Jaffa (, ; , ; ''}}; ; also Japho, Joppa as transliteration from the Greek "Ιόππη") is an ancient port city believed to be one of the oldest in the world. Jaffa has been incorporated with Tel Aviv creating the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel.

Etymology

The name of the city is supposedly mentioned in Egyptian sources and the Amarna Letters as ''Yapu''. There are several legends about the origin of the name ''Jaffa''. Some say it is named for Japheth, one of the sons of Noah, who built it after the Great Flood. The Hellenist tradition links the name to "Iopeia", which is Cassiopeia, the mother of Andromeda. An outcropping of rocks near the harbor is reputed to have been the place from which Andromeda was rescued by Perseus. Pliny the Elder associates the name with Jopa, the daughter of Aeolus, god of wind. The Arab geographer Al-Muqaddasi mentions it under the name Yaffa, which is used by Arabic speakers today.

History

Antiquity

''Tel Yafo'' (Jaffa Hill) rises to a height of 40 meters (130 ft) and offers a commanding view of the coastline; hence its strategic importance in military history. The accumulation of debris and landfill over the centuries made the hill even higher. Archaeological evidence shows that Jaffa was inhabited some 7,500 years BCE. Jaffa's natural harbor has been in use since the Bronze Age. Jaffa is mentioned in an Ancient Egyptian letter from 1440 BCE, glorifying its conquest by Pharaoh Thutmose III, whose general, Djehuty hid armed Egyptian warriors in large baskets and sent the baskets as a present to the Canaanite city's governor. The city is also mentioned in the Amarna letters under its Egyptian name ''Ya-Pho'', ('' Ya-Pu, EA 296, l.33''). The city was under Egyptian rule until around 800 BCE.

Jaffa is mentioned four times in the Hebrew Bible, as one of the cities given to the Hebrew Tribe of Dan (Book of Joshua 19:46), as port-of-entry for the cedars of Lebanon for Solomon's Temple (2 Chronicles 2:15), as the place whence the prophet Jonah embarked for Tarshish (Book of Jonah 1:3) and as port-of-entry for the cedars of Lebanon for the Second Temple of Jerusalem (Book of Ezra 3:7). Jaffa is mentioned in the Book of Joshua as the territorial border of the Tribe of Dan, hence the nowadays term "Gush Dan", used for the center of the coastal plain. Many descendants of Dan lived along the coast and earned their living from shipmaking and sailing. In the "Song of Deborah" the prophetess asks: "דן למה יגור אוניות": "Why doth Dan dwell in ships?"

After the Canaanite and Philistean domination, King David and his son King Solomon conquered Jaffa and used its port to bring the cedars used in the construction of the First Temple from Tyre. The city remained often in Jewish hands even after the split of the Kingdom of Israel. In 701 BCE, in the days of King Hezekiah (חזקיהו), Sennacherib, king of Assyria, invaded the region from Jaffa.

After a period of Babylonian occupation, under Persian rule, Jaffa was governed by Phoenicians from Tyre. Then it knew the presence of Alexander the Great's troops and later became a Seleucid Hellenized port until it was taken over by the Maccabean rebels (1 Maccabees x.76, xiv.5) and the refounded Jewish kingdom. During the Roman repression of the Jewish Revolt, Jaffa was captured and burned by Cestius Gallus. The Roman Jewish historian Josephus (Jewish War 2.507-509, 3:414-426) writes that 8,400 inhabitants were massacred. Pirates operating from the rebuilt port incurred the wrath of Vespasian, who razed the city and erected a citadel in its place, installing a Roman garrison there.

The New Testament account of St. Peter's resurrection of the widow Tabitha (Dorcas, ''Gr.'') written in Acts takes place in Jaffa. Acts relates that while Peter was in Jaffa, he had a vision of a large sheet filled with "clean" and "unclean" animals being lowered from heaven, which he interpreted as a signal to accompany messengers from Cornelius to Caesaria.

Rabbinical Period

In ''Midrash Tanna'im'' in its chapter Deuteronomy 33:19 reference is made to Rav Yosi (2nd century) travelling through Jaffa. Jaffa seems to have attracted serious scholars in the 4th and 5th century. The ''Jerusalem Talmud'' (compiled 4th and 5th century)in ''Moed Ketan'' references Rav Acha of Jaffa; and in ''Pesachim'' chapter 1 refers to Rav Phineas of Jaffa. The Babylonian Talmud(compiled 5th century) in ''Megillah'' 16b mentions Rav Adda Demin of Jaffa. ''Leviticus Rabbah'' (compiled between 5th and 7th century) mentions Rav Nachman of Jaffa. The ''Pesikta Rabbati'' (written in the 9th century) in chapter 17 mentions R. Tanchum of Jaffa.

Medieval Period

A fairly unimportant Roman and Byzantine locality during the first centuries of Christianity, Jaffa did not have a bishop until the fifth century AD. In 636 Jaffa was conquered by Arabs. Under Islamic rule, it served as a port of Ramla, then the provincial capital. Jaffa was captured in 1100 after the First Crusade, and was the centre of the County of Jaffa and Ascalon, one of the vassals of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. One of its counts, John of Ibelin, wrote the principal book of the Assizes of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. During the period of the Crusades, the Jewish traveller Benjamin of Tudela (1170) sojourned at Jaffa, and found there just one Jew, a dyer by trade. Saladin conquered Jaffa in 1187. The city surrendered to King Richard the Lionheart on September 10, 1191, three days after the Battle of Arsuf. Despite efforts by Saladin to reoccupy the city in July 1192 (see Battle of Jaffa) the city remained in the hands of the Crusaders. On September 2, 1192, the Treaty of Jaffa was formally signed, guaranteeing a three-year truce between the two armies. In 1268, Jaffa was conquered by Egyptian Mamluks, led by Baibars. In the 14th century, the city was completely destroyed for fear of new crusades. According to the traveler Cotwyk, Jaffa was a heap of ruins at the end of the 16th century.

Ottoman period

In 1515 Jaffa was conquered by the Ottoman Sultan Salim I. The seventeenth century saw the beginning of the re-establishment of churches and hostels for Christian pilgrims en route to Jerusalem and the Galilee. During the eighteenth century the coastline around Jaffa was regularly besieged by pirates and this led to the inhabitants relocating to Ramleh and Lydd where they relied on messages from a solitary guard house to inform them when ships were approaching the harbour. The landing of goods and passengers was notoriously difficult and dangerous. Until well into the twentieth century, ships had to rely on teams of oarsmen to bring their cargo ashore.

