05 January 2018

King Richard at Chinon?

King Richard I of England, also known as Richard Lionheart or Richard the Lion-Hearted (Richard Cœur de Lion in French), was born in England but mostly lived and then died in France. In fact, some sources say he never learned to speak English and spent only a few days during his 10-year reign as king of England actually in England.






Richard's parents were king Henry II Plantagenêt of England (who was "French" from the Anjou province in present-day France) and Aliénor d'Aquitaine. He reigned over England from 1189 until 1199. His territories on the continent included Normandy and Aquitaine (in the southwest), as well as Anjou. His greatest rival, and some say greatest friend when he was a young man, was king Philippe Auguste of France.






Richard was killed in a battle in France. He was mortally wounded when shot with an arrow. The arrow was removed but gangrene set in. Apparently, he was not wearing armor. According to the plaque above many people in Chinon have long believed the wounded king was brought to their town, where he died in this house that is now a museum (Musée du Vieux Chinon). He was about 42 years old.


Richard's tomb and recumbent funerary statue (son gisant) are kept in the abbey at Fontevraud, just a few miles west of Chinon. His heart was embalmed, placed in an urn, and taken to Rouen in Normandy, where it has stayed to this day. There's a funerary statue of Richard there too, and I must have a photo of it somewhere. I'm looking for it...

9 comments:

  1. All this talk of Chinon brings to mind the wonderful film "A Lion in Winter" and the theme music from that movie.

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  2. That's a great movie. Too bad it wasn't actually filmed in Chinon, even though it's about Henry II Plantagenet and Aliénor and Richard the Lion-Hearted etc. in Chinon. Happy New Year to you and Paul, Ellen.

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  3. I wish that I had seen that plaque on the building in Chinon -- I don't know that we visited the Musée du vieux Chinon, not unless it was part of the area where the ruins are (and it isn't, right?). Darn -- I'm sure we would have liked that. We did enjoy our visit to Fontevraud, just after Chinon!

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  4. Tey are so well preserved, I womder where the gisants were stored when Fontevraud was a prison?

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  5. They are so well preserved, I wonder where the gisants were stored when Fontevraud was a prison?

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  6. They are so well preserved, I wonder where the gisants were stored when Fontevraud was a prison?

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  7. The statues were not stored anywhere but were in the abbey's church with the convicts busy all around. As a teenager I visited the site with my parents. In response to the bell, a warder opened the prison gates with a set of large keys and beckoned us in. My English pride was mortified that a great English king, Henry II, should lie in that setting. Roderick

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    1. Thank you for the information.

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    2. Yes, thanks Roderick. I was thinking that the statues probably stayed in the church, but I didn't think about convicts actually working in the church.

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