[Artemisia] Richard the Lionheart

[Tamar Black Sea]

Hi Ryryd,

Awww shucks! I was a history major and one of the things our professors 
constantly reminded us about was that we cannot apply modern values to 
the motives and rationale of people in the past.

But part of me just can't help but be frustrated at the thought of the 
opportunity cost of all that ransom flowing out of the coffers. I guess 
medieval people just didn't see it in those terms.

Come to think of it, I keep defaulting to an assumption of some sort of 
representative government where the populace knows and cares about how 
their "tax dollars" are put to use!!!

If I were a Yankee in King Arthur's (or King Richard's or John's) court, 
I would probably have been be-headed in short order.

Thanks for your insight.

YIS,
Tamar



rcfaevans at comcast.net wrote:
> The accountant in me is sputtering in frustration, "but, but, but didn't 
>   
>> they get tired of having to pay several king's ransoms to bail Richard 
>> out of jail?" 
>>     
>
> Another 21st Century concept.  The King at that time had to run the ENTIRE GOVERMENT out of his own pocket!  The taxes levied were the normal fealty and land taxes any Lord levied.  This was one of the reasons fealty was so important.  The ransoms were paid out of the King's own coffers!!!
>
> Ryryd
>
> -------------- Original message -------------- 
> From: Tamar Black Sea <tamar at coteduciel.org> 
>
>   
>> The accountant in me is sputtering in frustration, "but, but, but didn't 
>> they get tired of having to pay several king's ransoms to bail Richard 
>> out of jail?" 
>>
>> Didn't they notice that he could win a battle but never a war? 
>>
>> Doesn't somebody want the king to be around to actually 
>> do the job once in a while? 
>>
>> My modern sensibilities are reeling :-) 
>>
>> Oh...and one last thought. I would guess that the medieval concept of 
>> "gay" and "straight" might have been very different from our modern 
>> notion. Wouldn't that have at least partly explained why the fact that 
>> Richard was gay was ignored. Additionally, he would hardly have been the 
>> only king who didn't know, didn't like, and didn't spend much time with 
>> his wife. 
>>
>> Thank you Morgan for your very well informed response. One of my 
>> daughters is cheering. 
>>
>> YIS, 
>> Tamar 
>>
>> morgan wolf wrote: 
>>     
>>> I believe (and I should say that this time frame and the particular "title" 
>>>       
>> I'm about to bring up were my areas of focus during my pursuit of a history 
>> degree) that Richard was so incredibly popular because he was considered "the 
>> Greatest Soldier in Christendom", a quasi-title that was, in a way, passed on 
>> for several generations, usually to the man who utterly defeated the previous 
>> "Greatest Soldier". Richard was considered fearless in battle, demonstrated a 
>> mastery of both strategy and tactics, and in a time when martial prowess 
>> basically defined a man, stated and proved again and again that he would rather 
>> be at war than at peace. A large part of his popularity with the English 
>> nobility was his absenteeism- he was only in England about 4 times during his 
>> entire life (he hated the island). An equally large part, if not larger, of the 
>> reason that John was so unpopular with the nobles was his presence in, and 
>> desire to actually rule, England. 
>>     
>>> Richard was such a feared and respected military figure that the fact that he 
>>>       
>> was gay was completely ignored, except for the matter of the succession. 
>>     
>>> Morgan, sometime military and medieval history scholar 
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message ---- 
>>> From: Tamar Black Sea 
>>> To: Kingdom of Artemisia mailing list 
>>> Sent: Monday, May 7, 2007 10:36:23 AM 
>>> Subject: [Artemisia] Richard the Lionheart 
>>>
>>>
>>> Greetings Everyone, 
>>>
>>> My two daughters are homeschooled and are doing a unit on the Crusades 
>>> and Richard the Lionheart. There is an essay portion with-in each unit 
>>> and one of the questions was a deceptively simple little question about 
>>> Richard the Lionheart's legacy in English history. I thought we could 
>>> whip out an answer in 10 minutes. I was wrong. Days later, we find 
>>> ourselves still discussing the question. 
>>>
>>> I would love to hear in-put from anyone out there who has an interest in 
>>> this subject. The question was: 
>>>
>>> "Why do you think Richard the Lionheart has always been so popular when 
>>> he accomplished so little?" 
>>>
>>> Any thoughts? 
>>>
>>> YIS, 
>>> Tamar 
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>>>       
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>>     
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