Historian Robert Tombs gives us his account of the actual Richard the Lionheart.
King Richard I, "the Lionheart" [son of Henry II] was crowned in 1189 amid scenes of popular rejoicing and vicious attacks on Jews--a usual by-product of Crusading fervour. Richard, who would spend only six months of his ten-year reign in England, was eager to join the Third Crusade, part of the widespread European reaction to the recapture of Jerusalem by the Caliph of Egypt, Saladin (Saleh-ed-Din Yusuf ibn Ayub), in 1187. A fellow Crusader was his former accomplice and friend, Philip of France, but a series of personal, political and national disputes soon ended their always shaky alliance.
As a Crusader, Richard won a brilliant if chequered reputation. He was a vainglorious product of the warrior culture and little else.
