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Richard I, the Lionheart
(1157 - 1199) U.K.

Richard I

King

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Richard's castleRichard I, also called "the Lionheart" was king of England from 1189 to 1199. His knightly manner and his prowess in the Third Crusade (1189-92) made him a popular king in his own time as well as the hero of countless romantic legends. Richard I had a documented love affair with Philip, King of France, when he was Duke of Aquitaine. Although he later married, he fathered no children. His marriage was not even recognized by the church until after his death, when his widow had to sue the Pope to be recognized as the King's widow.

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The third son of Henry II and Elanor of Aquitane, Richard was precocious politically and militarily and soon outstripped his brothers and even his father to obtain the crown. Though he spent most of his time fighting with various lords and barons, he couldn't wait to realize his one ambition: to lead the Crusade to recapture Jerusalem from the Muslims. Displaying no concept of planning for England, he sold everything to raise money and lit out for the Holy Land with his allies. The theory that a common heathen foe would unite these brave Christian soldiers was short-lived and they fought like, well, heathens among themselves. Richard was brilliant in the campaign but never quite recaptured Jerusalem. At one point he was stuck with over three thousand Muslim prisoners; not being able to ransom or keep them, he had their throats slit!

Crusader's krakOn his way home he was shipwrecked and spent over a year imprisoned in Austria and Germany before he was ransomed. (This imprisonment was the inspiration for the romantic legend of the minstrel-lover Blondel, finding Richard by singing outside his prison walls, which was written a hundred years later.) He returned to England only briefly to reassert his kingship after his long absence, then left for France never to return, spending the rest of his life doing what he did best: fighting with his barons until he was finally wounded by an unlucky crossbow bolt and died a few days later.

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RichardHow do we know Richard was gay?

"Richard was irresponsible and hot-tempered, possessed tremendous energy, and was capable of great cruelty. He was more accomplished than most of his royal family, a soldier of consummate ability, a skillful politician, and capable of inspiring loyal service. In striking contrast with his father and King John his brother, he was, there seems no doubt, a homosexual. He had no children by Queen Berengaria, with whom his relations seem to have been merely formal. "
-- Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica is as respected, objective and reliable a source as you're going to get for this information, but some scholars object. Some people just don't want their heroes to be gay. Is the concept of a gay man as warrior like Alexander, Richard, or Lawrence so threatening?

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A contemporary account of Richard and King Philip of France:

"They ate every day at the same table and from the same dish, and at night their beds did not separate them. And the king of France loved him as his own soul; and they loved each other so much that the king of England (Richard's father) was absolutely astonished at the passionate love between them and marveled at it."

Richard's homosexuality was well known. In the book Eleanor Of Aquitaine (Eleanor was Richard's mother), historian Marion Meade relates Eleanor's pragmatic view of Richard's gayness:

"Eleanor... came to view it as an irrelevancy. Richard's unconventional sexual habits did not negate his primary duty as king: to marry and sire a male heir."

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Richard I

"There was nothing remotely effeminate about Richard, of course, a crusader and warrior devoted to hand-to-hand combat. Another of his lovers was a young knight, a crusader, one Raife de Clermon, whom he freed from Saracen captivity. Richard was undoubtedly pious and constantly in the company of prelates; there was no shame attached to his predilections and nothing hidden. Though he did repent on several occasions of 'that sin,' public confessions being a tradition of the church, there is no sign that it was regarded as a more serious sin than many others."

-- British novelist and journalist Colin Spencer

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"A valiant prince, a mighty warrior, and a noble king, his character was strongly flawed by all-too-human vices. It was perhaps this very combination of great courage and great strengths with common failings that endows him with perennial appeal."
-- James A. Brundage

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"Worthy, by the consent of all men, to sit with King Arthur and Roland and other heroes of martial romance at some Eternal Round Table, which we trust The Creator of the Universe in His comprehension will not have forgotten to provide."
-- Winston Churchill

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Richard's castleWhile returning to England after one Crusade, Richard was captured and imprisoned in Austria.

One of his lovers, a minstrel named Blondel, sang to him from outside the castle wall.

Richard was killed after ten years on the throne, during a siege of a French castle, at the age of 42.

His known lovers were:
Raife de Clermon, Philip II Augustus of France, Saladin, Blondel.

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Source: Jay Spears - http://www.gayheroes.com - et alii

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