On March 7, 1799 Napoleon I of France captured the town in what became known as the Siege of Jaffa, ransacked it, and killed scores of local inhabitants. Napoleon ordered the massacre of thousands of Muslim soldiers who were imprisoned having surrendered to the French. Napoleon's deputy commissioner of war Moit described it thus: : "On 10 March 1799 in the afternoon, the prisoners of Jaffa were marched off in the midst of a vast square phalanx formed by the troops of General Bon... The Turks, walking along in total disorder, had already guessed their fate and appeared not even to shed any tears...When they finally arrived in the sand dunes to the south-west of Jaffa, they were ordered to halt beside a pool of yellowish water. The officer commanding the troops then divided the mass of prisoners into small groups, who were led off to several different points and shot... Finally, of all the prisoners there only remained those who were beside the pool of water. Our soldiers had used up their cartridges, so there was nothing to be done but to dispatch them with bayonets and knives. ... The result...was a terrible pyramid of dead and dying bodies dripping blood and the bodies of those already dead had to be pulled away so as to finish off those unfortunate beings who, concealed under this awful and terrible wall of bodies, had not yet been struck down."

Many more died in an epidemic of bubonic plague that broke out soon afterwards. The governor who was appointed after these devastating events, Muhammad Abu-Nabbut, commenced wide-ranging building and restoration work in Jaffa, including the Mahmoudiya Mosque and Sabil Abu Nabbut. During the 1834 Arab revolt in Palestine, Jaffa was besieged for forty days by "mountaineers" in revolt against Ibrahim Pasha.

Residential life in the city was reestablished in the early nineteenth century. In 1820 Isaiah Ajiman of Istanbul built a synagogue and hostel for the accommodation of Jews on their way to the holy cities of Jerusalem, Hebron, Tiberias and Safed. This area became known as Dar al-Yehud (Arabic for the house of the Jew); and was the basis of the Jewish community in Jaffa. The appointment of Mahmud Aja as Ottoman governor marked the beginning of a period of stability and growth for the city, interrupted by the 1832 conquest of the city by Muhammed Ali of Egypt.

By 1839 at least 153 Sephardi Jews were living in Jaffa. The community was served for fifty years by Rabbi Yehuda Menachem HaLevi from Ragusa. Shortly after Ashkenazi Jews joined them from Europe.

The city's growth resumed after the 1842 return of the Levant to Ottoman rule, courtesy of the combined efforts of the British and French navies. The city walls were dismantled in 1872. American missionary Ellen Clare Miller, visiting Jaffa in 1867, reported that the town had a population of 'about 5000, 1000 of these being Christians, 800 Jews and the rest Moslems.'

By the beginning of the twentieth century, the population of Jaffa had swelled considerably. A group of Jews left Jaffa for the sand dunes to the north, where in 1909 they held a lottery to divide the lots acquired earlier. The settlement was known at first as Ahuzat Bayit (Hebrew: אחוזת בית), but an assembly of its residents changed its name to Tel Aviv on 21 May 1910. Other Jewish suburbs to Jaffa were founded at about the same time. In 1904, Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook (1864–1935) moved to Palestine and took up the position of chief rabbi of Jaffa. In 1917, the Ottoman authorities expelled the entire civilian population. While the Muslim evacuees were allowed to return before long, the Jewish evacuees remained in camps (and some in Egypt) until after the British conquest.

Under the British Mandate

During 1917–1920, there were thousands of Jewish residents in Jaffa. A wave of Arab attacks during 1920 and 1921 caused many Jewish residents to flee and resettle in Tel Aviv. The Jaffa riots in 1921, (known in Hebrew as ''Meoraot Tarpa'') began with a May Day parade that turned violent. Arab rioters attacked Jewish residents and buildings. The Hebrew author Yosef Haim Brenner was killed in the riots.At the end of 1922, Jaffa had 32,000 residents and Tel Aviv, 15,000. By 1927, the population of Tel Aviv was up to 38,000. The Jews of Jaffa lived on the outskirts of Jaffa, close to Tel Aviv, whereas the old city was predominantly Arab.

The 1936-1939 Arab revolt in Palestine, also known as the Great Arab uprising, inflicted great economic and infrastructural damage on Jaffa. On April 19, 1936, the Arab leadership of Palestine declared a general strike which paralyzed the economy. The strike began in the Port of Jaffa, which had become a symbol of Arab resistance. Military reinforcements were brought in from Malta and Egypt to subdue the rioting which spread throughout the country. Jaffa's old city, with its maze of homes, winding alleyways and underground sewer system, provided an ideal escape route for the rioters fleeing the British army. In May, municipal services were cut off, the old city was barricaded, and access roads were covered with glass shards and nails. In June, British bombers dropped boxes of leaflets in Arabic requesting the inhabitants to evacuate that same day. On the evening of June 17, 1936, 1,500 British soldiers entered Jaffa and a British warship sealed off escape routes by sea. The British Royal Engineers blew up homes from east to west, leaving an open strip that cut through the heart of the city from end to end. On June 29, security forces implemented another stage of the plan, carving a swath from north to south. The mandatory authorities claimed the operation was part of a "facelift" of the old city.

In 1945, Jaffa had a population of 101,580, of whom 53,930 were Muslims, 30,820 were Jews and 16,800 were Christians. The Christians were mostly Greek Orthodox and about one sixth of them were Greek-Catholic. One of the most prominent members of the Arab Christian community was the Arab Orthodox publisher of ''Filastin'', Issa Daoud El-Issa.

1947 UN Partition Plan and 1948 War

In 1947, the UN Special Commission on Palestine recommended that Jaffa be included in the planned Jewish state. Due to the large Arab majority, however, it was instead designated as part of the Arab state in the 1947 UN Partition Plan.

Following the inter-communal violence which broke out following the passing of the UN partition resolution the mayors of Jaffa and Tel Aviv tried to calm their communities. One of the main concerns for the people of Jaffa was the protection of the citrus fruit export trade which had still not reached its pre-Second World War highs. In February Jaffa's Mayor, Yussuf Haykal, contacted David Ben-Gurion through a British intermediary trying to secure a peace agreement with Tel Aviv. But both Ben Gurion's Haganah and the commander of the militia in Jaffa were opposed.

At the beginning of 1948 Jaffa's defenders consisted of one Brigade of around 400 men organised by the Muslim Brotherhood. On 4 January 1948 the Lehi detonated a truck bomb outside the 3-storey 'Serrani', Jaffa's Ottoman built Town Hall, killing 26 and injuring hundreds. The driver was reported to be wearing the uniform of the Royal Irish Fusiliers.

