Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 48.djvu/142

 and arms of Rich in 1790, and was created a baronet on 11 June 1791.



RICH-JONES, WILLIAM HENRY (1817–1885), antiquary. [See ]

RICHARD I, called (1157–1199), king of England, third son of Henry II and Eleanor of Poitou, was born at Oxford 8 Sept. 1157. Almost from birth he was destined to inherit his mother's duchy of Aquitaine; and, to strengthen his hold upon Toulouse, at the age of two he was betrothed to a daughter of Raymond of Arragon. On 2 Nov. 1160 Richard's elder brother, [q. v.], was married to Louis VII's daughter Margaret. Louis had bought this alliance by promising to surrender the frontier fortresses Gisors and Neaufle—fortresses which Henry managed to get into his hands by somewhat underhand methods. For political objects Richard was betrothed to Louis' younger daughter Alice. This dispute over the possession of Gisors and the marriage of Alice caused nearly all the troubles of Richard's life. When eleven he did homage to Louis for Aquitaine (6 Jan. 1169); next year he was acknowledged duke; in 1172 he was solemnly inducted into his new offices (11 June); at Poitiers he was placed in the abbot's chair, and, entering Limoges in triumph, he was proclaimed Duke of Aquitaine, while the ‘ring of St. Valery’ was set upon his finger. Next year Raymond, count of Toulouse, did him homage. In their rebellion against their father in 1173–4 Richard joined his brothers. He was seemingly present at the siege of Driencourt (June 1173); and at Gisors (23 Sept. 1173) he indignantly refused his father's offer of half Aquitaine. Louis made him a knight; and so great was his power in his own duchy that Henry II had to march thither in person, till Richard, chased from castle to castle, flung himself at his father's feet (23 Sept. 1174). In 1175 he was sent to reduce Aquitaine, where his rule was disputed by the local magnates; and next year, when the Count of Angoulême and Viscount Ademar of Limoges rebelled, he hurried to England to seek his father's help. The younger Henry promised aid, and Richard was everywhere triumphant. He crushed the mercenary Brabantines (c. 23 May), took Limoges, and pressed on to meet his brother at Poitiers (c. 24 June 1176). He forced the leading rebels to surrender in Angoulême, and, after holding his Christmas feast in Bordeaux, marched against Dax and Bayonne, conquering as he went, to the ‘gates of Cezare’ on the borders of Spain. He forced the Basques and Navarrese into a reluctant peace, and compelled the freebooters of the Pyrenees to renounce their evil habit of plundering the pilgrims to Compostella. In 1177 Richard was warring against the Count of Bigorre, whose citizens had cast the count into prison. His castles were subdued, but the count himself was set free at the request of his friend, Alfonso II of Arragon. In 1179 Geoffrey de Rançon rose in rebellion; but one after another his strongholds were taken and destroyed, and the insurrection flickered out with a second surrender of Angoulême. Then Richard crossed over to England, after diverting the energies of the leading rebels to a new crusade, from which the Count of Angoulême did not return. There was a fresh rebellion in 1181, and about the same time Richard demolished the walls of Limoges.

Meanwhile, on the north-east frontier of Aquitaine, Louis VII had been claiming Berry as a direct fief of the French crown; and on the death (1176) of Ralf of Déols—a baron whose wealth was reported to equal that of the Norman duchy—both Louis VII and Henry II claimed the wardship of his daughter. Louis complicated matters by demanding the immediate marriage of Richard and Alice. The pope enforced this demand with a threat of interdict, and war seemed on the point of breaking out when both parties agreed to submit the matter to arbitration (21 Sept. 1177).

Richard had reduced Aquitaine to order, had driven the rebellious nobles from the land, overthrown their castles, and established the ducal authority as it had never been established before. He had forced the Count of Toulouse to do him homage, and now that the Count of La Marche had sold his lordship to Henry II, and Berry was practically annexed, there seemed little to prevent Aquitaine from cutting itself adrift from England on the old king's death. This prospect was not to the liking of the younger Henry. He began to urge the Aquitanian barons to a fresh revolt, and persuaded his father to make Richard and [q. v.] do him homage (January 1183). Geoffrey yielded; but Richard refused to submit to a claim which would give him a third suzerain for what was a purely French fief. He began to fortify his castles. Geoffrey led an army into Aquitaine; Limoges declared for young Henry; and the Duke of Burgundy and the Count of Toulouse sided with the rebels. The old king had to interfere in Richard's behalf, but when he