Back to the Mainly The Normans calendar
Richard I, also known as Richard the
Lionheart, died in 1199. As I said last time, he had only spent 12 months of his 10 year reign in England. Shortly after becoming King he had decided to join
the Third Crusade to the Holy Land. His aim was to recapture Jerusalem. To afford this he had to raise taxes, sell off assets such as the job of sheriff and
generally take as much money as he could from the royal treasury.
He failed to capture Jerusalem and on his way home in 1192 he was captured by Duke Leopald of Austria and handed over to the German Emperor Henry VI.
He decided to ask for a ransom and put Richard up on the 12th century equivalent of ebay with an asking price of 100,000 pounds of silver. Mummy (Eleanor) raised
taxes, confiscated gold and silver from the churches and eventually raised the money and sent it across. Richard’s lovely brother John had meanwhile offered the
German Emperor about 50,000 pounds of silver to keep Richard as a prisoner.
Richard came back to England but almost immediately left so that he could claim back his lands in Normandy which Philip II of France had taken. Richard
also forgave John and named him as his successor.
In 1199, while still in France, Richard was shot by an arrow said to be fired by a boy whose father had been killed by Richard. The wound turned nasty
and Richard knew he would soon die. He had the boy brought to him, forgave him and sent him away with some money. On April 6 1199 Richard died. Having spent so
little time in England, he can’t be said to have had much effect on how England was governed.
John now became King but he wasn’t popular as he made people pay a
great deal of tax. Obviously Richard had spent most of the money on his crusade but people put the blame on John. The poor people hadn’t got much anyway so it hit
them especially hard.
It was about this time when Robin Hood is supposed to have lived. He would rob the rich and give it to poor. Nobody knows if it is really true. Maybe
there was a man who did that. There is a record of a Robin of Loxley. Was that him?