On April 25, 1948, Irgun launched an offensive on Jaffa. This began with a mortar bombardment which went on for three days during which twenty tons of high explosive were fired into the town. On April 27 the British Government, fearing a repetition of the mass exodus from Haifa the week before, ordered the British Army to confront the Irgun and their offensive ended. Simultaneously the Haganah had launched Operation Chametz which over-ran the villages East of Jaffa and cut the town off from the interior.

The population of Jaffa on the eve of the attack was between 50,000 - 60,000, with some 20,000 people having already left the town. 'Then a strange phenomenon was revealed before our eyes: the mass flight from Jaffa. Arab civilians and a variety of "Arab" fighters suddenly began to leave the town in panic'. By 30 April there were 15,000 - 25,000 remaining. In the following days a further 10,000 - 20,000 people fled by sea. When the Haganah took control of the town on May 14 around 4,000 people were left. The town and harbour's warehouses were extensively looted. The remaining Arab residents were forced into the Ajami neighborhood, surrounded by barbed wire, where martial law was in effect for a year.

Initially, the mayor of Jaffa, Yousef Heikal, told the residents not to leave. He left the country for three days. Upon his return, he reported that Jaffa would soon be occupied by the Jews and he was leaving with his family. According to an old-time resident, "People then started to leave by ships and trains. All the routes to the Arab countries were opened, and people could leave for free. The Arab countries were responsible. After a week there was nothing left but cats and dogs. We few families who stayed went to live in the orange groves."

Boundary demarcation of Tel Aviv-Jaffa

The boundaries of Tel Aviv and Jaffa became a matter of contention between the Tel Aviv municipality and the Israeli government during 1948. The former wished to incorporate only the northern Jewish suburbs of Jaffa, while the latter wanted a more complete unification. The issue also had international sensitivity, since the main part of Jaffa was in the Arab portion of the United Nations Partition Plan, whereas Tel Aviv was not, and no armistice agreements had yet been signed. On 10 December 1948, the government announced the annexation to Tel Aviv of Jaffa's Jewish suburbs, the Arab neighborhood of Abu Kabir, the Arab village of Salama and some of its agricultural land, and the Jewish 'Hatikva' slum. On 25 February 1949, the abandoned Arab village of Sheikh Muanis was also annexed to Tel Aviv. On 18 May 1949, the Arab neighborhood of Manshiya and part of Jaffa's central zone were added, for the first time including land that had been in the Arab portion of the UN partition plan. The government decided on a permanent unification of Tel Aviv and Jaffa on 4 October 1949, but the actual unification was delayed until 24 April 1950 due to concerted opposition from Tel Aviv's mayor Israel Rokach. The name of the unified city was Tel Aviv until 19 August 1950, when it was renamed as Tel Aviv-Yafo in order to preserve the historical name Jaffa.

Economy

In the 19th century, Jaffa was best known for its soap industry. Modern industry emerged in the late 1880s. The most successful enterprises were metalworking factories, among them the machine shop run by the Templers that employed over 100 workers in 1910. Other factories produced orange-crates, barrels, corks, noodles, ice, seltzer, candy, soap, olive oil, leather, alkali, wine, cosmetics and ink. Most of the newspapers and books printed in Palestine were published in Jaffa.

In 1859, a Jewish visitor, Dr L.A. Frankl, found sixty-five Jewish families living in Jaffa, 'about 400 soul in all.' Of these four were shoemakers, three tailors, one silversmith and one watchmaker. There were also merchants and shopkeepers and 'many live by manual labour, porters, sailors, messengers, etc.'

Until the mid-19th century, Jaffa's orange groves were mainly owned by Arabs, who employed traditional methods of farming. The pioneers of modern agriculture in Jaffa were American settlers, who brought in farm machinery in the 1850s and 1860s, followed by the Templers and the Jews. From the 1880s, real estate became an important branch of the economy. A 'biarah' (a watered garden) cost 100,000 piastres and annually produced 15,000, of which the farming costs were 5,000: 'A very fair percentage return on the investment.' Water for the gardens was easily accessible with wells between ten and forty feet deep. Jaffa's citrus industry began to flourish in the last quarter of the 19th century. E.C. Miller records that 'about ten million' oranges were being exported annually, and that the town was surrounded by 'three or four hundred orange gardens, each containing upwards of one thousand trees'. Shamuti oranges were the major crop, but citrons, lemons and mandarin oranges were also grown. Jaffa had a reputation for producing the best pomegranates.

Demography

Modern Jaffa has a heterogeneous population of Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Jaffa currently has 46,000 residents, of whom 17,000 are Arab citizens of Israel. The majority of the Arab population lives in the renewed southwestern neighborhood of Ajami.

Socioeconomic and political problems

Jaffa suffers from drug problems, high crime rates and violence. Some Arab residents have alleged that the Israeli authorities are attempting to Judaize Jaffa by evicting Arab residents from houses owned by the Amidar government-operated public housing company. Amidar representatives say the residents are illegal squatters. The 2010 film ''Port of Memory'' explores these themes, following the lives of Palestinians inhabiting the area, staving off expulsion. The Tel Aviv municipality had been accused of trying to erase the city's Arab past. In the early 1950s, many Arabic street names were replaced by Hebrew names.

Mosques

Al-Bahr Mosque, overlooking the harbor, is depicted in a painting from 1675 by the Dutch painter Lebrun. It may be Jaffa's oldest existing mosque, although the original date of construction is unknown and changes to the structure have been made since then, such as the addition of a second floor and reconstruction of the upper part of the minaret. It was used by fishermen and sailors frequenting the port, and residents of the surrounding area. According to local legend, the wives of sailors living in Jaffa prayed there for the safe return of their husbands. The mosque was renovated in 1997.

Mahmoudia Mosque was built in 1812 by Abu Nabbut, governor of Jaffa from 1810-1820. Outside the mosque is a water fountain (''sabil'') for pilgrims. Nouzha Mosque on Jerusalem Boulevard is Jaffa's main mosque today.

Urban development

From the 1990s onwards, efforts have been made to restore Arab and Islamic landmarks, such as the Mosque of the Sea and Hassan Bek Mosque, and document the history of Jaffa's Arab population. Parts of the Old City have been renovated, turning Jaffa into a tourist attraction featuring old restored buildings, art galleries, theaters, souvenir shops, restaurants, sidewalk cafes and promenades. Beyond the Old City and tourist sites, many neighborhoods of Jaffa are poor and underdeveloped. However, real-estate prices have risen sharply due to gentrification projects in al-Ajami and Lev Yafo. The municipality of Tel Aviv-Jaffa is currently working to beautify and modernize the port area.

