Richard the Lionheart

Dan Snow's History Hit

History Hit

History

4.7 • 12.9K Ratings

🗓️ 26 June 2025

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Crusading hero, battlefield legend...absentee ruler? Dan explores the myth and reality behind England’s Warrior King. From storming Sicily to conquering Cyprus and striking fear into the heart of Saladin on crusade, Richard’s legend has loomed large for centuries, fuelled by Victorian storytellers and patriotic lore. But how much of it is true?

Medieval historian Richard Huscroft joins Dan to separate fact from fiction. Was Richard I a noble warrior, a king who abandoned his realm, or is it more complicated than that?

Produced by Mariana Des Forges, Dan Snow and edited by Dougal Patmore

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Eastern City. The Walkie Talkie, the Gurkin, Ledenhall Market.
0:06.0	It's where the old meets the new, where pioneers have made things happen for 2,000 years.
0:11.0	It's where diverse minds help our society today and enable a sustainable tomorrow,
0:16.0	where Michelin Star Food meets London's most iconic viewing galleries.
0:20.0	Here, life blends seamlessly with work. This is the community where Michelin Star Food meets London's most iconic viewing galleries.
0:23.6	Here, life blends seamlessly with work.
0:26.5	This is the community that drives change.
0:28.9	Search Eastern City.
0:37.1	He is England's warrior king. His statue in the heart of Westminster shows him astride charger.
0:43.5	His back arched, sword pointed straight and true to the heavens.
0:49.4	As the Victorian sculptors intended, he embodies martial valour.
0:55.4	You would follow him into the jaws of hell if you were his sworn man.
1:00.1	You would drop your weapons and run if you were his sworn enemy.
1:06.0	He is King Richard the Lionheart.
1:09.6	The Angevin Enforcer, Christendom's crusading hero.
1:13.6	He's the King of England who spent next to no time there.
1:17.6	His true throne was the saddle.
1:20.6	His court was the battlefield.
1:25.6	He stormed fortunes in Sicily. He conquered Cyprus, the one man who stalked the nightmares
1:31.8	of the King of France, the one man who gave pause to the mighty Muslim warlord Saladin.
1:38.3	It was said that Saladin and his advisers regard him as a terrifying warrior with no equal among
1:43.8	the crowned kings of the
	...

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