Lionheart (47 page)

18 The Angevin treasure castle at Chinon, as seen from the river

19 The view from the battlements over the Loire Valley. In the foreground is the Tour du Moulin, where Eleanor was imprisoned by Henry II after the rebellion of 1174

20 (above) 21 (below) At the end of the rebellion, Richard took refuge in Saintes Cathedral, using the cloisters (below) as an armoury and magazine. Abandoning his knights and men for Henry II to take hostage, he fled to the mighty fortress of Taillebourg (above). Later, he besieged and destroyed the castle where he had been given asylum

22 In the chapel of Ste-Radegonde at Chinon amateur archaeologists uncovered this fresco, painted shortly after the rebellion of 1174. It depicts Henry II leading Queen Eleanor away to fifteen years’ imprisonment in England. The young woman between them is Princess Joanna

23 On the left of the fresco, Eleanor is depicted yielding to Richard a white gyrfalcon, the emblem of the duchy of Aquitaine. Richard is so eager to take it that he is nearly leaning out of the saddle

24 Climbing the scaling ladder into the breach in the walls of Acre, Albéric Clément said: ‘If it please God I shall enter the city.’ God was not pleased, and he was hacked to death at the top of the ladder

25 After the city surrendered, Richard ordered the slaughter of the 2,700 men, women and children living there

26 In the Manesse Codex, created around 1315, Richard’s captor Heinrich VI is portrayed as a strong and wise ruler. Setting the ransom for the release of Richard was complicated by Prince John conspiring with Philip of France to bribe Heinrich not to free the Lionheart

27 In the
Liber ad honorem
Augusti
by Petrus de Ebolo, written around 1196, Richard is shown kissing the Emperor’s feet, while begging his pardon. This did not go down well with his Anglo-Norman vassals

28 The
donjon
of Châlus Castle, from which the fatal crossbow bolt was fired

29 The nave of the abbey church at Fontevraud, showing the effigies of Richard (foreground, right) and Isabel of Angoulême (foreground, left), with Henry II and Eleanor in the background