Richard overtook the funeral at Fontevraud alone, showing no grief or joy, and went straight to the body. Some accounts claim blood flowed from Henry’s nostrils, stopping only when Richard departed. Richard knelt for a Paternoster, then told William the Marshal: “Fair Sir Marshal, you had nearly slain me; had your spear struck me, it would have been a bad day for both of us!” William replied he had the power but chose only to kill his horse. Richard granted William a royal pardon, and the next day Archbishop Bartholomew of Tours buried Henry before Fontevraud’s high altar.
Chapter VII: Richard and England (1189–1194)
John’s revealed treason settled the succession, and Richard was received unquestioningly. William the Marshal freed Eleanor, who served as regent for six weeks. Geoffrey resigned his offices, John received a gracious welcome, and at Séez the Archbishops of Canterbury and Rouen absolved Richard of his oath to Philip. On 20 July Richard travelled to Rouen’s metropolitan church, where Archbishop Walter girded him with the ducal sword and received Norman fealty. He confirmed Henry’s grant to John of the County of Mortain and English lands worth 4,000 pounds, and gave William the Marshal the hand of Isabel de Clare, heiress to Earl Richard of Striguil.
Henry’s death ended his alliance with Philip. On St Mary Magdalene’s Day, Philip demanded the Vexin; Richard bought him off with 4,000 marks added to the 20,000 marks owed to Philip, with a vague agreement to marry Adela, and Philip agreed to leave Richard undisturbed except in Berry and Auvergne. Eleanor was sent through England to swear fealty in Richard’s name, release prisoners, and roll back Henry’s harsh policies. The four English prelates left on 12 August, with Richard departing shortly after.
At Winchester, Eleanor and a large retinue received Richard, who took possession of the treasury. He left Eleanor three weeks to arrange his coronation while he toured southern England. On 3 September Archbishop Baldwin crowned him at Westminster in England’s most splendid coronation; no charter was issued at the event. With his tall frame and soldierly bearing, Richard seemed the ideal English king.
Two days after his coronation, Richard received bishops’ and barons’ homage. On 15 September at Pipewell he filled four vacant bishoprics: London to Richard Fitz-Nigel, Ely to chancellor William of Longchamp, Winchester to Godfrey de Lucy, and Salisbury to Hubert Walter. Geoffrey’s election to York was confirmed.
Richard’s English policy aimed solely at funding the crusade and securing obedience during his absence. He purged ministers, sheriffs, and officers, selling offices on a scale that outraged older statesmen. Ralf de Glanville was forced to resign and pay a heavy fine; two new chief justiciars, Earl William de Mandeville and Bishop Hugh of Durham, were appointed with five subordinates including the Marshal. The Bishop of London remained treasurer, and the chancellor paid 3,000 pounds for his office. Most sheriffs were removed: the sheriffdoms of Hampshire, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, Staffordshire, and Warwickshire were sold, and Northumberland went to Hugh.
Before his departure, Richard secured Scotland and Wales and bound John with lavish grants. John led an armed force against Rees of South Wales, and other Welsh princes submitted at Worcester. William the Lion came to Canterbury in December; Richard received 10,000 marks and William’s homage, restoring Roxburgh and Berwick and releasing William’s heirs forever from Scottish homage. Richard showered John with honours: the County of Mortain, extensive English lands including Marlborough, Lancaster, the Peak, Bolsover, the Honour of Peverel, Wallingford, Tickhill, Nottingham, the shire of Derby, and the four south-western shires. On 29 August Richard married John to Avice of Gloucester at Marlborough, defying Baldwin’s protest; Baldwin placed the couple’s lands under interdict, but a legate annulled the sentence in November.
Earl William de Mandeville died in Normandy on 14 November, leaving Hugh as sole justiciar. To check his power, Richard placed Longchamp (bishop-elect of Ely) in charge of the Tower of London, making him effectively co-justiciar. Hugh of Puiset, Bishop of Durham and Earl Palatine, was a tall, dignified great-grandson of the Conqueror who had been supreme in the north since York’s 1181 vacancy. Longchamp was diminutive, swarthy, severely lame, the son of a Norman courtier of rumoured servile origin, a stranger to England who spoke no English and expressed contempt for his surroundings. Richard, whose trust in his servants never wavered, made Longchamp his chief adviser.
Richard left England on 11 December; Longchamp was consecrated Bishop of Ely on 31 December and immediately asserted his authority, ejecting Hugh from the Exchequer court, stripping him of Northumberland jurisdiction, and dispossessing Godfrey of Winchester of his sheriffdom, castles, and patrimony. In February 1190 Richard summoned his family to Normandy; Longchamp travelled ahead to justify his actions and was returned as both chief justiciar and chancellor, opening negotiations for a legatine commission.
While Richard and Philip prepared to sail from Messina, Longchamp oversaw a wave of anti-Jewish persecution sparked by a riot at Richard’s coronation. Massacres occurred at Norwich on 6 February, Stamford on 7 March, and St Edmund’s on Palm Sunday. At York, Jews took refuge in a castle tower; when their ransom was rejected, they killed their wives and children on 16 March, threw the bodies over the battlements, and set the tower ablaze, killing nearly 500. Citizens and soldiers sacked Jewish homes and destroyed usurers’ bonds. In late April Longchamp deposed the castellan and sheriff, fined the city, and seized the estates of complicit knights.
Hugh was sent back as justiciar for lands north of the Humber. At Blyth, Hugh produced his commission; Longchamp proposed Tickhill as a meeting place, arrived first, and locked Hugh’s followers out, then presented Richard’s 6 June letter ordering all to obey the chancellor. Longchamp declared Hugh would not quit until he had given hostages for his castles. Hugh was dragged to London before yielding, forfeiting Windsor, Newcastle, Northumberland, and Sadberge, retaining only his bishopric. Stopped at Howden on Longchamp’s orders and threatened with detention, he posted security and complained to the king, securing only Sadberge’s restoration.
Even with Hugh subdued, Longchamp faced significant threats: Richard’s grants had placed 10 shires beyond royal control. Longchamp had reasserted royal authority in Northumberland and Hampshire; the primate secured Coventry’s cession of two midland sheriffdoms, but four south-western shires, one midland shire, and a string of honours remained under John’s control, who ruled as a semi-independent power. Barred by an 1189 oath from England for three years, John had governed via ministers Roger de Planes, Stephen Ridel, William de Kahaines, and Theobald Walter. Before Richard’s final departure, Eleanor secured John’s release, confirmed by Longchamp’s absolution. John crossed to England and set up a semi-regal court.
Archbishop Baldwin died at Acre in November 1190, ending Longchamp’s legatine commission; Richard’s subsequent nomination of William of Monreale to Canterbury astonished everyone.
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