Richard the Lionheart: good, bad or ugly?

In popular 21st Century imagination, Richard the Lionheart is a legendary fighting warrior, but also a king who happily milked his lands dry to finance war. The classic quote often wheeled out to prove Richard’s avarice was his wish to ‘sell London' were he able to find a bidder. But this forgets that Jerusalem's fall to Saladin was considered by almost all in Latin Christendom to be the greatest disaster of the age. It was deemed not only right but imperative that the greatest Christian kings use their wealth and available manpower to regain the Holy Land. To secure funding for his crusading force, Richard had to push through a year’s worth of business in a matter of months and, in doing so, he cut a number of important corners.

The story was a similar after Richard’s return from captivity. Anglo-Norman chroniclers considered it right and proper that he use the resources of the Angevin Empire to regain what Philip had illegally taken. Although it was understood that the struggle would arduous one, few considered Richard’s departure for the continent to be permanent, expecting he would return to England once his objectives had been met.

J H Harvey first aired suggestions that Richard was homosexual in 1948. Much of his assumption was based on the belief that Richard sharing a bed with Philip Augustus during the time he was in conflict with his father – Henry II – was somehow proof of homosexuality. J Gillingham pours scorn on this theory, writing: ‘It is an elementary mistake to assume that an act that has one symbolic meaning for us possessed that same meaning 800 years ago.’ Indeed, Richard's sharing of Philip's bed was more likely a signal to one and all that he was firmly allied with the young French monarch and his house.

In the last years of his life, Richard may have become a little overweight and some commentators suggest he also suffered from painful ulcers. However, his bravery and ability on the battlefield, whether he was ill or not, remained undiminished and the Lionheart continued to lead and fight from the front until his death.