Historical Heroes: Richard the Lionheart
Ben Kane reflects on the controversies surrounding Richard the Lionheart, and explains why he merits celebration.
Richard the Lionheart is easily one of the most well-known English monarchs, by name at least. Sadly, Robin Hood is often the next name connected with Richard, when in fact the hooded outlaw is accepted by modern historians to be either a myth or a conflation of medieval folk heroes. The Lionheart, on the other hand, was very real. Was he someone to look up to, however; someone to admire? The other day, I saw a comment under a Facebook post promoting Crusader, to the effect of, ‘Richard was the worst king England ever had.’ A comment below read, ‘Yes, he never even set foot in England.’ More than 800 years after his death, people still have strong opinions about Richard, which in my mind proves that he was, at the least, an interesting character.
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