d capable general, who won the respect of his enemies Muslim and Christian (and he fought Christians more often than he fought Muslims). He could at times be magnanimous. He is said to have ordered the crossbowman who dealt him the wound from which he died to be brought before him on his deathbed. He forgave the man and ordered him released. (After his death, however, the unfortunate man was flayed alive.)
On the other hand, after the fall of Acre Richard ordered as many as four thousand Muslim prisoners of war, who had surrendered on honorable terms, to be massacred in cold blood. For generations afterwards, Muslims in Syria mentioned his name with fear, a popular reputation in striking contrast to the enduring reputation of Saladin among his Christian enemies.
Nor did Richard the Lion Hearted participate in any substantial way in the more softening and civilizing features of chivalric life. His mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, was one of the principal creaters of the cult of courtly love, which sought to elevate plain old soldierly lust into a knight's quasi worship of his lady. Richard, in contrast, was probably indifferent at best to women. The contemporary view is that he was probably a homosexual, and while our categories and assumptions regarding sexual preference are not those of his own time, but it is conspicuous that his name was never associated with that of any women other than his mother and a fiancee and wife with whom he was associated for political reasons. His wife Berengaria was a Queen of England who never even visited that country, and she had no children by him. Nor, in an age when such things were a commonplace, did he have any known illegitimate children.
He did evidently enjoy decorating his chapel, much loved music, and left behind him two estimable examples of his poetry. The chief sign of his intellect, however, was his deep mastery of siege craft and military engineering...