The Fatal Wounding of Richard I at…

Unkei, son of the great Nara sculptor Kokei and a leader among the Japanese sculptors commissioned to restore the Todaiji, the great Buddhist temple in Nara, works on this project from 1199.

The Nara school’s new style blends the naturalistic vigor derived from Nara-period antecedents with a humanistic realism, as exemplified in Unkei’s “Nio,” one of the enormous wooden guardian figures posted at the Great South Gate of the Todaiji.

The principality of Galich (Polish, Halicz), located north of the Carpathian Mountains and extending from the area around Kraków in Poland as far east as Ternopol in Ukraine, is united with …

…Volhynia in 1199, forming what is to become one of the more powerful of the independent Russian principalities.

Leo of Armenia had joined the crusaders at Cyprus and Acre.

Desirous of a royal crown, he has continued to approach both Pope and Emperor, and on January 6, 1999, with papal approval, Archbishop Konrad I von Wittelsbach of Mainz bestows royal insignia in the Church of Holy Wisdom at Tarsus.

Nominally an Imperial vassal, he soon abandons any acknowledgment of fealty.

At the same time, the Armenian Church officially accepts a union with Rome, which, however, will never be popular with the lower clergy and general populace.

Jewish leaders in Ctesiphon, after trying in vain to convince a local mosque adjacent to the synagogue to lower the volume of its call for prayers, succeed in getting the government of Baghdad to back their demands.

This results in an anti-Jewish riot in which many Jewish stores are destroyed and eventually, under pressure, the Caliph agrees to turn the local synagogue into a mosque.

Much of northern India is conquered during the twelfth century by Muslim invaders, whose proscription of the making of images and sculpture—the dominant Indian art form—causes architecture to become the most important form of artistic expression.

Largely based on Persian and Turkish prototypes, the first of the great edifices devoted to Islam is the impressive Quwwat ul-Islam, or Might of Islam mosque, erected in on the site of a Hindu temple in Delhi.

The papacy levies a church tax in 1199 on all clerical incomes—later to become a precedent for systematic papal income taxes—and commissions Fulk of Neuilly, a popular orator, to preach the new crusade, for which there is at first scant enthusiasm.

The Death and Legacy of Richard I, the Lionheart (1199 CE)

Richard I, renowned for his military prowess and crusading exploits, met his end on April 6, 1199, at the siege of Châlus-Chabrol, dying in the arms of his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine. Though celebrated for his chivalry and battlefield skill, his reign was characterized by neglect of his kingdom, as he spent all but six months of his ten-year reign outside England, campaigning or in captivity.

---

Richard’s Rule: Glory in War, Neglect in Governance

• A warrior first, a ruler second, Richard excelled only in fighting, leaving the governance of England and his empire to his ministers.
• His military reputation was legendary, yet he was also immature, petulant, and politically shortsighted, failing to consolidate Angevin power against Capetian expansion.
• His constant absence drained the royal treasury, forcing England to pay a crippling ransom for his release from captivity in 1194.

---

Richard’s Last Act of Chivalry and Its Brutal Aftermath

• Richard’s dying act of mercy, pardoning the crossbowman who shot him, was in vain.
• As soon as Richard died, Mercadier, his ruthless mercenary captain, had the crossbowman flayed alive and hanged, in a gruesome display of medieval brutality.

---

The Burial of Richard I

Richard’s body was divided among three locations, following the medieval tradition of burying rulers in multiple places of significance:

1. His heart was buried in Rouen, Normandy, the political center of the Angevin lands in France.
2. His entrails were interred at Châlus-Chabrol, where he died.
3. The rest of his body was laid to rest at the feet of his father, Henry II, in Fontevraud Abbey, Anjou, alongside his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine.

---

Scientific Analysis of Richard’s Heart (2012)

• In 2012, scientists examined the preserved remains of Richard’s heart, revealing it had been embalmed with various substances, including frankincense.
• Frankincense was highly symbolic, as it was associated with both the birth and embalming of Christ, suggesting Richard wanted to be perceived as a holy warrior, akin to a martyr of the Crusades.

---

Richard I’s Legacy

• Glorified as a crusader king, Richard became a legendary figure in medieval romance and later folklore.
• His warfare-focused reign failed to preserve Angevin dominance in France, allowing Philip II of France to gain ground after his death.
• His shortsighted policies and excessive military spending left his brother and successor, John, a weakened realm, accelerating the collapse of Angevin power on the continent.

Though he embodied the ideals of medieval chivalry, Richard I’s reign left England heavily taxed and politically vulnerable, making him a hero in legend but a failure as a ruler.

There are two potential claimants to the Angevin throne after Richard's death in France on April 6, 1199: John, whose claim rests on being the sole surviving son of Henry II, and young Arthur I of Brittany, who holds a claim as the son of John's elder brother Geoffrey.

Richard appears to have started to recognize John as his heir presumptive in the final years before his death, but the matter is not clear-cut and medieval law gives little guidance as to how the competing claims should be decided.

With Norman law favoring John as the only surviving son of Henry II and Angevin law favoring Arthur as the only son of Henry's elder son, the matter rapidly becomes an open conflict.

John is supported by the bulk of the English and Norman nobility and om May 27 is crowned at Westminster, backed by his mother, Eleanor.

Arthur is supported by the majority of the Breton, Maine and Anjou nobles and receives the support of Philip II, who remains committed to breaking up the Angevin territories on the continent.

With Arthur's army pressing up the Loire valley towards Angers and Philip's forces moving down the valley towards Tours, John's continental empire is in danger of being cut in two.