. the arts, all features of the medieval "renaissance" which was gathering steam in his lifetime, and with which his mother was conspicuously associated. He was a capable student of military engineering He built at Chateau Gaillard one of the finest castles of the Middle Ages (to no purpose, as it was soon lost under King John).3 No nonmilitary buildings are credited to him, however.
Nor did Richard's "professional" interests as a ruler extend past the military. His father, Henry II, was a capable administrator who did much to restore the government of England after the long civil war between King Stephen and Henry's father Matilda. Richard did appoint the capable William Longchamp as Chancellor of England, charged with the task of raising funds for Richard's wars.4 But he made no administrative innovations, and also appointed as his regent none other than Prince John.
Thus, for all his splendid popular reputation, historians have tended to regard him as one of the worst Kings of England in the Middle Ages, a man
...