โHe rode the entire length of the Saracen line and none dared to accept his challenge.โ Richard the Lionheart, our lord and savior ๐ โจ
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I do believe that people can find inspiration in historical figures whose lives were profoundly shaped by their faith. Richard, Joan, James, and countless others. What I do not believe is that these figures should be appropriated for political propaganda, regardless of which side is doing it.
For one thing, the political ideologies being imposed upon them are entirely foreign to the worlds they inhabited. But more importantly, doing so distorts not only their historical identities but the very faith and religion they represented.
And yes, the Church has been a political institution for centuries. But Richard did not take the cross to fight for the Church as an institution. He famously despised Clement and called him โthe Antichristโ. Richard fought for God. For the salvation of his soul. For a God he understood through the Catholic faith that guided him much more deeply than his brothers and father.
There is a fundamental difference between finding inspiration in someoneโs faith and exploiting that faith to serve a modern political agenda.
Americans using Richard/crusaders as representations of their religion as a political tool worry me because I donโt think they understand 1) he wouldnโt share any of those ideals 2) he was catholic
I used to believe that Jed Bartlet from The West Wing was the best fictional character to ever exist until he said โIt's "The War of the Roses." All the Henrys, and all the Richards, for that matter.โ And now I believe he was an ignorant potato. 3 Henrys. 1 Richard. Dumbass.
Every time my favorite image of Richard appears online, I remember I saw the real one with my own eyes and I want to cry
Meet another of Richardโs loyal knights, William de Preaux who saved Richard by pretending to be the king instagram.com/reel/DfScAhbAQโฆ
When was the name โLionheartโ born?
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Wales wrote before 1188 about Richard:
โhic leo noster, et plusquam leo, quartanae stimulo leonino more vexatur.
Quo sic continue feremm tremit nec trepidat, ut et sui tremore mundum universum tremere faciat et timere.โ
-> this lion of ours, and he is more than a lion, is afflicted by the sting of quartan fever, in the manner of a lion <-
Never mind the part about the quartan feverโฆ. Wales wrote this before the crusade. It must be a reference to โlionheartโ so the epithet existed before the crusade! This is huge.
I believe thereโs a duty of every reader to question primary sources because a lot of times they were, to put it kindly, drunk writing. Newburgh, you make me very happy but what in the living hell are you talking about my friend? Were you even anywhere remotely close to these events?
In 1193, Richard the Lionheart was unlawfully captured on his way back from the Third Crusade and put on trial before a court stacked with his bitterest enemies, headed by Holy Roman Emperor Heinrich VI. The Imperial Diet.
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Iโve mentioned before that Richardโs immune system was trash, but after reading Newburgh (and recently coming across Gerald of Wales for the first time) I wanted to bring some continuity to the idea as I have mentioned it in this account before.
We can infer that Richard was continually ill; Ambroise says as much, but I hadnโt found a source that translated that into anything beyond a simple "well, he was sick."
The reason this stays so obscure is that I havenโt come across a biography that actually confronts it as a chronic illness. That's likely because so many biographers base their work on the Gesta, Ambroise, and Hoveden - all of which refuse to depict the King of England as anything less than superhuman.
Gillingham is something else entirely, and while he does quote Wales in Richard I, he moves on quickly without delving into what it actually means.
Newburgh is by far the most direct about it. He believes Richard genuinely doubted he would ever return from the Holy Land, which is why he liquidated his properties in London. Newburgh puts it down to his failing health:
"- his system was so corrupted and consumed by a quartan ague, which he had endured for a long time, that he could not long exist in that disorder, and especially amidst labor so great."
This is the key primary source that explicitly addresses the fact that Richard was living with a chronic illness while accomplishing everything he did. Frankly, it makes his whole achievements all the more impressive.
Holy shit. I was watching this reaction of Deutschland and this lady who is a history professor said that Germany remained her of Richard and thatโs insane. I love it. Germany is very pretty, and itโs a very lovely prospect that thatโs the imagery that a historian associates with Richard. And yes I agree now that she mentions it - the armor is definitely anachronistic but the vibe is there.
Andrรฉ de Chauvigny is my favorite knight; but barely anyone knows him, so let us change that โค๏ธ instagram.com/reel/DfFaVG1ANโฆ
