Richard I of England has been depicted many times in romantic fiction and popular culture.
Robin Hood
The King joins the hands of Robin Hood and Maid Marian
The Scots philosopher and chronicler John Mair was the first to associate Richard with the Robin Hood legends in his Historia majoris Britannae, tam Angliae quam Scotiae (1521). In the earliest Robin Hood ballads the only king mentioned is "Edward our comely king", most probably Edward II or Edward III. However, Sir Walter Scott's novel Ivanhoe popularised Mair's linking of the Hood legends to Richard's reign, and it was taken up by later novelists and by cinema. Typically Robin is depicted upholding justice in Richard's name against John and his officials during the king's imprisonment. Richard appears in the novella about Robin Hood, Maid Marian (1822), by Thomas Love Peacock.[1]
Other literature
Richard has appeared frequently in fiction, as a result of the 'chivalric revival' of the Romantic era.
The Adventures of King Richard Coeur-de-Lion (1791) by James White is a humorous historical novel about Richard's adventures.[2]
After Ivanhoe, in which he is depicted as initially adopting the pseudonym of Le Noir Fainéant ("The Black Sluggard"), Sir Walter Scott portrayed Richard in The Talisman (1825), a highly fictionalized treatment of the Third Crusade.
Winning His Spurs: A Tale of the Crusades (1882) (aka Boy Knight) by G. A. Henty, is a novel about a young noble, Cuthbert, who accompanies Richard during the Third Crusade. According to historian Mike Horswell, Winning His Spurs depicts Richard as "a man of action, inspirational leader and phenomenal fighter".[3]
Maurice Hewlett's novel The Life and Death of Richard Yea-and-Nay (1900) is a novel about Richard's life.[5]
The Assassins (1902), a novel by Nevill Myers Meakin (1876-1912), features Richard, Philip II of France and Saladin, in a plot involving the Order of Assassins.[6][7]
The juvenile novel Lion-Heart: A Story of the Reign of Richard I (1910) by "Herbert Strang" and Richard Stead, is a tale about Richard, that is influenced by Henty's work.[8]
Walter of Tiverton (1923) by Bernard G. Marshall, is another juvenile novel where two young knights help Richard resist the plots of Prince John.[9]
Unhurrying Chase (1925) by H. F. M. Prescott, revolves around the conflict between the novel's protagonist, a young Frenchman, and Richard.[10]
King's Man (1948) by C. M. Edmondston and M. L. F. Hyde, is a juvenile novel exploring the working relationship between William Marshal and Richard.[10]
Harold Lamb wrote a short story "Lionheart" (1949), which focuses on Richard near the end of his life.[12]
Gore Vidal's novel A Search for the King (1950) also retells the legend of Blondel and Richard.[10]
Donald Barr Chidsey's novel This Bright Sword (1957) features a Richard portrayed as a swashbuckling hero.[14]
John Jakes published a novel, Sir Scoundrel (1962) about Richard and Blondel. Sir Scoundrel was published under Jakes' pen-name Jay Scotland. Jakes later revised the novel and published it under his own name as King's Crusader (1977). Jakes' novel is one of the first works of fiction to depict Richard as a homosexual.[15]
Tariq Ali depicts Richard in his novel The Book of Saladin (1998). Here Richard is given the derisive nick-name "Richard the Lion-Arse" by Saladin's soldiers. According to Reed Way Dasenbrock, Ali's Richard "breaks his word repeatedly and falls quite short of the standard of chivalry and courtesy set by Salah-ud-din".[19]
Kamran Pasha depicts Richard in his novel, Shadow of the Swords (2010). This depicts Richard during his conflict with Saladin, and also has Richard meeting the Jewish philosopher Maimonides.[21]
In 1966 James Rado played Richard in the original Broadway production of The Lion in Winter by James Goldman.
In 1999 Chuma Hunter-Gault played Richard in the Broadway revival of The Lion in Winter by James Goldman, mounted by the Roundabout Theater.
