Richard I or Richard the Lion Heart as he is also known, is one of our best known monarchs. Despite this king being well known, he actually spent very little of his time on his home soil.
For most of King Richard I reign, he was in battle. In the middle east. His ten year reign was spent battling it out in the third crusade. Early Life Richard was born in Oxford, England on the 8th of September 1157. He was the son of the earlier king, Henry II. He was intelligent. Specifically when it came to politics and military power. That is also where his strength and interest lied. Revolt against Henry II Richard, along with his brothers and mother, led a revolt against king Henry II. The revolt did not last very long, 18 months. To which the rebels backed down. The revolt was quite extensive, stretching from Scotland to Brittany in France. There were at least 20 castles which were demolished at the time of the revolt. The revolt also saw many towns being completely destroyed and people being killed. At the time Henry was not even in England, he was in France. This shows how loyal his soldiers were to the king. The revolt lasted from 1173 - 1174 Becoming King Richard I It wasn't until around 13 years after the revolt that Richard was to become king of England. He was crowned king at Westminster Abbey on September 3rd, 1189. Richard had barred all Jews and women from his investiture. But, he later went further. He planned for the murdered of Jews to be killed in England. The people became alert to this, and, the people of London attacked the Jewish community. However, on the eve before Richard went off to fight in the crusade, he realized that his actions over the Jewish population could quickly destabilize England. As such, he demanded that all those responsible for the rebellions be executed. Time abroad Richards remaining time as king was mostly spent overseas. It was a time spent battling another crusade, the third crusade. The third crusade was motivated by the capture of Saladin in 1187. When Richard learned about this, he joined the 3rd crusade. The holy land, were Saladin had been captured, fell just a month after Richard had landed on it. Afterwards, Richard had many victories. It was only a year later, after Saladin had been captured, that he made peace with him, and began to go home. However, luck wasn't on Richard's side. he was later captured in Venice. Handed over to Henry VI of Germany. He was later released in February 1194. Richard then successfully made it home to England. To be crowned a second time as king of England. Final years of his life His time back in England was not very long. Just a month after his return from the holy land, Richard yet again went abroad. Only this time, to Normandy. This was to be the last time that Richard had ever saw England again. He would never return to his home land. Dying a few years later, on 1199 in battle. Richard was succeeded by his younger brother John
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