One of the greatest warriors of the Middle Ages died an embarrassing death by way of a crossbow bolt fired by a peasant. Not exactly the way Richard the Lion-heart envisioned his death. King Richard I of England had lived the life of a legend. The second son of Henry II and his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard had waited a long time to become king. In the meanwhile, he had rebelled against his father and in the end had hounded his dad to death. Richard was crowned in 1189 and a year later, he fulfilled a vow to go on crusade to liberate Jerusalem. The Third Crusade is the most famous partly because the greatest European warrior and champion of Christianity was up against the greatest Muslim leader of his age, Saladin. Richard increased his fame, but in a losing effort. On his return trip to France (he did not consider England to be his home and spent only 6 months of his ten-year reign there), he was taken captive by one of his many enemies. Eleanor raised the huge ransom and Richard was finally freed after almost a year locked in a castle. Richard was now determined to get payback against King Philip Augustus of France. Philip had left the Crusade to grab English-held land in France.
In March, 1199, Richard laid siege to the castle of a French nobleman who had rebelled against Richard and had allied with Philip. The castle was at Chalus-Chabrol. (One version of Richard’s motivation was that there was rumored treasure in the castle.) The siege was routine until Richard went out riding to reconnoiter the castle on March 26, 1199. A cross-bow bolt hit him in the shoulder. The wound was not deemed serious, but gangrene set in and Richard knew his time was coming. The castle fell and the assassin was brought to the dying king. There is some confusion as to who shot the crossbow. In one version, a boy was brought to Richard and admitted to the deed. When Richard asked why he fired at him, the boy explained that his father and brother had been murdered in Richard’s destruction of the area and he was getting revenge. Richard was impressed by these words of a fellow warrior and ordered that the young man be freed and not harmed. (See below) (In a sad postscript, Richard’s men did not accede to his wishes and the boy was flayed alive and then hanged after Richard died.) When the end was inevitable, Richard called for his mother (not his wife) and Eleanor was there when her beloved died on April 6, 1199. Richard’s body was disemboweled with the insides buried on site. His heart was buried next to his older brother in Rouen Cathedral. The rest of the body was entombed next to his father in the Abbey of Fontevraud.
https://www.historyhit.com/how-did-richard-the-lionheart-die/
https://www.medieval.eu/the-gruesome-death-of-richard-lionheart/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_I_of_England
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