Landmarks

The ''Clock Square'' with its distinctive clocktower was built in 1906 in honor of Sultan Abdul Hamid II. The ''Saraya'' (governor's palace) was built in the 1890s. St. Peter's Church is a Franciscan church and hospice built in the 19th century on the remains of a Crusaders fortress; Napoleon is believed to have stayed there. ''St. Michael's Church'', restored in 1994, serves Romanian Christians. '' St. Tabitha chapel'' serves the Russian Christian community, with services in Russian and Hebrew. ''St. Peter's Church'' was built in 1895 on the site of St. Peter's resurrection of Tabitha. Inside the monastery is the site of the house where St. Tabitha lived with her family. Immanuel Church, built 1904, serves today a Lutheran congregation with services in English and Hebrew. ''Andromeda rock'' is the rock to which beautiful Andromeda was chained in Greek mythology. The ''Zodiac alleys'' are a maze of restored alleys leading to the harbor. ''Jaffa Hill'' is a center for archaeological finds, including restored Egyptian gates, about 3,500 years old. The Libyan Synagogue'(''Beit Zunana'') was a synagogue built by a Jewish landlord, Zunana, in the 18th century. It was turned into a hotel and then a soap factory, and reopened as a synagogue for Libyan Jewish immigrants after 1948. In 1995, it became a museum. ''Jaffa Lighthouse'' is an inactive lighthouse located in the old port.

Jaffa Museum

The Jaffa Museum is located in an 18th century Ottoman building constructed on the remains of a Crusader fortress. In 1811, Abu Nabout turned it into his seat of government. In the late 19th century, the governmental moved to the "New Saraya," and the building was sold to a wealthy Greek-Orthodox family who established a soap factory there. Since the 1960s, it has housed an archaeological museum.

Archaeology

Excavations on Rabbi Pinchas Street in the flea market have revealed walls and water conduits dating to the Iron Age, Hellenistic period, early Islamic period, Crusader period and Ottoman era. A limestone slab () engraved with a menorah discovered on Tanchum Street is believed to be the door of a tomb.

Transportation

Jaffa is served by the Dan Bus Company, which operates buses to various neighborhoods of Tel Aviv and Bat Yam. The Red Line of the planned Tel Aviv Light Rail will cross Jaffa north to south along Jerusalem Boulevard. Jaffa Railway Station was the first railway station in the Middle East. It served as the terminus for the Jaffa–Jerusalem railway. The station opened in 1891 and closed in 1948. In 2005-2009, the station was restored and converted into an entertainment and leisure venue.

Film

''Clash of the Titans (1981 film)'' is set in ancient Joppa. The 2009 Oscar-nominated film ''Ajami'' is set in modern Jaffa.

Notable residents

Asma Agbarieh, journalist

Yosef Eliyahu Chelouche, early founder of Tel Aviv

Joseph Constant, sculptor and writer

Ismail al-Faruqi, philosopher

Lea Gottlieb, Gottex fashion designer

Victor Norris Hamilton, cryptologist

J. E. Hanauer, author and photographer

Yizhar Harari, politician

Nadia Hilou, politician

Raja El-Issa, journalist

Michel Loève, mathematician

Haim Ramon, politician

Sasha Roiz, actor

Yosef Sapir, politician

Rifaat Turk, football player and manager, and deputy mayor of Tel Aviv

See also

Jaffa Harbor

Jonah

County of Jaffa and Ascalon

Bonaparte Visiting the Plague-Victims of Jaffa

References

Bibliography

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"Jaffa - Bride of the Sea" or "Yaffo - Kalat Hayam" 2000, By Israeli artist Natali Lipin (views of the city Old Jaffa). Language - Hebrew/English.

External links

The Old Jaffa Development Corporation

The Jaffa Cultural Heritage Project

Jaffa Old City Photos in Cafetorah.com

Telaviv-Jaffa in Cafetorah.com

Arab Jaffa seized before Israel's creation in 1948. ''Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.''

Jewish Encyclopedia: Jaffa

Schaalje, Jacqueline. "Jaffa", ''The Jewish Magazine'', May 2001.

Travel photos of Old Jaffa and its port

World Cities Images. Jaffa

Clock Square Virtual tour at Full HD - No plugin needed

Jaffa Port photo gallery

Jaffa Photos

Category:Archaeological sites in Israel Category:Templer settlements Category:Neighborhoods of Tel Aviv Category:Fertile Crescent Category:Mediterranean port cities and towns in Israel Category:Bronze Age sites Category:Iron Age sites

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type	monarch
name	Richard the Lionheart
succession	King of England
moretext	(more..)
reign	6 July 1189 – 6 April 1199
coronation	3 September 1189
predecessor	Henry II
regent	Eleanor of Aquitaine; William Longchamp ''(Third Crusade)''
successor	John
spouse	Berengaria of Navarre
issue	Philip of Cognac
house	House of Plantagenet
father	Henry II of England
mother	Eleanor of Aquitaine
birth date	September 08, 1157
birth place	Beaumont Palace, Oxford
death date	April 06, 1199
death place	Châlus, Limousin
place of burial	Fontevraud Abbey, France }}

Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 6 July 1189 until his death. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Count of Nantes, and Overlord of Brittany at various times during the same period. He was known as , or Richard the Lionheart, even before his accession, because of his reputation as a great military leader and warrior. The Saracens called him ''Melek-Ric'' or ''Malek al-Inkitar'' - King of England.

By the age of sixteen Richard was commanding his own army, putting down rebellions in Poitou against his father, King Henry II.

Although speaking only French and spending very little time in England (he lived in his Duchy of Aquitaine in the southwest of France, preferring to use his kingdom as a source of revenue to support his armies), he was seen as a pious hero by his subjects. He remains one of the very few Kings of England remembered by his epithet, rather than regnal number, and is an enduring, iconic figure in England.

Early life and accession in Aquitaine

Family and youth

Richard was born on 8 September 1157, probably at Beaumont Palace. He was a younger brother of William IX, Count of Poitiers; Henry the Young King; and Matilda, Duchess of Saxony. As the third legitimate son of King Henry II of England, he was not expected to ascend the throne. He was also an elder brother of Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany; Leonora of England, Queen of Castile; Joan of England; and John, Count of Mortain, who succeeded him as king. Richard was the younger maternal half-brother of Marie de Champagne and Alix of France. Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine's oldest son, William IX, Count of Poitiers, died in 1156, before Richard's birth. Richard is often depicted as having been the favourite son of his mother Eleanor of Aquitaine. His father, Henry, was Norman-Angevin and great-grandson of William the Conqueror. The closest English relation in Richard's family tree was Edith, wife of Henry I of England. Contemporary historian Ralph of Diceto traced his family's lineage through Edith to the Anglo-Saxon kings of England and Alfred the Great, and from there linked them to Noah and Woden. According to Angevin legend, there was even infernal blood in the family.

