I’ve read two rumors about Richard III, aka Richard the Lionhearted.
The first: He never spoke English, just German.
The second: He was killed by an arrow shot from a man with a tin pot on his head.
Personally, I can’t see how either could be true. To the first, Richard was born in Oxford and raised in England. How could he magically not speak English?
To the second- I’m guessing that tin pots were uncommon in the late 12th century, and that this is probably the result of some errant translation.
However, my skepticism is no authority. What’s the Straight Dope?
Just a quick note: Richard Coeur de Lion was Richard I in the list of English royalty, not III. That was the Richard of “Princes in the Tower, Bosworth Field” fame/infamy.
My first thought on seeing ‘Tin pot’ was the helmet of those metal suits they used to wear. some of the helmets looked like upturned pots wit slits in them
Right. Richard I was born at Oxford, Richard III was born at Fotheringay Castle. That bit’s a tad mixed up there, Daoloth. Where Richard I would have had no need to speak any English at all, it is more likely that Richard III did (and I sincerely doubt the German bit. I think you have him mixed up with George I).
Well, while previewing I notice that Ice Wolf has beaten me to the punch. I can only add that some of Richard III’s correspondence survives (including a letter to his mother), and it indicates that he spoke/wrote what is now known as Middle English. IIRC, it was Edward III a century or so before who promulgated a statute that made English the court language; before that, it had been Norman French.
Pointless trivia question that I’ll tack on simply because I have it in mind at the moment: Richard I’s queen, Berengaria of Navarre, has a distinction shared by no other English consort. Anyone know what it is?
Richard I most likely spoke a form of medieval French, being descended from the House of Anjou on his father’s side and the House of Poitou on his mother’s (Eleanor of Aquitaine). Most of the English nobility at that time, about 100 years after the Norman Conquest, spoke French in preference to English, the language of the common people.
I concur in the George I thing – he was Georg, Elector of Hannover, prior to inheriting the English throne as the closest Protestant heir to Queen Anne – who was his third cousin once removed, IIRC.
I can’t find any mention of a “tin pot”, unless that was in reference to some kind of head protection worn by the archer/cross-bowman concerned. There are many legends around Richard I, some probably down to mis-translations, as you said in the OP, Daoloth.
Richard I the Lion-hearted spoke Old French and perhaps the Langue d’Oc of his mother’s family. I sincerely doubt he ever learned English. Most of the royalty and nobility of England at that time were Norman/Angevin imports, though Richard did have some distant Anglo-Saxon ancestry through his great-great-grandmother, Queen (St.) Margaret of Scotland, who was one of the last members of the native Saxon royalty of England.
Yeah, Richard I spent only 6 months of his 10 year reign in England itself. However, as I (errantly attributed) noted in the OP, he was born and raised in Oxford. However, as others have noted, he probably spoke some other tongue.
There was only 1 Lion Heart and that was Richard I. He had a lot of holdings in France and spent most of his time there, much of it plotting against his father. The Anglo/Norman/French nobles of the time did not speak the language of the common Anglo-Saxon citizenry.
Richard I was killed by an archer, most likely wearing a “tin pot” or metal helmet. The poor guy was executed by his own people for killing Richard I.
Yes, eenerms, he is. Richard I, buried in France, that is. I’ve seen him (or rather, I’ve seen his tomb and effigy) and even took a picture of it. Sadly, I don’t remember where it was I saw him. Rheims? Bayeau? Rouen? I forget. Anyone?
