Early life He was born 5 January 1209 at
Winchester Castle, the second son of
John, King of England, and
Isabella, Countess of Angoulême. He was made
High Sheriff of Berkshire at age eight, was styled
Count of Poitou from 1225 and in the same year, at the age of sixteen, his brother
King Henry III gave him Cornwall as a birthday present, making him
High Sheriff of Cornwall. Richard's revenues from Cornwall helped make him one of the wealthiest men in Europe. Though he campaigned on King Henry's behalf in
Poitou and
Brittany, and served as regent three times, relations were often strained between the brothers in the early years of Henry's reign, once Henry took rule for himself. Richard rebelled against him three times and had to be bought off with lavish gifts. In 1225, Richard traded with Gervase de Tintagel, swapping the land of
Merthen (originally part of the manor of
Winnianton) for
Tintagel Castle. It has been suggested that a castle was built on the site by Richard in 1233 to establish a connection with the Arthurian legends that were associated by
Geoffrey of Monmouth with the area. Richard hoped that, in this way, he could gain the
Cornish people's trust. The dating to the period of Richard has superseded Ralegh Radford's interpretation which attributed the earliest elements of the castle to Earl Reginald de Dunstanville and later elements to Earl Richard.
Sidney Toy, however, has suggested an earlier period of construction for the castle.
Marriage to Isabel, 1231–1240 In March 1231, he married
Isabel Marshal, the wealthy widow of the
Earl of Gloucester, much to the displeasure of his brother King Henry, who feared the Marshal family because they were rich, influential, and often opposed him, as did Richard by this point. The joining of Richard to the Marshal family increased the power behind these rebellions, and the potential risk for Henry. Richard became stepfather to Isabel's six children from her first husband. In that same year he acquired his main residence,
Wallingford Castle in Berkshire (now
Oxfordshire), and spent much money on developing it. He had other favoured properties at
Marlow and
Cippenham and was a notable
lord of the manor at
Earls Risborough, all in Buckinghamshire. Isabel and Richard had four children, of whom only their son,
Henry of Almain, survived to adulthood. Richard opposed
Simon de Montfort and rose in rebellion in 1238 to protest against the marriage of his sister,
Eleanor, to Simon. Once again he was placated with rich gifts. When Isabel was on her deathbed in 1240, she asked to be buried next to her first husband at
Tewkesbury, but Richard had her interred at
Beaulieu Abbey instead. As a pious gesture, however, he sent her heart to Tewkesbury.
On Crusade and marriage to Sanchia, 1240–1243 Later that year, Richard departed for the Holy Land, leading the second host of crusaders to arrive during the
Barons' Crusade. He did not fight any battles but managed to negotiate for the release of prisoners (most notably
Amaury de Montfort) and the burials of
crusaders killed at a battle in
Gaza in November 1239. He also refortified
Ascalon, which had been demolished by
Saladin. On his return from the Holy Land, Richard visited his sister
Isabella, the empress of
Frederick II. After the birth of
Prince Edward in 1239, provisions were made in case of the king's death, which favoured the Queen and her Savoyard relatives and excluded Richard. To keep him from becoming discontented King Henry and Queen Eleanor brought up the idea of a marriage with Eleanor's sister
Sanchia shortly after his return on 28 January 1242. On his journey to the Holy Land, Richard had met Sanchia in Provence, where he was warmly welcomed by her father
Raymond Berenger IV. Richard and Sanchia were married at Westminster in November 1243. Marriage to Sanchia had the advantage of tying Richard closely to the royal couple and their interests. Eleanor and Sanchia's youngest sister
Beatrice married
Charles I of Naples, while their oldest sister
Margaret had married
Louis IX of France. The marriages of the kings of France and England and their two brothers to the four sisters from
Provence improved the relationship between the two countries that led to the
Treaty of Paris in 1259.
Poitou and Sicily Richard was appointed count of
Poitou some time before August 1225. However, Richard's claims to
Gascony and
Poitou were never more than nominal, and in 1241, King
Louis IX of France invested his own brother
Alphonse with Poitou. Moreover, Richard and Henry's mother, Isabella of Angoulême, claimed to have been insulted by the French queen. They were encouraged to recover Poitou by their stepfather,
Hugh X of Lusignan, but the expedition turned into a military fiasco after Lusignan betrayed them. Richard conceded Poitou around December 1243.
Pope Innocent IV offered Richard the
crown of Sicily, but according to
Matthew Paris, he responded to the extortionate price by saying, "You might as well say, 'I will sell or give you the moon, rise up and take it'". Instead, his brother King Henry
attempted to purchase the kingdom for his own son
Edmund.
Elected King of Germany, 1257 Richard was elected in 1257 as
King of Germany by four of the seven
German Electoral Princes: •
Konrad von Hochstaden, the Archbishop of
Cologne; • , Archbishop of
Mainz; •
Louis II, the
Count Palatine; •
Ottokar II, King of
Bohemia. His candidacy was opposed by
Alfonso X of Castile, who was supported by three electors: •
Albert I, Duke of Saxony; •
John I, Margrave of Brandenburg; •
Arnold II of Isenburg, Archbishop of
Trier.
Pope Alexander IV and King
Louis IX of France favoured Alfonso, but both were ultimately convinced by the powerful relatives of Richard's wife Sanchia, and his sister-in-law,
Eleanor of Provence, to support Richard.
Ottokar II of Bohemia, who at first voted for Richard but later elected Alfonso, eventually agreed to support the Earl of Cornwall, thus establishing the required simple majority. So Richard had to bribe only four of them, but this came at a huge cost of 28,000
marks. On 17 May 1257,
Konrad von Hochstaden,
Archbishop of
Cologne, himself crowned Richard
King of the Romans in
Aachen; however, like his lordships in
Gascony and
Poitou, his title never held much significance, and he made only four brief visits to Germany between 1257 and 1269.
Later life, death and successors He founded
Burnham Abbey in Buckinghamshire in 1263, and the ,
Aachen in 1266. He joined King Henry in fighting against Simon de Montfort's rebels in the
Second Barons' War (1264–1267). After the shattering royalist defeat at the
Battle of Lewes, Richard took refuge in a
windmill, was discovered, and was imprisoned until September 1265. Richard bought the
feudal barony of Trematon in 1270. In March 1271 Richard's son and heir
Henry of Almain was murdered in Viterbo at the Church of San Silvestro by
Guy and
Simon de Montfort the Younger in revenge for their father and brother
Henry de Montfort being killed at the Battle of Evesham. Simon and Guy were Richard's nephews and sources say that Richard did not recover from the shock. In December 1271, he had a stroke. His right side was paralysed and he lost the ability to speak. On 2 April 1272, Richard died at
Berkhamsted Castle in Hertfordshire. He was buried next to his second wife
Sanchia of Provence and
Henry of Almain, his son by his first wife, at
Hailes Abbey, which he had founded. After his death, a power struggle ensued in Germany, which only ended in 1273 with the emergence of
Rudolph I of Habsburg, the first scion of a long-lasting noble family to rule the empire. In Cornwall, Richard was succeeded by
Edmund, son of his second wife Sanchia. ==Wives and progeny==