Coeur De Lion: The Journals of Richard the Lionheart

Richard the Lionheart has long been considered the greatest heroic figure in the history of the Christian world. Born as the third son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, he became King of England and ruler of the Angevin Empire at the age of thirty-two, following the deaths of his two elder brothers. Already established as Europe’s finest soldier, he undertook the Third Crusade to come to the aid of Jerusalem, which had recently fallen to Saladin. Richard’s epic military and strategic achievements in confronting Saladin’s vast armies on his home soil were repeatedly punctuated by the acts of extraordinary personal courage, which made him a legend. From the age of fifteen, at his father’s instruction, Richard had kept a series of journals recording all of the personal aspects of his daily life. On his death, according to his instructions, the journals passed to his wife Berengaria. She was buried clasping the journals to her chest. For over seven hundred years the journals lay entombed with her in a crypt in a French abbey. Then, following the Nazi invasion of France in 1940, Berengaria’s grave was opened and the journals were removed and secretly taken to Germany to a private collection. Historians and academics have wondered for centuries why Richard did certain things, but only now can we gain a genuine understanding of the events that drove him to act in the way that he did. Now published for the first time, these journals provide a unique, personal insight into the legend of the man universally known in his own time as the ‘greatest king who ever lived'.Kirkus Reviews:"In this historical novel, Tate envisions the many triumphs and passions of Richard the Lionheart.The author frames her story as six volumes of the polarizing king’s journal, concluding with his last letter to his queen,Berengaria. Richard narrates throughout, beginning with his early status as Duke of Aquitaine, the tensions between hisfather, Henry II, and Thomas Becket, the adviser whom Henry would infamously murder, and his own lengthy rebellionagainst his father. In early adulthood, Richard asserts his authority by engaging in jousting tournaments, exactingvengeance on rapists and mercenaries, and mounting his first military campaign against Henry in Paris, with King Louis VIIof France. Although Richard eventually acknowledges the supremacy of his father’s rule, he also does what Henry couldnot, capturing the “unassailable” fortress at Taillebourg in France. Tate’s book is as much a romance as a thriller,particularly when Richard speaks of Berengaria; when they first meet, he reflects, “I am not sure how long we stood there,staring at each other.” His dedication to her is constant, and when she becomes pregnant with their child, the knowledgebuoys Richard through later military campaigns. Over the course of the novel, Richard captures the French commune ofGorre, defeats Isaac Comnenus of Cyprus, and forges a memorable truce with the sultan Saladin, ultimately emergingvictorious in the Third Crusade. In the gritty conclusion, Richard meets his prolonged death at the hands of a mockingarcher when gangrene from a crossbow-bolt wound spreads; he recounts in the final entry that he knows his deathapproaches and that “we cannot amputate my back.” A postscript describes the later lives of several main characters,adding depth to an already rich narrative. In thoroughly detailed prose, Tate pays careful attention to Richard’s personalityand perspective, dwelling on both his thunderous moods and softer emotional connections. Overall, she crafts the king as asympathetic character whom readers will root for—a classic figure with a somewhat modernist twist.An adroit depiction of an adventurous life." Read more