Richard may have been born at the Palace of Beaumont in Oxford. ^[1]

A marriage agreement was arranged between Prince Richard and the daughter of King Louis VII, bringing peace between England and France.Alys was only nine years old at the time and sent to England under protection of the English King Henry II. ^[2]

In a ceremony held at the church of St. Hilary in Poitiers, Richard was granted the title of Duke of Aquitaine. ^[2]

Richard seized the town of Saintes from his father but soon lost it again as Henry's tactics and forces were more superior. ^[1]

After a year and a half of rebellion against him, King Henry II achieved peace agreements with Louis VII the French king and his own three sons. (Treaty of Falaise?) ^[3]

Within two weeks Richard broke the defences of the fortress town of Taillebourg. King Henry II employed his son Richard to bring the rebellious barons of the Aquitaine area under control. ^[1]

Henry II's son Henry, crowned as the Young King, died of dysentery and Richard became heir to the English throne. ^[1]

King Richard took the Cross. Before going on a Crusade a vow was taken and the person was given a piece of cloth in the shape of a cross to be sown onto the surcoat. To go on a Crusade meant a person was granted a plenary indulgence which freed them from the terrors of purgatory and hell if they killed the enemy and gave them the promise of eternal life in heaven. ^[1]

Josias, the Archbishop of Tyre, found King Henry II and Philippe II at Gisors and told them of the defeat at Hattin. Both kings agreed to peace terms and to contribute to a joint Crusade. It was decided to raise a new tax to pay for the endevour. This tax, known as the Saladin Tithe, was imposed on the people of England and France to raise funds for a new Crusade. But the truce between England and France did not last long enough for the planned joint crusade to get underway. ^[4]

Unhappy that King Henry would give the throne of England to John, Richard sided with Philippe Augustus of France.

Richard, joined forces with the French King to attack his own father. ^[5]

King Henry II died at Chinon and was buried in the choir church of Fontevraud Abbey. Richard, his eldest son, became King of England. William Marshal, who served under Henry II and was favoured by Richard, was sent to England to prepare for Richard's arrival. ^[1]

Richard of Normandy arrived at Portsmouth to claim the crown. ^[6]

Richard I was crowned king in Westminster Abbey. He was escorted along a path of woollen cloth. At the head of the procession was the clergy, first the priors next the abbots then the bishops. In the midst of the bishops were four barons holding golden candelabra, followed by Geoffrey de Lucy, John Marshal, William Marshal and William Fitzpatrick holding the Cap of State, golden spurs, golden sceptre and golden verge. The golden crown was carried by William de Mandeville. Richard was anointed with holy oil on his head, chest and hands. During the service a bat was seen to flutter around the throne which was seen to be an evil omen. ^[1]

King Richard received the homage of the Bishops, Earls, Abbots and Barons who swore fealty to him. ^[7]

William I of Scotland gave Richard I of England 10,000 marks for the Crusade. This overturned the Treaty of Falaise which William had to sign when captured in 1174. ^[8]

Richard set sail with his crusading army from Dover Castle at the end of the year. To ensure he had the allegiance of his younger brother John, Richard had bestowed upon him the title count of Mortain and had approved John's marriage to their cousin Isabelle. But Richard did not nominate John as his heir.  ^[9]

Before his departure to the Holy Land, King Richard nominated his cousin, Arthur, as hier to the English throne.

Even though the Jews were under special protection from King Richard I, because of their wealth that could help pay for the Crusades, the mob attacked 150 Jews hiding in the castle at York. Most committed suicide rather than be attacked by the mob, but the rest believing promises that they would be spared if they came out left the castle and were promptly massacred. ^[1]

Richard was given the pilgrim's scrip (a bag for the journey) and staff by the archbishop of Tours in preparation for his Crusade. These items were traditionally carried by pilgrims. ^[10]

King Richard I of England and King Philippe II, Augustus of France, met at Vézelay and agreed to divide the spoils of the Crusade equally between themselves. They planned to take different routes, Richard via Marseilles and Philippe via Genoa. Richard had around 100 ships at his disposal, several of which were from the Cinque Ports, others from Shoreham and Southampton and more donated by private persons. Other ships were hired from ports in Normandy. Richard could have had a force of around 8000 men half of which could have had horses. ^[10]

Richard leaves to begin his crusade.

Richard was in no hurry to reach the Holy Land as he had an issue to resolve in Italy first. William II, the King of Sicily, had recently died. He was married to Richard's sister, Joan, who was bequeathed a large dower, a payment meant to support her if she outlived her husband. William had also bequeathed a large sum of money to Henry II, the king of England. Through force, Tancred of Lecce claimed the throne of Sicily and imprisoned Joan refusing to pay the money to her or the King of England. When Richard arrived in Messina he demanded that his sister should be released and all the money owing should be paid. ^[10]

The people of Messina, supporting Tancred, shut the gates on Richard and attacked his soldiers. In the harbour French ships turned against Richard as the friendship between Richard and Philippe had broken down because Philippe believed Richard was about to refuse to go through with his marriage to Alais, Philippe's half-sister. This was true as Richard had arranged a marriage to Berengaria of Navarre who was travelling to meet him. Richard's men stormed Messina and captured the town. Richard was lenient on the people of Messina and decided to build a fort overlooking the town. Tancred agreed to pay the money owed, freed Joan from prison and paid Richard a large amount of gold. Friendly relations were restored between Richard and Philippe when Richard agreed to split the gold with the French king. ^[10]

Richard and Philippe stayed in Sicily over the winter months waiting for the weather to improve before continuing their journeys to the Holy Land. ^[10]

John began a campaign opposing William Longchamp who had been appointed administrator of England by Richard I while he was away on Crusade.

