Richard The Lionheart Never Taken Prisoner

[ChrisNuttall]

Historically, Richard was taken prisoner during his return from the Crusades and held in captivity until a huge ransom was paid. This gave the enemies of his empire a chance to take advantage of his absence, weakening the fabric holding the empire together and ensuring it would collapse under King John. What if he’d never been taken prisoner?

The economy would be stronger, of course, as the ransom wouldn’t be paid, but the political implications would be far more interesting. John would never have his chance to really betray Richard by trying to ensure he stayed in captivity, perhaps allowing the brothers to be closer than OTL. Richard would certainly be able to act earlier to stabilise the empire, perhaps saving his holdings in France from the French or even living long enough to sire a proper heir and put John out of the line of succession. If nothing else, his death will take place at a very different time.

 

[GBW]

Historically, Richard was taken prisoner during his return from the Crusades and held in captivity until a huge ransom was paid. This gave the enemies of his empire a chance to take advantage of his absence, weakening the fabric holding the empire together and ensuring it would collapse under King John. What if he’d never been taken prisoner?

The economy would be stronger, of course, as the ransom wouldn’t be paid, but the political implications would be far more interesting. John would never have his chance to really betray Richard by trying to ensure he stayed in captivity, perhaps allowing the brothers to be closer than OTL. Richard would certainly be able to act earlier to stabilise the empire, perhaps saving his holdings in France from the French or even living long enough to sire a proper heir and put John out of the line of succession. If nothing else, his death will take place at a very different time.

John was always looking for a chance to betray Richard, from my understanding. He wasn't very reliable - which Richard knew as he made numerous concessions to try and keep his younger brother loyal while he was away on the Third Crusade - and wasn't the best at diplomacy or governance. Richard himself was almost always at war, either in France or further afield. Given Richard and John's characters, it's almost a certainty that Richard will continue warring in France putting down revolts and campaigning against the French King, and John will take the opportunity at some point to try and seize the throne or support someone else he sees as a better option. Richard will ultimately defeat John, try to forgive him (as he was prone to do, as he did in OTL for John and the crossbowman that actually killed him) and John may end up in an 'accident' at the hands of Mercadier, the Occitan mercenary that was Richard's right hand after his return from the Holy Land, and who ended up flaying and killing the crossbowman that shot Richard and whom Richard pardoned in OTL.

That would remove John as an impediment once and for all, and Richard may stop warring long enough to beget an heir with Berengaria, the woman he married in Cyprus and the first-born daughter of King Sancho VI of Navarre. Still, the economy may be drained just as much from Richard's military campaigns as it was by the ransom, and beyond that Richard's luck is going to run out at some point, and he's likely going to die on a battlefield, or at an assassin's hands. I doubt any heir with Berengaria will be of age at that point, and that will open up a whole new batch of trouble.

 

[Geordie]

Here is a very silly suggestion for what might happen with a slightly different death date of Richard. I originally wrote it in 2016, in the old country.