The Life and Times of Richard I

The enduring image of Richard Coeur-de-Lion is of the warrior king, the crusading knight, the prince of troubadours. Yet this image presents only one aspect of Richard's character. For he was not only a chivalrous knight, but also a cautious general, planning the details of his strategy and siege warfare with infinite care. Although Richard was King of England, his field of action was the whole of Christendom. He was probably the most international of all England's monarchs. He spent his youth at his mother's Court in Poitou, far from his father's lands `of the North Wind.' When he succeeded to the throne, he intended to use his kingdom as a form of bank, a source of materials and manpower for his expeditions on the Continent and to the Holy Land. When Richard died - mortally wounded in a petty quarrel over treasure at Chalus in the Limousin - he left instructions that his body should be buried not at Winchester or Westminster, but at Fontevrault in Anjou. England did not even receive his gallant heart, that was given to the Norman Cathedral of Rome...