While his father visited his lands from Scotland to France, Richard probably stayed in England. He was wet-nursed by a woman called Hodierna, and when he became king he gave her a generous pension. Little is known about Richard's education. Although born in Oxford, Richard could speak no English; he was an educated man who composed poetry and wrote in Limousin (lenga d'òc) and also in French. He was said to be very attractive; his hair was between red and blond, and he was light-eyed with a pale complexion. He was apparently of above average height, according to Clifford Brewer he was but his remains have been lost since at least the French Revolution, and his exact height is unknown. From an early age he showed significant political and military ability, becoming noted for his chivalry and courage as he fought to control the rebellious nobles of his own territory. His elder brother Henry was crowned king of England during his father's lifetime.

The practice of marriage alliances was common among medieval royalty: it allowed families to stake claims of succession on each other's lands, and led to political alliances and peace treaties. In March 1159 it was arranged that Richard would marry one of the daughters of Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona; however, these arrangements failed, and the marriage never took place. Richard's older brother Henry was married to Margaret, daughter of Louis VII of France and heiress to the French throne, on 2 November 1160. Despite this alliance between the Plantagenets and the Capetians, the dynasty on the French throne, the two houses were sometimes in conflict. In 1168, the intercession of Pope Alexander III was necessary to secure a truce between them. Henry II had conquered Brittany and taken control of Gisors and the Vexin, which had been part of Margaret’s dowry. Early in the 1160s there had been suggestions Richard should marry Alys (Alice), second daughter of Louis VII; because of the rivalry between the kings of England and France, Louis obstructed the marriage. A peace treaty was secured in January 1169 and Richard’s betrothal to Alys was confirmed. Henry II planned to divide his and his wife's territories between their sons, of which there were three at the time; Henry would become King of England and have control of Anjou, Maine, and Normandy, while Richard would inherit Aquitaine from his mother and become Count of Poitiers, and Geoffrey would get Brittany through marriage alliance with Constance, the heiress to the region. At the ceremony where Richard's betrothal was confirmed, he paid homage to the King of France for Aquitaine, thus securing ties of vassalage between the two.

After he fell seriously ill in 1170 Henry II put in place his plan to divide his kingdom, although he would retain overall authority of his sons and their territories. In 1171 Richard left for Aquitaine with his mother and Henry II gave him the duchy of Aquitaine at the request of Eleanor. Richard and his mother embarked on a tour of Aquitaine in 1171 in an attempt to placate the locals. Together they laid the foundation stone of St Augustine's Monastery in Limoges. In June 1172 Richard was formally recognised as the Duke of Aquitaine when he was granted the lance and banner emblems of his office; the ceremony took place in Poitiers and was repeated in Limoges where he wore the ring of St Valerie, who was the personification of Aquitaine.

Revolt against Henry II

According to Ralph of Coggeshall Henry the Young King was the instigator of rebellion against Henry II; he wanted to reign independently over at least part of the territory his father had promised him, and to break away from his dependence on Henry II, who controlled the purse strings. Jean Flori, a historian who specialises in the medieval period, believes that Eleanor manipulated her sons to revolt against their father. Henry the Young King abandoned his father and left for the French court seeking the protection of Louis VII; he was soon followed by his younger brothers, Richard and Geoffrey, while the 5-year-old John remained with Henry II. Louis gave his support to the three sons and even knighted Richard, tying them together through vassalage. The rebellion was described by Jordan Fantosme, a contemporary poet, as a "war without love".

The three brothers made an oath at the French court that they would not make terms with Henry II without the consent of Louis VII and the French barons. With the support of Louis, Henry the Young King attracted the support of many barons through promises of land and money; one such baron was Philip, Count of Flanders, who was promised £1,000 and several castles. The brothers had supporters in England, ready to rise up; led by Robert de Beaumont, 3rd Earl of Leicester, the rebellion in England from Hugh Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk, Hugh de Kevelioc, 5th Earl of Chester, and William I of Scotland. The alliance was initially successful, and by July 1173 they were besieging Aumale, Neuf-Marché, and Verneuil and Hugh de Kevelioc had captured Dol in Brittany. Richard went to Poitou and raised the barons who were loyal to himself and his mother in rebellion against his father. Eleanor was captured, so Richard was left to lead his campaign against Henry II's supporters in Aquitaine on his own. He marched to take La Rochelle, but was rejected by the inhabitants; he withdrew to the city of Saintes which he established as a base of operations.

In the meantime Henry II had raised a very expensive army of over 20,000 mercenaries with which to face the rebellion. He marched on Verneuil, and Louis retreated from his forces. The army proceeded to recapture Dol and subdued Brittany. At this point Henry II made an offer of peace to his sons; on the advice of Louis the offer was refused. Henry II's forces took Saintes by surprise and captured much of its garrison, although Richard was able to escape with a small group of soldiers. He took refuge in Château de Taillebourg for the rest of the war. Henry the Young King and the Count of Flanders planned to land in England to assist the rebellion led by the Earl of Leicester. Anticipating this, Henry II returned to England with 500 soldiers and his prisoners (including Eleanor and his sons' wives and fiancées), but on his arrival found out that the rebellion had already collapsed. William I of Scotland and Hugh Bigod were captured on 13 July and 25 July respectively. Henry II returned to France where he raised the siege of Rouen, where Louis VII had been joined by Henry the Young King after he had abandoned his plan to invade England. Louis was defeated and a peace treaty was signed in September 1174, with the Treaty of Montlouis.

When Henry II and Louis VII made a truce on 8 September 1174, Richard was specifically excluded. Abandoned by Louis and wary of facing his father's army in battle, Richard went to Henry II's court at Poitiers on 23 September and begged for forgiveness, weeping and falling at the feet of Henry, who gave Richard the kiss of peace. Several days later, Richard's brothers joined him in seeking reconciliation with their father. The terms the three brothers accepted were less generous than those they had been offered earlier in the conflict (when Richard was offered four castles in Aquitaine and half of the income from the duchy) and Richard was given control of two castles in Poitou and half the income of Aquitaine; Henry the Young King was given two castles in Normandy; and Geoffrey was permitted half of Brittany. Eleanor would remain Henry II's prisoner until his death, partly as insurance for Richard's good behaviour.

