Richard the Lionhearted

This statue of Richard I, also known as Richard the Lionheart is in the private parking lot of the Houses of Parliment. The day we were visiting, the parking lot was full, and it was quite interesting to watch the gentleman who parks the cars - he wears a kind of court costume, including a tall hat, and he bows when he takes someone's keys to park their car.

Richard the Lionheart was King of England from1189 to 1199, and he wasn't always portraryed as the brave King we know from the movies and television (particularly from the Robin Hood series and movies.)

Because he was the third legitimate son of King Henry II of England, Richard was never expected to ascend the throne. Some historians depict him as a mama's boy. His mother was Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Richard was an educated man who composed poetry, writing in both French and Occitan. He was said to be very attractive; his hair between red and blond, he had light colored eyes and a pale complexion. Historians also think he was above-average in height, but we have no way of knowing, because his bones have been lost ever since the French Revolution.

Richard was said to have significant political and military abilities from an early age, and was noted for his chivalry and courage. He fought to control the rebellious nobles in his own territory, and like his brothers, Richard went through his rebellious stage, and challenged his father's authority. Richard's sense of responsibility was open to question - maybe because he was his mother's favorite, he lived with her rather than at the palace under his father's eye, and because he never expected to become King...who knows?

Something I found interesting is that Merlin is said to have predicted Richard's status as the favorite child of his mother. According to Matthew Paris, Merlin reportedly said, "The eagle of the broken covenantshall rejoice in Eleanor's third nesting." (And since Merlin didn't count the daughters in the family, only the sons - that meant Richard. Very Chauvinistic of Merlin, don't you think?)

Richard's history - although a bit hard to follow as were most of the royalty in those days, is fascinating. He had an unhappy marriage, may have been homosexual, plotted to have his father overthown, went on a crusade, was captured, and, just before his death, he pardoned the boy who fatally shot him with an arrow and sent him on his way with 100 shillings. After he died however, one of his men had the boy caught, flayed alive and then hung. Ouch...

Richard wasn't buried intact. His brain was buried at the abbey of Charroux in Poitou (forthe land's perfidy towards him), his heart was buried at Rouen inNormandy, while the rest of his body was buried at the feet of his father at Fontevraud Abbey in Anjou.

During the French Revolution, the revolutionaries invaded the basilica and other resting places of the kings, dug up their remains and destroyed or threw away their bones.