Richard I (Penguin Monarchs): The Crusader King
- ISBN-10
- 0141976861
- ISBN-13
- 9780141976860
- Category
- History
- Pages
- 244
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2018-02-22
- Publisher
- Penguin UK
- Author
- Thomas Asbridge
Description
Richard I's reign is both controversial and seemingly contradictory. One of England's most famous medieval monarchs and a potent symbol of national identity, he barely spent six months on English soil during a ten-year reign and spoke French as his first language. Contemporaries dubbed him the 'Lionheart', reflecting a carefully cultivated reputation for bravery, prowess and knightly virtue, but this supposed paragon of chivalry butchered close to 3,000 prisoners in cold blood on a single day. And, though revered as Christian Europe's greatest crusader, his grand campaign to the Holy Land failed to recover the city of Jerusalem from Islam. Seeking to reconcile this conflicting evidence, Thomas Asbridge's incisive reappraisal of Richard I's career questions whether the Lionheart really did neglect his kingdom, considers why he devoted himself to the cause of holy war and asks how the memory of his life came to be interwoven with myth. Richard emerges as a formidable warrior-king, possessed of martial genius and a cultured intellect, yet burdened by the legacy of his dysfunctional dynasty and obsessed with the pursuit of honour and renown.
Get the book
Similar books
-
Richard III (Penguin Monarchs): A Failed King?
By Rosemary HorroxHe was loathed in his own time for the never-confirmed murder of his young nephews, the Princes in the Tower, and died fighting his own subjects on the battlefield. This is the vision of Richard we have inherited from Shakespeare.
-
Anne (Penguin Monarchs): Last Queen of England
By Richard Hewlings.
-
Richard II (Penguin Monarchs): A Brittle Glory
By Laura AsheLaura Ashe's brilliant account of his reign emphasizes the strange gap between Richard's personal incapacity and the amazing cultural legacy of his reign - from the Wilton Diptych to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Piers Plowman and The ...
-
Henry II (Penguin Monarchs): A Prince Among Princes
By Richard BarberPenguin. Monarchs. THE HOUSES OF WESSEX AND DENMARK Athelstan* Tom Holland Aethelred the Unready Richard Abels Cnut Ryan Lavelle Edward the Confessor THE HOUSES OF NORMANDY, BLOIS AND ANJOU William I* Marc Morris William II John ...
-
Edward IV (Penguin Monarchs): The Summer King
By A J PollardYet, argues A. J. Pollard, Edward, who was drawn to a life of sexual and epicurean excess, was a man of limited vision, his reign remaining to the very end the narrow rule of a victorious faction in civil war.
-
Edward VII (Penguin Monarchs): The Cosmopolitan King
By Richard Davenport-HinesBoth reflected the personalties of their central figures: hers grand, imperial and pretty stiff; his no less grand, but much more relaxed and enjoyable. This book conveys Edward's distinct personality and significant influences.
-
Aethelred the Unready: The Failed King
By Richard AbelsA major new title in the Penguin Monarchs series In his fascinating new book in the Penguin Monarchs series, Richard Abels examines the long and troubled reign of Aethelred II the 'Unraed', the 'Ill-Advised'.
-
Aethelred the Unready (Penguin Monarchs): The Failed King
By Richard AbelsN Bamburgh Aethelred's Kingdom • The Five Boroughs 100 miles 100 km Durham Northumbria North Sea • York R. Humber • Gainsborough Lincoln Lindsey • Chester Nottingham Derby R. Trent Mercia Stamford Leicester Thorney East Anglia .
-
Richard II: A Brittle Glory (Penguin Monarchs)
By Laura AsheLaura Ashe's brilliant account of his reign emphasizes the strange gap between Richard's personal incapacity and the amazing cultural legacy of his reign - from the Wilton Diptych to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Piers Plowman and The ...
-
William II (Penguin Monarchs): The Red King
By John GillinghamBut, as John Gillingham makes clear in this elegant book, as the son and successor to William the Conqueror it was William Rufus who had to establish permanent Norman rule.