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Which of King Richard's brothers joined a rebellion against him?

How did Richard the Lionhearted become king?

Richard I was the third son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. As a child, he was made the duke of Aquitaine, land his father had gained by marriage. Richard ruled Aquitaine severely which brought him respect but also made him hated by the barons, one of the lowest forms of nobility, that he ruled. In 1173, Richard joined a rebellion against his father started by his mother and older brother, Henry III. Eventually, all of his brothers joined the rebellion.

 Right after peace with his father was restored, Richard and Henry started fighting. Yes, don’t feel so innocent, I’m sure if you have a brother that you fight with him too.  Henry hadn’t gotten any land from his father when he was a child which made him jealous of Richard. The barons of Aquitaine decided rebelled against Richard and got Henry to join the rebellion. Henry suddenly died so the rebellion ended and Richard claimed his father’s kingdom.

The only thing that stopped Richard from taking the throne immediately was his father. Henry II refused to give Richard the power. When they met with King Philip Augustus in 1178, Henry denied that Richard was the rightful heir. So Richard decided to switch sides and fight with his father’s enemy. During the war that followed, King Henry II died and Richard became king of England, Aquitaine, and Normandy.

Good Soldier or Bad King: Both

You might think that since Richard the Lionhearted is one of the most famous European kings that he was a good ruler. You are definitely wrong. Richard’s mother raised Richard and his brothers to hate their OWN father. Richard was said to like the quote ‘From the Devil we sprang and to the Devil we will return.’ Richard may not have been a good ruler but he was well educated and was noted for his military and political abilities which he used in protecting and controlling his territories. He was a harsh and severe ruler.

 Richard controlled his troops by strict rules and he was merciless to prisoners of war. Despite his brutality, his soldiers loved him for his bravery and fairness. I would quit the army if he was my leader. To me, the biggest reason King Richard was a bad ruler was because of the way he treated Jews. At his coronations, he didn’t let any Jews come and then later decided that all Jews should be killed. When the people that lived in London heard that, they started a massacre against Jews. All throughout history it seems that Jews are the ones everybody wants to kill, I just don’t get it.

Richard and Saladin

First, I’ll give you some background on Saladin because you probably don’t know who he was. Saladin joined the army at age 18 under his uncle who was the Muslim military leader. His father, a famous diplomat, believed that the Christians had only been successful in the Second Crusade because the Muslims hadn’t been united. After a while in the army, Saladin’s uncle made him a state official and he eventually became sole ruler of Egypt and Syria. Saladin then converted Egypt to Islam and decided he had to unite the Muslims to get the Christians to leave Egypt. Unfortunately for him, the Christian states in Egypt were in the middle of his realm.

So in 1187, Saladin launched a plan to eliminate the Crusader states. Saladin succeeded in taking Jerusalem before the year even ended, pretty fast, huh? He won most of the Christian territory back and restored it as his. He was usually civilized and let the Christians leave freely. Although he got some land back, he couldn’t seem to conquer the Christian forts at Antich, Tripoli, and Tyre. Meanwhile, the Europeans were being sneaky and launched the Third Crusade. This was when Richard forced Saladin to negotiate a truce. Richard tried, after the Third Crusade, to retake Jerusalem and couldn’t but he signed a treaty with Saladin so Christians could make safe pilgrimages to Jerusalem. That is one of the reasons that Middle-Eastern Muslims still hate Christians today. Nice job King Richard… not!

How did Richard die?

    

On return from the Third Crusade, in late 1192, Richard was taken prisoner by his enemy, Duke Leopold of Austria. Duke Leopold then handed him over to Henry IV, the Holy Roman Emperor. Henry took Richard hostage, good way to get what you want, right? But Richard escaped with the help of one of his minstrels. Richard immediately moved to Normandy to save his lands from Philip II and a long war started. Although Richard finally made peace with Philip he was fatally wounded by a crossbow on April 6, 1199.

He was shot while trying to take over the caster of the viscount, which is a step above a baron, of Limoges. He got shot for a really stupid reason… you guessed it… fighting over money. He was fighting over the ownership of a treasure of gold discovered by a local peasant. Richard died in his bed three days after he was shot. Before he died, he called the man who had shot him to his castle and forgave him. I can respect that. But even thought Richard had forgiven the man, once Richard died the man who shot him was hanged.

Robin Hood and Richard I

While king Richard was off at the Third Crusade, his brother John was substituting as king. After a while, John claimed himself to be king, being the selfish man he was. As you know, Richard was captured on his way back from the Third Crusade. One of his minstrels was walking outside past the cells that held prisoners. His minstrel was singing a song that Richard loved so Richard started singing and his minstrel found him. Then his minstrel stole the keys and helped Richard escape…lucky him.

     Meanwhile, Robin Hood had just been declared an outlaw by King John because he had shot a deer on private land but it ran onto King John’s land so they said Robin Hood was hunting on John’s land. Robin Hood escaped into the woods and found more outlaws who joined his gang. King John still thought Richard was held captive so Richard pretended to be the Black Knight. The Black Knight met Robin Hood, formerly Locksley, and revealed his real identity to him. King Richard then pardoned all of Robin Hood and his gang’s crimes because they were loyal. So for the rest of Robin Hood’s career he opposed King John and got away with it. That is why you commonly hear Robin Hood and Richard the Lionhearted mentioned together.