Richard I – The Lionheart

More historiography than events.

Tyerman, C, Who’s Who in Early Medieval England, (Shepheard-Walwyn, 1996)

·         The most harmonious and least challenged accession of medieval kings between 1042 and 1272. Pg 250

·         Needed an effective regency when he was off trying to recapture Jerusalem.

·         Was in captivity for one year.

·         Eleanor of Aquitaine was regent

Gillingham, J, Richard I, (Yale University Press, 2002)

Preface

·         Spent only 6 months of his 10 year reign in England

·         Crusades

·         French part of his empire, inherited from his father, was not kept – won by King of France

·         (Looks like a bit of a disaster)

·         Good to study because: ‘No other medieval king of England had so many enemies in so many different parts of the world and was, in consequence, commented upon from so many different and hostile points of view.’ Pg. viii

·         This makes Richard unique

·         Regarded as a model of good kingship

·         Played a vital role in the histories of England, France, Germany, Sicily, Cyprus and the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Turner, R.V. and Heiser, R.R., The Reign of Richard Lionheart: Ruler of the Angevin Empire, 1189-1199, (Pearson Education Limited, 2000)

·         ‘Presented... [as] a model of kingly virtues because of his military exploits, chivalric courtesy and crusading ardour.’ Pg 1

·         Not necessarily seen by serious historians – different to his contemporaries – different time with different values.

·         Contemporaries see the Third Crusade as ‘the highest goal of the chivalric lord’. Pg 2 –liberation of Christian holy places from the Muslims was seen as amazing to the chroniclers

·         Seen as chivalrous

·         From the seventeenth century, historians have seen Richard as being in the bad-rulers category

·         ‘Richard was an attractive man and a thoroughly bad monarch...War was his one delight, and his only interest in England was as a source of funds for his crusade and his bitter war with Philip Augustus.’ Pg 5

·         Now starting to value him on the value of his own age rather than imposing modern day standards on his reign

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To teach this I would probably get the students to examine the different points of view of Richard and come up with their own conclusions. This could involve having a picture of Richard on the Board and getting them to talk about it in groups and writing these down.

Angevin king/Angevin Empire