King Richard I - A Medieval King's Gamble

We are always interested to read good books on medieval history with medieval castles and medieval kings and queens being our preferred subjects.

David Boyle's book, Blondel's Song tells the story of King Richard 1st, his part in the 3rd Crusade and his subsequent capture and ransom. There are many interesting angles to this story but throughout the telling one thing stands out. Richard led from the front and took risks beyond those expected of a king. Whether it was storming ashore at Cyprus or desperately seeking a way home during the winter of 1192 there were many points where the history of this extraordinary man and to some extent the future of England could have taken a completely different turn.

A gambling man might well have advised Richard that taking risk after risk was no way to run a kingdom. He only had to lose once and the results would be dire. This happened with his capture and ransom and then, as if he had not learned anything, again at Chalus-Chabrol where he was wounded and subsequently died whilst attacking a relatively insignificant medieval castle.

A Medieval King, Tally Sticks & The Houses Of Parliament

One of the pleasures in studying medieval history is to learn how events can sometimes connect quite unexpectedly across the centuries.

When medieval king Richard 1st was captured, the money needed to pay his ransom, 150,000 silver marks, was so large that a special ransom office was created to administer the raising and collection of the silver. These transactions were recorded on wooden tally sticks. There must have been a great many of these and over the centuries they lay unused and forgotten around the Palace of Westminster with many of them in the room which had been the Court of the Star Chamber under King James II.

In 1824 it was decided to restore the room for other uses and the tally sticks had to be destroyed. It was decided that they should be burnt and on 16 October they were put into the stove at the House of Lords which then overheated and set fire to the panelling and from there to the building itself.

The landscape painter J M W Turner was a witness to the fire and painted it (see below). The replacement building was designed by Augustus Pugin