This_Is_My_Boomstick!!:
i personly dont really see why people see Richard I as being such a great hero
he attacked his fathers realm at least twice to try to take the crown for himself - second time it worked
when he was crowned he banned all woment from his coronation and all jews, jewish leaders with gifts for him were stripped and flogged and thrown out which bought about rioting in London where many Jews were killed and thier homes burnt to the ground, he did stop the rioting and executed a few people responsible and made a writ saying not to halm them but was very loosely adhered to
The Constitutional History of England says
He was a bad king: his great exploits, his military skill, his splendour and extravagance, his poetical tastes, his adventurous spirit, do not serve to cloak his entire want of sympathy, or even consideration, for his people. He was no Englishman, but it does not follow that he gave to Normandy, Anjou, or Aquitaine the love or care that he denied to his kingdom. His ambition was that of a mere warrior: he would fight for anything whatever, but he would sell everything that was worth fighting for. The glory that he sought was that of victory rather than conquest.
in the holy land he massacred nearly 3,000 prisoners - very heroic
i think he was a bad king who stripped england of its wealth to fight elsewhere, barely stepping on english soil, good general - nothing special - , very bad king
Willmark:
Why is admired? Because those immediatly after him: John and Henry III were terrible by comparison. Add in the diaster that was Edward II and one would have to go to Edward III for a truly great reign.
I’m not forgetting Edward I. He was a phenominal king, but the only bright spot of kingship in England during the 13th century…
Richard I had many flaws (even more then noted); however with the drawbacks of herditary kingship he will be listed higher then most of the kings and queens of England.
My personal top 7:
Henry V
Edward III
Edward I
William I
Henry II
Henry VIII
Elizabeth I
Willmark:
Willmark that's hardly fair starting a thread like this and picking England's greatest Warrior king as your choice. Who does that leave the rest of us with - Ethelred the Unready?
Mostyn
Heh, thats what happens when you start a thread, you get "dibs" ;)
Slave for the Ethelred the Unready who was actually a very interesting historical figure. The appilation of "Unready" isn't one might think...
Willmark, if you haven't already read it Juliet Barker's recent(ish) book on Agincourt is worth the read.
Mostyn
I have not. She seems to be a bid polarizing. I have read about the methods that she used to arrive at her "the French
only had a 2 to 1 advantage over the English"... I find it hard to believe that a woman that educated extrapolated those numbers from some partial French manuscripts and decided it was so.
Look at populations at the time: England ~4,000,000; France ~21,000,000 (or thereabouts depending on who you believe in terms of actual deaths from The Black Death). A nation of that many people is only going to send a force of around 12,000? Henry V started out from Southampton with around that many!
Shakespeare raises Henry V to mythic proportions sure, but perhaps those myths are true. A general that never lost a battle as Prince or King? A King that smashed a French force that even at the lowest (using her figures) outnumbered his own 2-1?
In short she is a bit off by the various sources I have read.
Another favorite historical figure is Teddy Roosevelt... there is a reason he is on Mount Rushmore..