Under Henry II's reign

After the conclusion of the war began the process of pacifying the provinces that had rebelled against Henry II. He travelled to Anjou for this purpose and Geoffrey dealt with Brittany. In January 1175 Richard was dispatched to Aquitaine to punish the barons who had fought for him. According to Roger of Howden's chronicle of Henry's reign, most of the castles belonging to rebels were to be returned to the state they were in 15 days before the outbreak of war, while others were to be razed. Given that by this time it was common for castles to be built in stone, and that many barons had expanded or refortified their castles, this was not an easy task. Gillingham notes that Roger of Howden's chronicle is the main source for Richard's activities in this period, although he notes that it records the successes of the campaign; it was on this campaign that Richard acquired the name "Richard the Lionheart". The first such success was the siege of Castillon-sur-Agen. The castle was "notoriously strong", but in a two-month siege the defenders were battered into submission by Richard's siege engines.

Henry seemed unwilling to entrust any of his sons with resources that could be used against him. It was suspected that Henry had appropriated Princess Alys, Richard's betrothed, the daughter of Louis VII of France by his second wife, as his mistress. This made a marriage between Richard and Alys technically impossible in the eyes of the Church, but Henry prevaricated: Alys's dowry, the Vexin, was valuable. Richard was discouraged from renouncing Alys because she was the sister of King Philip II of France, a close ally.

After his failure to overthrow his father Richard concentrated on putting down internal revolts by the nobles of Aquitaine, especially the territory of Gascony. The increasing cruelty of his reign led to a major revolt there in 1179. Hoping to dethrone Richard, the rebels sought the help of his brothers Henry and Geoffrey. The turning point came in the Charente Valley in spring 1179. The fortress of Taillebourg was well defended and was considered impregnable. The castle was surrounded by a cliff on three sides and a town on the fourth side with a three-layer wall. Richard first destroyed and looted the farms and lands surrounding the fortress, leaving its defenders no reinforcements or lines of retreat. The garrison sallied out of the castle and attacked Richard; he was able to subdue the army and then followed the defenders inside the open gates, where he easily took over the castle in two days. Richard’s victory at Taillebourg deterred many barons thinking of rebelling and forced them to declare their loyalty to him. It also won Richard a reputation as a skilled military commander.

In 1181–1182 Richard faced a revolt over the succession to the county of Angoulême. His opponents turned to Philip II of France for support, and the fighting spread through the Limousin and Périgord. Richard was accused of numerous cruelties against his subjects, including rape. However, with support from his father and from the Young King, Richard succeeded in bringing the Viscount Aimar V of Limoges and Count Elie of Périgord to terms.

After Richard subdued his rebellious barons he again challenged his father for the throne. From 1180 to 1183 the tension between Henry and Richard grew, as King Henry commanded Richard to pay homage to Henry the Young King, but Richard refused. Finally, in 1183 Henry the Young King and Geoffrey, Duke of Brittany invaded Aquitaine in an attempt to subdue Richard. Richard’s barons joined in the fray and turned against their duke. However Richard and his army were able to hold back the invading armies, and they executed any prisoners. The conflict took a brief pause in June 1183 when the Young King died. However Henry II soon gave his youngest son John permission to invade Aquitaine. With the death of Henry the Young King, Richard became the eldest son and so heir to the English crown, but still he continued to fight his father.

To strengthen his position, in 1187, Richard allied himself with 22-year-old Philip II, the son of Eleanor's ex-husband Louis VII by Adele of Champagne. Roger of Hoveden wrote:

:"''The King of England was struck with great astonishment, and wondered what [this alliance] could mean, and, taking precautions for the future, frequently sent messengers into France for the purpose of recalling his son Richard; who, pretending that he was peaceably inclined and ready to come to his father, made his way to Chinon, and, in spite of the person who had the custody thereof, carried off the greater part of his father's treasures, and fortified his castles in Poitou with the same, refusing to go to his father.''"

Overall, Hoveden is chiefly concerned with the politics of the relationship between Richard and King Philip. The historian John Gillingham has suggested that theories that Richard was homosexual probably stemmed from an official record announcing that, as a symbol of unity between the two countries, the kings of France and England had slept overnight in the same bed. He expressed the view that this was "an accepted political act, nothing sexual about it; ... a bit like a modern-day photo opportunity".

In exchange for Philip's help against his father, Richard promised to concede to him his rights to both Normandy and Anjou. Richard paid homage to Philip in November of the same year. With news arriving of the Battle of Hattin, he took the cross at Tours in the company of other French nobles.

In 1188 Henry II planned to concede Aquitaine to his youngest son John. The following year, Richard attempted to take the throne of England for himself by joining Philip's expedition against his father. On 4 July 1189, Richard and Philip’s forces defeated Henry's army at Ballans. Henry, with John's consent, agreed to name Richard his heir. Two days later Henry II died in Chinon, and Richard succeeded him as King of England, Duke of Normandy, and Count of Anjou. Roger of Hoveden claimed that Henry's corpse bled from the nose in Richard's presence, which was taken as a sign that Richard had caused his death.

King and Crusader

Anti-Jewish violence

Richard I was officially crowned duke on 20 July 1189 and king in Westminster Abbey on 3 September 1189. When he was crowned, Richard barred all Jews and women from the ceremony, but some Jewish leaders arrived to present gifts for the new king. According to Ralph of Diceto, Richard's courtiers stripped and flogged the Jews, then flung them out of court. When a rumour spread that Richard had ordered all Jews to be killed, the people of London began a massacre. Many Jews were beaten to death, robbed, and burned alive. Many Jewish homes were burned down, and several Jews were forcibly baptised. Some sought sanctuary in the Tower of London, and others managed to escape. Among those killed was Jacob of Orléans, a respected Jewish scholar. Roger of Hoveden, in his ''Gesta Regis Ricardi'', claimed that the rioting was started by the jealous and bigoted citizens, and that Richard punished the perpetrators, allowing a forcibly converted Jew to return to his native religion. Archbishop of Canterbury Baldwin of Forde reacted by remarking, "If the King is not God's man, he had better be the devil's," a reference to the supposedly infernal blood in the House of Anjou.

Realising that the assaults could destabilise his realm on the eve of his departure on crusade, Richard ordered the execution of those responsible for the most egregious murders and persecutions. (But those hanged were rioters who had accidentally burned down Christian homes.) He distributed a royal writ demanding that the Jews be left alone. The edict was loosely enforced, however, as the following March there was further violence including a massacre at York.

Crusade plans

Richard had already taken the cross as Count of Poitou in 1187. His father and Philip II had done so at Gisors on 21 January 1188 after receiving news of the fall of Jerusalem to Saladin. Having become king, Richard, together with Philip, agreed to go on the Third Crusade, since each feared that during his absence, the other might usurp his territories.

