Leader of an English expedition to the Holy Land in 1240-1241 in the wake of that of Thibaud IV of Champagne; later titular king of the Romans (1257-1272).
The second son of King John of England, Richard was named after his illustrious crusading uncle, King Richard I, the Lionheart. He was created earl of Cornwall by his older brother, King Henry III, in 1227.
Richard’s crusade took place in the context of the political situation in England, which had been disturbed by the revolt of Richard Marshal in 1233. Richard took the cross in 1236 alongside Gilbert Marshal, in order to seal a reconciliatory alliance with the Marshal family, also marrying Gilbert’s sister Eleanor. The crusade aimed to coincide with the end in 1239 of a ten-year truce with Egypt. Pope Gregory IX granted Richard the use of money raised from vows that had been redeeemed by cash payments and from legacies intended for the aid of the Holy Land. This grant was unprecedented, a significant moment in the evolution of crusade finances, as redemptions had previously been granted to individual crusaders, not to a commander.
The proposed English crusade was nearly blown off course by papal politics, and in particular the conflict between Richard’s brother-in-law, Emperor Frederick II, and Pope Gregory IX. Fearing that Richard’s presence in Outremer would further the ambitions of Frederick II (whose son Conrad IV was titular king of Jerusalem) in the East, Gregory attempted to block Richard’s departure, or at least to direct his crusade to the defense of the Latin states in Greece or of papal interests in Italy. However, in an oath taken at Northampton in November 1239, the English barons swore not to be turned aside from Outremer. Ironically, Frederick was scarcely more enthusiastic to see English or French armies intervening in “his” kingdom of Jerusalem, but Richard and the emperor grew closer diplomatically after the former’s departure, and Richard seems to have been granted a measure of authority to act in Frederick’s name in the East.
Richard’s presence in the East was characterized by diplomacy and construction rather than battle. The defeat of Thibaud IV of Champagne by the Egyptian Ayyubids at Gaza (1239) and internal dissension within the kingdom of Jerusalem made any offensive by the crusaders impossible. Richard contented himself with assisting in the reconstruction of the fortifications at Ascalon (mod. Tel Ashqelon, Israel) and concluding a treaty with Sultan al-Salih Ayyub of Egypt confirming the Christian possession of Jerusalem. The impression of Richard’s diplomatic achievements was exaggerated by his own skillful propaganda, as well as by his achievement in securing the release of French prisoners taken at Gaza. In reality, his efforts could be seen as undermining those of Thibaud before him, who had sensibly negotiated with the Ayyubid sultan of Damascus, al-Salih Isma‘il. Although junior to al-Salih of Egypt, only the Damascene sultan was realistically able to dispose of territory in Palestine.
Richard never returned to the East, but his involvement in crusading and his relations with Frederick II may explain his later involvement in affairs overseas. He repeatedly turned down papal offers of the crown of Sicily between 1247 and 1254, but assumed the title of king of the Romans in 1257, in an ambitious attempt to make himself Holy Roman Emperor. He met Pope Innocent III at Lyons in 1250, as part of negotiations concerning Henry III’s proposed crusade, which was later subsumed in papal plans for Henry to intervene in Sicily. Richard later played an important role as advisor to his nephew Edward (the future King Edward I) in the latter’s crusade of 1270-1272.
-Michael R. Evans
Bibliography
Denholm-Young, Noel, Richard of Cornwall (Oxford:
Blackwell, 1947).
Lloyd, Simon, English Society and the Crusades (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1988).
Tyerman, Christopher, England and the Crusades (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988).
Weiler, Bjorn, “Image and Reality in Richard of Cornwall’s German Career,” English Historical Review 113 (1998), 1111-1142.
World History