The fleet left Sicily to sail to Rhodes. On route, three ships were separated from the group and landed on Cyprus at the port of Limassol. The governor of Cyprus at the time was Isaac Dacus Comnenus, who had come to power from trickery. He had sided with Saladin, and treated Richard's ships as the enemy. ^[1]

Richard located the three lost ships at Limissol, and promptly attacked Comnenus' troops in the town and drove them out. Comnenus was again attacked outside the town, but escaped, leaving behind his standard, embroidered with gold cloth. This was later presented to the abbey of Bury St. Edmunds. ^[1]

King Richard I met Guy of Lusignan (King of Jerusalem), Geoffrey (Richard's brother), Bohemund (Prince of Antioch), Raymond (Count of Tripoli), Humphrey of Toron and other knights to discuss the attempt by Philippe II of France to replace Guy of Lusignan with Conrad of Montferrat as the King of Jerusalem. ^[1]

Richard took time to marry Berengaria at Limassol. ^[1]

By the 1st of June, Richard had control of the whole of Cyprus and imposed a 50% tax in return for letting the Cypriots return to a more traditional way of life. Richard of Camville and Robert of Turnham were left in charge of Cyprus.

King Richard I landed at Tyre and quickly moved towards Acre, where he needed to help an army that was besieging the town which was being held by a garrison of Saladin's troops. By July 12th, the town fell to Richard. Richard held Saladin's men hostage in exchange for 200,000 dinars and the release of 1500 of Richard's own troops who were being held by Saladin. When no ransom was paid, Richard publicly executed 2700 of the garrison. It was at this point that Richard angered Leopold of Austria, who was to imprison Richard as he tried to return to Normandy. Leopold's banner was ripped down from alongside Richard's and the French. The banners indicated that the spoils of war should be shared, but Richard was not prepared the share with Leopold, who had not contributed to the fall of Acre. ^[1]

Under Richard's command, the city of Acre is taken back by the Crusaders.

Bishop William Longchamp held the Tower of London against Prince John's supporters for only three days. The Bishop surrendered the Tower and escaped to continue his support for King Richard. ^[11]

King Richard I realised that he didn't have the resources to maintain control over the Cypriots. He worried that back in England, John, his younger brother could sieze the throne. So Richard sold the island to the Knights Templar for a sum of 100,000 besants. 40,000 of which needed to be paid straight away, while the rest was to be paid in instalments.

Word reached Richard that a Moslem caravan rich with supplies was heading for a well known as the Round Cistern. The caravan was not expecting an attack and the Christian army managed to capture a large amount of rich merchandise, horses and camels. ^[5]

Saladin was in Jerusalem when he heard the news of the Christian attack on the caravan. It looked certain that the Crusaders would use the resources that they had captured to continue on and attack the city. But Richard decided to return to Jaffa against the wishes of many in his army. While peace negotiations were again sent to Saladin Richard moved his army up to Acre in preparation to leave the Holy Land. When Richard left Jaffa Saladin took his army out of Jerusalem and attacked the city. After three days of assault the walls of Jaffa fell and the Moslems entered. ^[5]

Richard the Lionheart signed a peace treaty with the Moslem leader Saladin. ^[12]

After the agreement of a peace treaty Richard left the Middle East and began the voyage back to England.

Richard was shipwrecked while returning home from the middle east.

Richard was captured by the Emperor of Germany, Henry IV after being shipwrecked on the way home after his Crusade. The Emperor demanded a large ransom to set Richard free.

Philippe II of France signed a peace treaty at Mantes. The French king was able to keep his gains in Normandy including the castle at Gisors if he stopped any futher attacks. ^[13]

Bishop Herbert Poore presented plans to move the cathedral at Old Sarum to a new site nearer the river to be called New Sarum, or now Salisbury. Richard I approved the plan.

The castle at Nottingham was being held by supporters of John but it fell to Richard I after a siege of several days. ^[14]

Richard I returned to England after his Crusade and imprisonment in Germany. John had all his castles in England confiscated and the only title left to him was that of Lord of Ireland.

The Crown Wearing. Richard took part in a precession to Winchester Cathedral. The king wore a golden crown and was followed by notables from the Church and State. The previous Crown Wearing was in 1158. ^[1]

In Nottingham a council was called to hear the King's request for raising taxes. Although a large amount of money had been raised to free him from Germany even more was raised to fund Richard's expedition to France to deal with the King of France. Once the money was raised Richard left England and was never to return. ^[10]

On his return from imprisonment, Richard declares war on Philippe Augustus and defeats him at Fretevel. All the French archives were destroyed in the battle which were being transported in a wagon behind the army. ^[15]

King Richard of England organised the construction of a castle overlooking the Seine.

At the Great Council King Richard I requested that 300 knights should be given to him for a years service in France. The Great Council refused. ^[16]

Richard besieged the castle at Chalus where some treasure had been unearthed. Richard believed it was his and tried to take the castle. Riding too close to the walls, Richard was shot in the shoulder. The castle then fell and the archer who shot Richard was brought before him. Richard forgave the archer but Richard's second in command had the archer executed. Richard died of his wounds. On his death bed, Richard nominated his brother John as his heir rather than Arthur of Brittany. Richard was buried at Fontevraud Abbey. ^[1]