Richard swore an oath to renounce his past wickedness in order to show himself worthy to take the cross. He started to raise and equip a new crusader army. He spent most of his father's treasury (filled with money raised by the Saladin tithe), raised taxes, and even agreed to free King William I of Scotland from his oath of subservience to Richard in exchange for marks. To raise still more finances he sold official positions, rights, and lands to those interested in them. Those already appointed were forced to pay huge sums to retain their posts. William Longchamp, Bishop of Ely and the King's Chancellor, made a show of bidding £ to remain as Chancellor. He was apparently outbid by a certain Reginald the Italian, but that bid was refused.

Richard made some final arrangements on the continent. He reconfirmed his father's appointment of William Fitz Ralph to the important post of seneschal of Normandy. In Anjou, Stephen of Tours was replaced as seneschal and temporarily imprisoned for fiscal mismanagement. Payn de Rochefort, an Angevin knight, was elevated to the post of seneschal of Anjou. In Poitou the ex-provost of Benon, Peter Bertin, was made seneschal, and finally in Gascony the household official Helie de La Celle was picked for the seneschalship there. After repositioning the part of his army he left behind to guard his French possessions, Richard finally set out on the crusade in summer 1190. (His delay was criticised by troubadours such as Bertran de Born.) He appointed as regents Hugh de Puiset, Bishop of Durham, and William de Mandeville, 3rd Earl of Essex—who soon died and was replaced by Richard's chancellor William Longchamp. Richard's brother John was not satisfied by this decision and started scheming against William.

Some writers have criticised Richard for spending only six months of his reign in England and siphoning the kingdom's resources to support his crusade. According to William Stubbs:

Richard claimed that England was "cold and always raining," and when he was raising funds for his crusade, he was said to declare, "I would have sold London if I could find a buyer." However, although England was a major part of his territories—particularly important in that it gave him a royal title with which to approach other kings as an equal—it faced no major internal or external threats during his reign, unlike his continental territories, and so did not require his constant presence there. Like most of the Plantagenet kings before the 14th century, he had no need to learn the English language. Leaving the country in the hands of various officials he designated (including his mother, at times) Richard was far more concerned with his more extensive French lands. After all his preparations he had an army of men-at-arms, foot-soldiers and a fleet of 100 ships.

Occupation of Sicily

In September 1190 Richard and Philip arrived in Sicily. After the death of King William II of Sicily his cousin Tancred of Lecce had seized power and had been crowned early in 1190 as King Tancred I of Sicily, although the legal heir was William's aunt Constance, wife of the new Emperor Henry VI. Tancred had imprisoned William's widow, Queen Joan, who was Richard's sister, and did not give her the money she had inherited in William's will. When Richard arrived he demanded that his sister be released and given her inheritance; she was freed on 28 September, but without the inheritance. The presence of foreign troops also caused unrest: in October, the people of Messina revolted, demanding that the foreigners leave. Richard attacked Messina, capturing it on 4 October 1190. After looting and burning the city Richard established his base there, but this created tension between Richard and Philip Augustus. He remained there until Tancred finally agreed to sign a treaty on 4 March 1191. The treaty was signed by Richard, Philip and Tancred. Its main terms were:

Joan was to receive 20,000 ounces of gold as compensation for her inheritance, which Tancred kept.

Richard officially proclaimed his nephew, Arthur of Brittany, son of Geoffrey, as his heir, and Tancred promised to marry one of his daughters to Arthur when he came of age, giving a further twenty thousand ounces of gold that would be returned by Richard if Arthur did not marry Tancred's daughter.

The two kings stayed on in Sicily for a while, but this resulted in increasing tensions between them and their men, with Philip Augustus plotting with Tancred against Richard. The two kings finally met to clear the air and reached an agreement, including the end of Richard's betrothal to Philip's sister Alys (who had supposedly been the mistress of Richard's father Henry II).

Conquest of Cyprus

In April 1191 Richard, with a large fleet, left Messina in order to reach Acre. But a storm dispersed the fleet. After some searching, it was discovered that the boat carrying his sister and his fiancée Berengaria was anchored on the south coast of Cyprus together with the wrecks of several other ships, including the treasure ship. Survivors of the wrecks had been taken prisoner by the island's despot Isaac Komnenos.

On 1 May 1191 Richard's fleet arrived in the port of Lemesos (Limassol) on Cyprus. He ordered Isaac to release the prisoners and the treasure. Isaac refused, so Richard landed his troops and took Limassol.

Various princes of the Holy Land arrived in Limassol at the same time, in particular Guy of Lusignan. All declared their support for Richard provided that he support Guy against his rival Conrad of Montferrat.

The local barons abandoned Isaac, who considered making peace with Richard, joining him on the crusade and offering his daughter in marriage to the person named by Richard. But Isaac changed his mind and tried to escape. Richard then proceeded to conquer the whole island, his troops being led by Guy de Lusignan. Isaac surrendered and was confined with silver chains because Richard had promised that he would not place him in irons. By 1 June Richard had conquered the whole island. He named Richard de Camville and Robert of Thornham as governors. He later sold the island to the Knights Templar and it was subsequently acquired, in 1192, by Guy of Lusignan and became a stable feudal kingdom.

The rapid conquest of the island by Richard is more important than it seems. The island occupies a key strategic position on the maritime lanes to the Holy Land, whose occupation by the Christians could not continue without support from the sea. Cyprus remained a Christian stronghold until the battle of Lepanto (1571). Richard's exploit was well publicized and contributed to his reputation. Richard also derived significant financial gains from the conquest of the island.

Richard left for Acre on 5 June with his allies.

Marriage

Before leaving Cyprus Richard married Berengaria of Navarre, first-born daughter of King Sancho VI of Navarre. Richard first grew closer to her at a tournament held in Berengaria's native Navarre. The wedding was held in Limassol on 12 May 1191 at the Chapel of St. George. It was attended by his sister Joan, whom Richard had brought from Sicily. The marriage was celebrated with great pomp and splendour and many feasts and entertainments, and public parades, and celebrations followed, to commemorate the event. Among the other grand ceremonies was a double coronation. Richard caused himself to be crowned King of Cyprus, and Berengaria Queen of England and of Cyprus too. When Richard married Berengaria he was still officially betrothed to Alys, and Richard pushed for the match in order to obtain Navarre as a fief like Aquitaine for his father. Further, Eleanor championed the match, as Navarre bordered on Aquitaine, thereby securing her ancestral lands' borders to the south. Richard took his new wife with him briefly on this episode of the crusade. However they returned separately. Berengaria had almost as much difficulty in making the journey home as her husband did, and she did not see England until after his death. After his release from German captivity Richard showed some regret for his earlier conduct, but he was not reunited with his wife.