In Winter 2006, Scott Edward Haugen portrayed Richard the Lionheart in an adaptation and staging of Goldman's The Lion in Winter by Undiscovered Country Productions, with performances staged in the cities of Fargo, North Dakota and Glyndon, Minnesota.[22]
Lars Bloch in the Italian film L'Arciere di Sherwood (1970)
Frankie Howerd in the comedy Up the Chastity Belt (1971), in which Richard is revealed to be the double of the main character, Lurkalot (also played by Howerd)
Peter Ustinov in the Disney animated film Robin Hood (1973), in which he also voiced Prince John. Both were lions, in reference to his title 'Lionheart'. In this film, Richard is depicted as the uncle of Maid Marian.
Richard Harris in Robin and Marian (1976). This is a revisionist version, depicting Richard as obsessive and murderous rather than heroic.[24]
Lawrence Clark (aged 7), Paul Rose (aged 13), Glen Barlow (aged about 18), and Michael Byrne (as an adult) in the BBC series The Devil's Crown (1978), which dramatised his reign and that of his father and brother
John Rhys-Davies in "The King's Fool" episode of the British series Robin of Sherwood (1984). This version depicts Richard as a villain, who tries to have Robin Hood killed when he realises he cannot control him.[25]
Mugihito voiced King Richard in the anime Robin Hood no Daibōken where he arrives near the end to assist Robin and his allies in overthrowing both his brother Prince John and Baron Alwyn.
Steven Waddington in the "We Are Robin Hood!" episode of the BBC series Robin Hood (2007); he also portrayed King Richard in the BBC drama documentary "Heroes and Villains: Richard the Lionheart" (2008)
Richard was depicted in two different issues of the Classics Illustrated comics series. The first was a 1953 adaption of Walter Scott's The Talisman, and the second was a 1955 adaption of Scott's Ivanhoe.[27]
Video games
In the Robin Hood-inspired adventure game Conquests of the Longbow, Richard is featured as a prisoner of Leopold of Austria. As in the previously mentioned legends, Robin Hood is working to raise 100,000 marks in ransom to release Richard.
The sequel, Medieval II: Total War shows Richard on the box cover, and the player has the opportunity to play the Battle of Arsuf. Richard is also included the expansion pack Medieval II: Total War: Kingdoms where he makes an appearance during the Crusades campaign.
He is one of the main Crusader characters in the real-time strategy game Stronghold: Crusader, appearing on the box cover, in one of the historical campings and as an AI Lord in Skirmish mode.
In Age of Empires 2, Richard can be played in battle against Saladin.
In Age of Empires: The Age of Kings for Nintendo DS, Richard the Lionheart is a usable hero and the final campaign features six missions based upon him, including the Battle of Arsuf and a fictional assault on Jerusalem.
In Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader, the player character is a 16th-century descendant of Richard I. The game follows an alternate history timeline in which Richard's execution of the prisoners after the capture of Acre completed a ritual that unleashed magic and demons into the world. (2003)
In the 2007 action-adventure video game Assassin's Creed (set in the time of the third crusade) Richard plays a major part in the game, making several appearances and at one point interacting with the main character. Richard speaks English with a French accent in the game as a reference to the fact that he spoke Occitan (native mother tongue), Latin, Anglo-Norman language and Old French, and barely knew Old English or Middle English in real life.
In Civilization II, King Richard's Crusade is one of the Wonders of the World. This Wonder provides increased production.
Richard is a playable character in the Mobile/PC Game Rise of Kingdoms.
^Stevens, Anne. H. British Historical Fiction Before Scott. Palgrave Macmilian, 2016. ISBN9781349319459 (p. 108)
^Horswell, Mike The Rise and Fall of British Crusader Medievalism, c.1825–1945 .Abingdon-on-Thames, Oxford; Routledge. ISBN9781351584258 (pgs. 76-8)).
