Richard I of England (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was the king of England from 1189 to 1199. He is sometimes called Richard the Lionheart. Richard was the son of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine. As the third son, he was not expected to inherit the throne, and he was a replacement child. At the age of 11, he became Duke of Aquitaine.
Later, Richard was one of the leaders of the Third Crusade against Saladin. During his journey, he conquered Sicily and Cyprus. He fought in the Battle of Acre and the Battle of Arsuf. In the end, the crusade never succeeded: Richard was never able to win back Jerusalem from the Muslims. He decided to return home to England.
On his way back from the crusade, Richard was captured by Duke Leopold of Austria. The English people had to pay a huge ransom to set him free. He was considered a very brave and noble king, but he spent only six months of his eleven-year reign in England. He died after being shot with a crossbow while besieging a castle in Limousin.
King Richard’s remains were buried in different places. His body was buried at Fontevraud Abbey near Saumur in France, with his father and mother. His internal organs were buried at Châlus, (at The Château de Châlus-Chabrol), near Limoges in central France. His heart was buried in the Notre Dame Cathedral at Rouen.
King Richard’s heart was found in 1838 and was examined by scientists in 2012. They did tests for poisons, because one medieval story claimed Richard had died from a poisoned arrow. They found no evidence to support this idea. Richard probably died from gangrene or septicaemia from the arrow wound.