Richard I, King of England, surnamed Coeur De Lion, was the third son of Henry II, by his queen Eleanor. He was born at Oxford in September 1157. In the treaty of Montmirail, entered into January 6th, 1169, between Henry and Louis VII, of France, it was stipulated that the duchy of Aquitaine should be made over to Richard, and that he should do homage for it to the King of France; also that he should marry Adelais, youngest daughter of Louis. In 1173 Richard joined his mother and his brothors Henry and Geoffrey in their rebellion against the King. The rebels submitted in September 1174, when two castles in Poitou were allotted to Richard. In 1183 a second family feud broke out, in consequence of Richard refusing to do homage to his elder brother Henry, for the duchy of Aquitaine. In this war, his father sided with Richard against Henry and Geoffrey. It was ended by the death of Prince Henry, when Richard, actuated probably by jealousy of his youngest brother, John, declared himself the liegeman of France for the possessions in that country. This step led to a war between the King of England and Philip of France, in which Richard fought against his father. The balance of success being decidedly with France, a treaty in accordance with this fact was about to be executed, when by the death of Henry II, on the 6th of July 1189, Richard became King of England. He landed in his own country on the 15th of August, 1189, and was crowned in Westminster Abbey on the 3rd of September following.
In the hope of gaining salvation, and with the certainty of following the occupation which he loved best, he now set out with an army to join the third Crusade, then about to leave Europe. He united his forces with those of France on the plains of Vezelai, and the two armies (numbering in all 100,000 men) marched together as far as Lyon, where they separated and proceeded by different routes to Messina, where they again met. Having settled a difference which now arose between him and Philip respecting his old engagement to Philip's sister Adelais, the English King on the 7th of April 1191, sailed from Messina to Cyprus, carrying along with him Beringaria, daughter of Sancho VI., King of Navarre. He had fallen in love with this princess, and he married her on the island of Cyprus, where he halted on his way to Palestine. But even love could not make him forget his favorite pastime of war; he attacked and dethroned Isaac of Cyprus, alleging that he had ill-used the crews of some English ships which had been thrown on his coasts. Having then presented the island to Guy of Lusignan, he set sail on the 4th of June 1192, and on the 10th of the same month reached the camp of the crusaders, then assembled before the fortress of Acre. The prodigies of personal valor which he performed in the Holy Land, have made the name of Richard the Lion-hearted, more famous in romance than it is in history.
On the 9th of October 1192, he set out on his return to England. After some wanderings and adventures, he became the captive of Henry VI, who shut him up in a castle on the Tryol. John, meanwhile, ruled in England, and he and Philip of France had good reason for wishing that Richard should never return to his Kingdom. He disappointed them; not, however, until he had paid a heavy ransom, and even, it is said, agreed to hold his Kingdom as a fief of the empire. On the 13th of March 1194, he found himself again in England. His brother John, who had acted so treacherously towards him, he magnanimously forgave, but with Philip of France, he could not deny himself the pleasure of war. In the contest which followed he was generally victorious, but in the end it proved fatal to himself. He was killed by an arrowshot from the castle of Chaluz, which he was besieging, on the 26th of March, 1199.