The Fall of theFeudal System

3. Richard I (1189-1199)

The majority of earlier historians show Richard “The Lion Heart” as a hero wearing a Crusaders red cross on a white shirt with a sword in his hand, obviously a popular king. (His statue still stands adjacent to the Houses of Parliament.) But this is far from the reality. He loved fighting and out of his 10 years reign he only spent 10 months in England; he was either leading the Third Crusade, in prison and only latterly fighting to retain his French territories. So his English subjects hardly knew him. England went to pot and his vast empire embracing England, Ireland and half of France lost its centre of authority and became restless, setting the scene for the loss of all the French territories in the reign of his brother John. Crusades were expensive but popular as the Roman Church absolved Crusaders of their sins where otherwise huge fines would have been paid to the Church. (Penance money also had to be paid by Kings. The Third Crusade was seen to be successful. As Richard negotiated the right for Christian pilgrims to visit Jerusalem but failed to regain the rule of the city of Jerusalem as the occupying Islamic army under Saladin was too strong for him. On his way back to England, he was captured by the German Emperor and ransomed for a huge sum. (Capturing Knights and princes and if possible Kings was a favourite occupation in the Middle Ages as huge sums could be raised. This habit saved many lives in battle as a dead Knight was worth nothing but captured alive and he could be ransomed). Richard remained in prison for two years until the amount required could be raised in England. In the meantime, Philip Augustus of France made key gains in England’s French territories. Thus, as far as England was concerned, the Third Crusade was a disaster because:

1-Cash was raised by selling assets in England to finance the trip. For example, selling Church and Crown lands and selling the right of self-government to certain towns. Not a recipe to maintain central control.

2-Cash was raised to get Richard out of prison. (100,00 Marks) Both were huge sums, each similar in magnitude to two years taxes. Poor men had to sell their pigs and the Church their expensive plate.

3-Richard, as was customary at the time, appointed a “ruler” in his absence called a Justiciar, William Longchamp, Bishop of Ely. Unfortunately, Richard’s brother John soon took control in Richard’s absence and under his corrupt leadership, all the good laws introduced by their father Henry 2nd were ignored. It can be said that if John had been a better ruler the Magna Carta would not have been required. Robin Hood England’s favourite outlaw lived in Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire, in Richards reign, or so the story goes. As with the legend of King Arthur, it is likely that a character similar to Robin Hood existed in these turbulent times.

4-Rich outlaws were quite common after the Norman conquest because they were Anglo-Saxon landowners who kicked off their property to make way for Norman/French Barons.

5-An outlaw was anybody who the Kings courts wished to try but who disappeared. Quite easy when the population was so low and most of the land was a forest.

6-Generally outlaws of this origin would have been popular with the locals and would have been skilled with the bow and the sword for defending themselves and poaching the Kings deer or wild boar. In Robin Hoods case robbing the corrupt rich to give to the poor. King Richard joined Philip 2nd Augustus on the Third Crusade but only played a small part militarily as he was more interested in getting his French lands back from the rule of English Kings.

Richard had no children although he married a Spanish princess while celebrating his victory over fellow Christians in Cyprus which was then under the rule of Christian Constantinople. The marriage was a surprise to Richard as his mother, Eleanor, turned up unannounced in Cyprus with the said princess and they were married in Limassol. Richard died while fighting Philip Augustus’ forces in France.