Heroes who Weren’t — Richard the Lionhearted

Of all the heroes who never were, the King called Richard the Lion Hearted must come first.  He had good press, and nothing else.

Richard was the  third legitimate son of Henry II.  He was not expected to become King.

Despite being born in  Oxford, England, he grew up in France. His mother, assuming he’d never be the King of England  gave him her duchy of Aquitaine in 1168, and of Poitiers in 1172.

Richard Never learned English.

He was tall, dark and remarkably handsome.  He was also an insatiable rapist and murderer.   The reports that were made against him were shrugged off.  He could do what he wanted.

He is the crown of the spoiled self centred brats.

Although he is not known as a man of cruelty and evil, he was.

Unexpectedly,  he  took the English Throne in 1189.   Right after coronation he  decided to join the Third Crusade.

This Crusade was provoked  by the loss of Jerusalem to the “infidels” under the command of Saladin.

Crusades were expensive, so to raise the money necessary King Richard sold official positions, rights, and lands to whomever had the money.  Once he had the cash he left for the Holy Land.

It was 1190.

His first stop was Sicily.  The King had just died.   The throne was taken by Tancred I.  The people liked him.   Richard didn’t.

Pretending this was being done in defence of his sister, Joan who had been married the the dead King, Richard attacked.  He and his men looted and burned the capital city.

Enjoying his robbing, raping and other activities, he stayed in Sicily until March 1191.  He forced Tancred to sign a treaty where Joan would be released from prison and receive her inheritance.

That done, he left Sicily  and went to the island of  Rhodes, then on to Cyprus.

He arrived on May 6, 1191, and captured the city of Lemesos. He continued his war  until he became the new ruler of Cyprus.

He performed his usual robbing, raping, killing until satiated, then set sail for the Holy Land.

Richard arrived at Acre in June 1191.  This was just in time to relieve the siege of the city by Saladin.

Richard took control of Acre but had no one with him.  He realised even were he able to take  Jerusalem he wouldn’t be able to hold it.

So, he gave up and returned to Europe in the autumn of 1192.

He was captured by Duke Leopold, and handed over as a prisoner to the Emperor Henry VI.  To gain his release England had to pay a ‘King’s Ransom’.

The English were not all that excited to redeem him, but were forced.

He arrived in England, learned that his French duchies had been captured.  He left England for France to regain those Duchies.

Although he was King of England for a Decade, he spent only six months, all told in England.

He died in 1199.

What did this man  do to be considered a hero?