Known as Richard the Lionhearted (Lionheart, Lion-heart or Lion-hearted) from the French, Coeur de Lion, for his courage and prowess on the battlefield. He was also known as ‘Melek-Ric’ by the Saracens. Richard was the son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine and the second king in the Plantagenet line.

Richard seemed to be more interested in his territory in France and in his Crusading endeavours than he was in governing England, where he spent just six months of his ten-year reign. He nearly used up the treasury left by his father to fund his Crusade. Though he scored some successes in the Holy Land, Richard and his fellow Crusaders failed to meet the objective of the Third Crusade, which was to recapture Jerusalem from Saladin.

His marriage to Berengaria of Navarre had produced no children and so the English crown passed to his brother John.