Richard I in front of Houses of Parliament, London

Richard I (the ‘Lionheart’) died from an infected arrow wound to his shoulder.  He received this by accident while besieging the small, virtually unarmed castle of Chalus-Chabrol.

Richard was born on 8 September 1157, the third son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine.

He was crowned King of England on 3 September 1189.  Richard spend only 6 months of his reign in England, first going on the Third Crusade, on his return he was imprisoned in Austria.  His mother worked hard to raise the ransom of 150,000 marks (65,000 pounds of silver) equaling 2–3 times the annual income for the English Crown at that time.

Tags: Angevins