RICHARD I

born Sept. 8, 1157, Oxford died April 6, 1199, Chlus, Duchy of Aquitaine Richard I, detail of tomb effigy in the abbey church of Fontevrault-l'Abbaye, Fr. byname Richard The Lion-heart, or Lion-hearted, French Richard Coeur De Lion duke of Aquitaine (from 1168) and of Poitiers (from 1172) and king of England, duke of Normandy, and count of Anjou (118999). His knightly manner and his prowess in the Third Crusade (118992) made him a popular king in his own time as well as the hero of countless romantic legends. He has been viewed less kindly by more recent historians and scholars. born c. 932 died 996 byname Richard The Fearless, French Richard Sans Peur duke of Normandy (942996), son of William I Longsword. Louis IV of France took the boy-duke into his protective custody, apparently intent upon reuniting Normandy to the crown's domains; but in 945 Louis was captured by the Normans, and Richard was returned to his people. Richard withstood further Carolingian attempts to subdue his duchy and, in 987, was instrumental in securing the French crown for his brother-in-law, the Robertian Hugh Capet. Additional reading K. Norgate, Richard the Lion Heart (1924, reprinted 1969), a very full, somewhat old-fashioned narrative, strongly based on chronicle and other recorded sources; F.M. Powicke, The Loss of Normandy, 11891204, 2nd ed. (1961), a brilliant survey of the Angevin Empire on the eve of its disintegration that illustrates Richard's strategic and tactical skill; L. Landon, Itinerary of King Richard I (1935), essential basic information, dating the King's movements, and listing his charters; S. Runciman, A History of the Crusades, vol. 3 (1954), a highly readable, reliable, mainly political narrative, beginning with a good account of the Third Crusade; Amy Kelly, Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four Kings (1950), a readable and informative narrative on the Angevin Empire from the unusual viewpoint of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard's mother.