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Richard I Coeur de LionRichard I Coeur de Lion, King of England, was the son of Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine (about 1122 - 1204) (who was the 1st wife of Louis VII of France, in 1137, divorced) and her second husband, Henry II Curmantle [Henry II of England], King of England, born May 18, 1152, Bordeaux, France. Louis VII of France went on 2nd Crusade, and was involved in the siege of Acre when Richard I Coeur de Lion arrived and forced the surrender of the city. During the siege, Saladin kept the royal invaders supplied with fresh figs and ice and snow from the mountains so they could have chilled wine in the desert. From The Conquerors: The Pageant of England by Thomas B. Costain, copyright 1949 and published by Doubleday and Company: Page 205: mentions that the second daughter of Louis VII of France was betrothed to Richard I Coeur de Lion when they were young, and was sent to England at age 5 to be brought up and educated. At this time, Eleanor of Aquitaine (who had first been married to Louis VII of France and was now married to Henry II of England) knew that this daughter of Louis VII (now in her late teens) was having an ongoing affair with her father-in-law-elect. She took her distress over Henry II's outrageous conduct to her sons, especially Richard. (Henry had earlier had a mistress called popularly "The Fair Rosamonde" and Eleanor of Aquitaine (who was imprisoned by Henry for over 16 years for other reasons) was known as the Evil Queen, because it was popularly believed that Eleanor had poisoned Rosamonde Clifford. A ballad was evolved from the story, "Henry and the Fair Rosamonde" that was to be popular for centuries.) Louis VII had heard some of the echoes of the scandal now involving his daughter and he clamored indignantly for the wedding with Richard to take place as already arranged. Richard, who had no wish to marry his long- promised bride, joined in with the same demand, but Henry continued to postpone the marriage for year after year. When Louis VII died in 1180 and was succeeded by his son Philip, the situation was unchanged. Alice was still going wherever the King went and Henry was more openly infatuated with her than ever. He was making secret overtures to the Pope to have his marriage with Eleanor ended, but the Pope refused to consider a divorce. During this time, Eleanor was a captive at Winchester. After Richard became King, Philip tried to force him to carry out the old arrangement and marry Alice, but Richard refused on the grounds that she had been his father's mistress and had borne him a son. (There was no record of this in England, and, if true, the child must have died in infancy.) Philip did not dispute the claim, and finally agreed to the cancellation of the betrothal and Richard chose to marry Princess Berengaria of Navarre, instead. Philip then gave his unfortunate sister in marriage to a nobleman of France. But all of this was after Henry's death. As long as he lived, he refused to give her up. She was 32 when he died and had been his mistress for 17 years. When Richard I Coeur de Lion assumed the throne, one of his first tasks was to dispatch word to England (from Normandy) that his mother was to be released at once and was to act as regent of England until he could arrive. Although she had been a prisoner for over 16 years, her captivity had been neither close nor unpleasant. Ranulf de Glanville had been a careful custodian, but never unfair nor unfriendly. The Queen said goodbye to her jailer with every evidence of good will. Richard landed at Portsmouth on August 12, 1189. Eleanor was close to 70 and Richard was 32. Richard wanted to throw Ranulf de Glanville into the dungeons with a thousand pounds of fetters, but Eleanor talked him out of it, suggesting that Richard fetter him instead with more responsibilities. Eleanor had already had Alice placed in custody at Winchester and was determined Alice would not wed Richard, who already had plans to marry Princess Berengaria.
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