^Coyle, Heather Campbell. Howard Pyle : American master rediscovered. Wilmington Del. : Delaware Art Museum. ISBN9780977164431 (pg. 56).
^Nield, Jonathan, A Guide to the Best Historical Novels and Tales. London, E. Mathews & Marrot, 1929 (p.34).
^Ernest A. Baker, A Guide to Historical Fiction. London : G. Routledge and Sons, 1914. (p.401)
^"Among “popular” novels, see also Nevill Myers Meakin, The Assassins: A Romance of the Crusades (1902)". Satia, PriyaSpies in Arabia : the Great War and the cultural foundations of Britain's covert empire in the Middle East.
Oxford; Oxford University Press 2010. ISBN9780199734801 (p.174)
^Baker, Ernest A., A Guide to Historical Fiction. London : G. Routledge and Sons, 1914. (p.18)
^Logasa, Hannah, Historical fiction and other reading references for classes in junior and senior high schools. McKinley Pub. Co., 1941 (p.40)
^ abcdefMcGarry, Daniel D., White, Sarah Harriman, Historical Fiction Guide: Annotated Chronological, Geographical, and Topical List of Five Thousand Selected Historical Novels. Scarecrow Press, New York, 1963 (pgs. 59, 66, 72, 74).
^Howard, Robert E., Lord of Samarcand and Other Adventure Tales of the Old Orient. Lincoln, NE, Bison Books. 2005 ISBN978-0-8032-7355-9. (p.35)
^Lamb, Harold, Swords from the West. University of Nebraska Press, 2010 ISBN9780803226203 (p.603)
^Crouch, Marcus, The Nesbit Tradition: The Children's Novel in England 1945–1970, Ernest Benn, 1972, (pgs. 72–74).
^Jones, Mary Ellen. John Jakes : a critical companion. Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 1996. ISBN9780313295300 (pgs. 16-17)
^Palmer, R. Barton (2009). "Queering the Lionheart: Richard I in The Lion in Winter on stage and screen". In Kathleen Coyne Kelly & Tison Pugh (ed.). Queer movie medievalisms. Ashgate. p. 58.
^Sapp, Gregg, & Hartman, Donald. K. Historical figures in fiction.Phoenix (Ariz.) : Oryx Press, 1994. ISBN9780897747189 (p.332)
^Kelso, Sylvia. "The God in the Pentagram: Religion and Spirituality in Modern Fantasy".Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts. 18(1) (pgs. 61-82). 2007.
^Dasenbrock, Reed Way, "Tariq Ali's Islam Quintet" in Murphy, Niel, and Sim, Wai-chew (eds.), British Asian Fiction : framing the contemporary. Amherst, N.Y. : Cambria Press, 2008. ISBN9781604975413 (pgs. 17-18)
^Michael Burgess; Jill H Vassilakos Murder in retrospect : a selective guide to historical mystery fiction. Westport, Conn. : Libraries Unlimited, 2005. ISBN9781591580874 (pg. 182)
^Potter, Lois, Playing Robin Hood: The Legend as Performance in Five Centuries. Delaware; University of Delaware Press, 1998 ISBN9780874136630 (pp. 226-227)
^"Richard secretly orders the assassination of Robin and his men.....The characterisation of Richard as a warmonger and a tyrant is consistent with revisionist historiography, but it represents a radical alternative to the founding myth in which the king is the embodiment of justice and defender of liberty." Chapman, James. Swashbucklers: The Costume Adventure Series Oxford University Press, 2015 Oxford University Press, ISBN071908881X (p. 160)
1Overlord of Britain. 2Also ruler of Ireland. 3Also ruler of Scotland and Ireland. 4Lord Protector. 5Also ruler of England and Ireland. Debatable or disputed rulers are in italics.
The Troubadour and Richard Cœur de Lion., Felicia Hemans relates how Richard was discovered in captivity by the troubadour, Blondel.