this post was submitted on 08 Feb 2026
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History Memes

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[–] PugJesus@piefed.social 25 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Explanation: In his eagerness to go crusading in the Holy Land, King Richard I of England, sometimes known as Richard the Lionheart, sold off a great deal of the English crown's property to finance the military expedition. Supposedly, he even said, as an aside, that he would have sold London itself if only he could find a buyer.

... considering his other sales, he may not have been entirely joking.

Rather than being filled with pious fervor, Richard the Lionheart was about average in terms of religious conviction for the time. He actually even mused marrying off one of his relatives to a male relative of the great Muslim leader Saladin, whom he admired greatly (after fighting him a few times), to create a united and somewhat pluralist kingdom in the Levant, though this plan eventually fell through. His true passion for the Third Crusade was his love of battle. Richard was noted as a warrior who liked to be in the heat of combat, fighting personally; and yet had a sharp mind for tactics and logistics as well.

[–] nova_ad_vitum@lemmy.ca 14 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Dude didn't even speak English and barely spent any time in England at all lol

[–] PugJesus@piefed.social 7 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Well, yes, there's that too. XD

He was a noted poet in French and Occitan, though!

[–] Skullgrid@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

A real Holden bloodfeast.

Though that union would have been cool

[–] PugJesus@piefed.social 8 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Richard is one of those unusual historically-relevant figures who really embodies that ancient 'warrior ethos' of many pre-modern societies, with all of its paradoxes. He will absolutely butcher your mass of peasant levies, or send in his mass of peasant levies to be butchered, without a second thought. He'll start a war over a line in a feudal contract that can be disputed to his favor. He'll gleefully split your skull with a battleaxe in NOBLE AND HONORABLE COMBAT, even if he may prefer the ransom of a capture.

But he was also capable of great generosity of spirit, and largely (though not always - Richard's temper was noted as volatile) acted in accordance with a kind of 'golden rule' treatment. If you were on the battlefield, he expected no more from you than he intended to give.

Notably, his last act was to pardon and reward the Frenchman who killed him with the equivalent of a few years' wages. The Frenchman, also notably, killed him with a crossbow, which was considered a brutal and cutting-edge weapon... which Richard was very fond of despite the constant moral condemnations of it. "Live by the sword..."

Unfortunately, one of his more monstrous mercenary companions tortured said Frenchman to death once King Richard had breathed his last and could no longer interfere. One of the... caveats of keeping dangerous company is that you can no longer direct whom they're dangerous towards once you're gone...

He was noted as very close with several of his military companions, who ran the gamut from common-born to lower nobility, and likewise from monstrous to chivalric. He suffered with his men on campaign, even when he could very easily have lived an easy life at relatively little additional cost, and was always noted as generous to his troops, at a time when monarchs cheating their men even of their promised pay was common.

Some real Beowulf shit, 'heroic' and loyal to his friends, but not necessarily 'good'.

[–] Skullgrid@lemmy.world 2 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

I usually balk at this kind of term but, "he was living in accordance to the culture at the time." and seemed to compartmentalize and contextualize his lust for violence and anger in an appropriate outlet.

[–] SharkAttak@kbin.melroy.org 3 points 6 days ago

Richard III: "Amateur"