richard Coeur de Lion**, which means the same thing in French.

## Life 
Richard was the son of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine. As the third son, he was not expected to inherit the throne, and he was a replacement child. At the age of 11, he became Duke of Aquitaine.

Later, Richard was one of the leaders of the Third Crusade against Saladin. During Richard's journey, he conquered Sicily and Cyprus. He fought in the Siege of Acre and the Battle of Arsuf. In the end, the crusade did not succeed: Richard was never able to win back Jerusalem from the Muslim forces. He decided to return home to England. 

On his way back from the crusade, Richard was captured by Duke Leopold of Austria. The English people had to pay a huge ransom to set him free. He was considered a brave and noble king, but he spent only six months of his eleven-year reign in England. He died after being shot with a crossbow while he was besieging a castle in Limousin. 

Richard’s remains were buried in different places. His body was buried at Fontevraud Abbey near Saumur in France, with his father and mother. His internal organs were buried at Châlus, at the Château de Châlus-Chabrol, near Limoges, in central France. His heart was buried in the Notre-Dame Cathedral at Rouen. 

Richard’s heart was found in 1838 and was examined by scientists in 2012. They did tests for poisons because one mediaeval story claimed Richard had died from a poisoned arrow. They found no evidence to support the idea. Richard probably died from gangrene or septicaemia from the arrow wound.

Richard was succeeded by his younger brother, John.

## Legacy
Because of his military exploits, Richard's popular image is still dominated by the positive qualities of chivalry and military competence. Contemporaries considered Richard as both a king and a knight famed for personal martial prowess, which was apparently the first instance of such a combination. He was known as a competent military leader and individual fighter, who was courageous and generous. Victorian England admired him as a crusader and a man of God and erected a heroic statue of him outside the Westminster Palace. 

Richard was seen as a pious hero by his subjects. He is an enduring iconic figure both in England and in France.

## Photo gallery 

File:Richard I of England.png|King Richard I of England
File:Edith Matilda of Scots.JPG|Matilda of Scotland, Queen of England the great-grandmother of King Richard I of England
File:Henry II of England - Illustration from Cassell's History of England - Century Edition - published circa 1902.jpg|King Henry II of England, the father of King Richard I of England
File:Berengaria of Navarre, queen of England.jpg|Berengaria of Navarre, the wife of King Richard I of England
File:Joan of England.jpg|Joan of England, Queen of Sicily, the sister of King Richard I of England
File:Durnstein castle.jpg|Ruins of Dürnstein Castle, Lower Austria,Austria, the first place that King Richard was imprisoned on his way back to England
File:20080510-Ochsenfurt Rathaus.jpg|Ochsenfurt, Würzburg, Bavaria, Germany, the second place that King Richard was imprisoned on his way back to England
File:Aerial image of Trifels Castle (view from the southeast).jpg|Trifels Castle, Annweiler, Rhineland-Palatinate*,*Germany, the third place that King Richard was imprisoned on his way back to England
File:Château Gaillard (Les Andelys), vu du ciel.JPG|Château Gaillard (*Strong Castle*), Normandy, France,- the favourite residence of King Richard I of England and built by him from 1196 to  1198
File:ChatoGaillardPano1.jpg|Château Gaillard
File:Chateau gaillard.JPG|Château Gaillard
File:Chateau Gaillard.jpg|Château Gaillard
File:Châlus château (1).JPG|Château de Châlus-Chabrol, Châlus, Haute-Vienne, France, where King Richard I of England was mortally wounded on 25 March 1199 and died of his injury on 6 April 1199
File:Royal Arms of England (1189-1198).svg|Royal arms of England (1189 - 1198)
File:Richard I of England - Palace of Westminster - 10092009 crop.jpg|Richard Coeur de Lion outside the Palace of Westminster, London
 

## In world culture 
In 1851, the German poet Heinrich Heine wrote *König Richard*, a poem that was dedicated to Richard and was later translated into several languages.

## References