Richard I : The Crusader King

93 Pages·2018·6.91 MB·English

by  Thomas Asbridge

Thomas Asbridge

RICHARD I
The Crusader King
Contents
Genealogical Table
RICHARD I
1. In Search of the Lionheart
2. The Absent King
3. The Crusader King
4. The Warrior King
5. The Legendary King
Illustrations
Notes
Further Reading
Picture Credits
Follow Penguin
Penguin Monarchs
THE HOUSES OF WESSEX AND DENMARK
Athelstan Tom Holland
Aethelred the Unready Richard Abels
Cnut Ryan Lavelle
THE HOUSES OF NORMANDY, BLOIS AND ANJOU
William I Marc Morris
William II John Gillingham
Henry I Edmund King
Stephen Carl Watkins
Henry II Richard Barber
Richard I Thomas Asbridge
John Nicholas Vincent
THE HOUSE OF PLANTAGENET
Henry III Stephen Church
Edward I Andy King
Edward II Christopher Given-Wilson
Edward III Jonathan Sumption
Richard II Laura Ashe
THE HOUSES OF LANCASTER AND YORK
Henry IV Catherine Nall
Henry V Anne Curry
Henry VI James Ross
Edward IV A. J. Pollard
Edward V Thomas Penn
Richard III Rosemary Horrox
THE HOUSE OF TUDOR
Henry VII Sean Cunningham
Henry VIII John Guy
Edward VI Stephen Alford
Mary I John Edwards
Elizabeth I Helen Castor
THE HOUSE OF STUART
Thomas
James I
Cogswell
Mark
Charles I
Kishlansky
[Cromwell David Horspool]
Charles II Clare Jackson
David
James II
Womersley
William III & Mary
Jonathan Keates
II
Richard
Anne
Hewlings
THE HOUSE OF HANOVER
George I Tim Blanning
George II Norman Davies
George III Amanda Foreman
George IV Stella Tillyard
William IV Roger Knight
Victoria Jane Ridley
THE HOUSES OF SAXE-COBURG & GOTHA AND WINDSOR
Edward VII Richard Davenport-Hines
George V David Cannadine
Edward VIII Piers Brendon
George VI Philip Ziegler
Elizabeth II Douglas Hurd
For my mother Gerd Asbridge

1
In Search of the Lionheart
Just before dawn on 5 August 1192, Richard I of England lay sleeping in his
resplendent royal tent on the coast of the Holy Land, two thousand miles from
home. Unbeknownst to the king, a large party of Muslim warriors were at that
moment stealing their way through the half-light, planning to launch a surprise
attack and take him prisoner. They might well have succeeded had it not been
for a lone Christian sentry, who spotted the first rays of sunlight glinting from
their helmets as they approached and immediately raised the alarm. With the
camp thrown into frenzied confusion, Richard leapt from his bed, hurriedly
pulled on a mail shirt and rushed out to give battle.
The odds that day were not in the king’s favour. Only ten of his knights
actually had horses, leaving the remaining seventy or so to fight on foot
alongside a small force of crossbowmen and assorted infantry – all against an
enemy numbering in the thousands, most of whom were mounted. A different
man might have contemplated flight, but Richard chose to make a desperate and
daring stand, fighting from first light until dusk. Contemporary chroniclers
marvelled at his bravery and prowess: ‘never was such a battle seen’ remarked
one, while another likened the king to a ‘ferocious lion’ felling all in his path.
The king’s expertise as a military commander was severely tested, but he
managed to impose order, throwing up a defensive shield and spear wall, behind
which his crossbowmen could operate to good effect, strafing the enemy.
At one point, as the melee reached fever pitch, Richard was said to have
‘charged into the accursed people, so that he was swallowed up by them and
none of his men could see him’. Brandishing his ‘sword with rapid strokes’, the
king began ‘cutting [the enemy] in two as he encountered them’, mowing them
down ‘as if he were harvesting them with a sickle’ – carrying himself all the
while ‘with indescribable vigour and superhuman courage’. At last he emerged
from the fray, ‘his body completely covered with arrows, which stuck out [from