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Richard I
Heart,’ ‘Richard Yea and Nay,’ so called because he spoke the truth. He found England at profound peace; his father's great lawyers and ministers continued to govern it for him until his death ten years later. He himself cared little for it, except for the money he could squeeze out of it to serve the two objects which really interested him. These were to deliver Jerusalem, which had again been taken by the Saracens, and to save his foreign provinces from being swallowed by the French King.
Richard on the Crusade; his quarrels with France.Richard was a most gallant soldier and a born leader of men in war; he was generous and forgiving; but of his father’s really great qualities he had very few. He had been spoilt as a child, and he remained a great, jolly, impatient child till his death. He and his rival, King Philip, at once set out on the Crusade in 1190, and quarrelled continually. Philip soon slipped off home, and began to grab Richard’s French provinces, with the aid of the treacherous John, Richard's youngest brother, who had stayed in England. John was the one unmitigated scoundrel in the whole family; and he rejoiced greatly when he heard that his brother, who had failed to deliver Jerusalem, had been taken captive on his way home from Palestine, and handed over to the unscrupulous German Emperor, Henry VI. This royal brigand demanded an enormous ransom for Richard, and of course heavy taxes had to be raised in England to pay him. But it did not interrupt the good peace, and Richard, who forgave his wicked brother directly he was free, spent the rest of his short reign in France, fighting King Philip, not altogether without success. He was killed at the siege of a small French castle in 1199.