In the Holy Land

King Richard landed at Acre on 8 June 1191. He gave his support to his Poitevin vassal Guy of Lusignan, who had brought troops to help him in Cyprus. Guy was the widower of his father's cousin Sibylla of Jerusalem and was trying to retain the kingship of Jerusalem, despite his wife's death during the Siege of Acre the previous year. Guy's claim was challenged by Conrad of Montferrat, second husband of Sibylla's half-sister, Isabella: Conrad, whose defence of Tyre had saved the kingdom in 1187, was supported by Philip of France, son of his first cousin Louis VII of France, and by another cousin, Duke Leopold V of Austria. Richard also allied with Humphrey IV of Toron, Isabella's first husband, from whom she had been forcibly divorced in 1190. Humphrey was loyal to Guy and spoke Arabic fluently, so Richard used him as a translator and negotiator.

Richard and his forces aided in the capture of Acre, despite the king's serious illness. At one point, while sick from scurvy, Richard is said to have picked off guards on the walls with a crossbow, while being carried on a stretcher. Eventually Conrad of Montferrat concluded the surrender negotiations with Saladin and raised the banners of the kings in the city. Richard quarrelled with Leopold V of Austria over the deposition of Isaac Komnenos (related to Leopold's Byzantine mother) and his position within the crusade. Leopold's banner had been raised alongside the English and French standards. This was interpreted as arrogance by both Richard and Philip, as Leopold was a vassal of the Holy Roman Emperor (although he was the highest-ranking surviving leader of the imperial forces). Richard's men tore the flag down and threw it in the moat of Acre. Leopold left the crusade immediately. Philip also left soon afterwards, in poor health and after further disputes with Richard over the status of Cyprus (Philip demanded half the island) and the kingship of Jerusalem. Richard, suddenly, found himself without allies.

Richard had kept 2,700 Muslim prisoners as hostages against Saladin fulfilling all the terms of the surrender of the lands around Acre. Philip, before leaving, had entrusted his prisoners to Conrad, but Richard forced him to hand them over to him. Richard feared his forces being bottled up in Acre as he believed his campaign could not advance with the prisoners in train. He therefore ordered all the prisoners executed. He then moved south, defeating Saladin's forces at the Battle of Arsuf on 7 September 1191. He attempted to negotiate with Saladin, but, this was unsuccessful. In the first half of 1192 he and his troops refortified Ascalon.

An election forced Richard to accept Conrad of Montferrat as King of Jerusalem, and he sold Cyprus to his defeated protégé, Guy. Only days later, on 28 April 1192, Conrad was stabbed to death by Hashshashin before he could be crowned. Eight days later Richard's own nephew Henry II of Champagne was married to the widowed Isabella, although she was carrying Conrad's child. The murder has never been conclusively solved, and Richard's contemporaries widely suspected his involvement.

Realising that he had no hope of holding Jerusalem even if he took it, Richard ordered a retreat. There commenced a period of minor skirmishes with Saladin's forces while Richard and Saladin negotiated a settlement to the conflict, as both realized that their respective positions were growing untenable. Richard knew that both Philip and his own brother John were starting to plot against him. However Saladin insisted on the raising of Ascalon's fortifications, which Richard's men had rebuilt, and a few other points. Richard made one last attempt to strengthen his bargaining position by attempting to invade Egypt—Saladin's chief supply-base—but failed. In the end time ran out for Richard. He realised that his return could be postponed no longer since both Philip and John were taking advantage of his absence. He and Saladin finally came to a settlement on 2 September 1192—this included the provisions demanding the destruction of Ascalon's wall as well as an agreement allowing Christian pilgrims and merchants access to Jerusalem. It also included a three-year truce.

Captivity and return

Bad weather forced Richard's ship to put in at Corfu, in the lands of the Byzantine Emperor Isaac II Angelos, who objected to Richard's annexation of Cyprus, formerly Byzantine territory. Disguised as a Knight Templar, Richard sailed from Corfu with four attendants, but his ship was wrecked near Aquileia, forcing Richard and his party into a dangerous land route through central Europe.

On his way to the territory of his brother-in-law Henry of Saxony, Richard was captured shortly before Christmas 1192 near Vienna by Leopold V, Duke of Austria who accused Richard of arranging the murder of his cousin Conrad of Montferrat. Moreover Richard had personally offended Leopold by casting down his standard from the walls of Acre. Richard and his retainers had been travelling in disguise as low-ranking pilgrims, but he was identified either because he was wearing an expensive ring, or because of his insistence on eating roast chicken, an aristocratic delicacy.

Duke Leopold kept him prisoner at Dürnstein Castle. His mishap was soon known to England, but the regents were for some weeks uncertain of his whereabouts. While in prison, Richard wrote ''Ja nus hons pris'' or ''Ja nuls om pres'' ("No man who is imprisoned"), which is addressed to his half-sister Marie de Champagne. He wrote the song, in French and Occitan versions, to express his feelings of abandonment by his people and his sister. The detention of a crusader was contrary to public law, and on these grounds Pope Celestine III excommunicated Duke Leopold.

On 28 March 1193 Richard was brought to Speyer and handed over to Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor, who was aggrieved both by the support which the Plantagenets had given to the family of Henry the Lion and also by Richard's recognition of Tancred in Sicily, and who imprisoned him in Trifels Castle. Henry VI, needing money to raise an army and assert his rights over southern Italy, continued to hold Richard for ransom. In response Pope Celestine III excommunicated Henry VI, as he had Duke Leopold, for the continued wrongful imprisonment of Richard.

Richard famously refused to show deference to the emperor and declared to him, "I am born of a rank which recognizes no superior but God". Despite his complaints, the conditions of his captivity were not severe.

The emperor demanded that marks (65,000 pounds of silver) be delivered to him before he would release the king, the same amount raised by the Saladin tithe only a few years earlier, and 2–3 times the annual income for the English Crown under Richard. Eleanor of Aquitaine worked to raise the ransom. Both clergy and laymen were taxed for a quarter of the value of their property, the gold and silver treasures of the churches were confiscated, and money was raised from the scutage and the carucage taxes. At the same time, John, Richard's brother, and King Philip of France offered marks for the Emperor to hold Richard prisoner until Michaelmas 1194. The emperor turned down the offer. The money to rescue the King was transferred to Germany by the emperor's ambassadors, but "at the king's peril" (had it been lost along the way, Richard would have been held responsible), and finally, on 4 February 1194 Richard was released. Philip sent a message to John: "Look to yourself; the devil is loose".

The affair had a lasting influence on Austria, since part of the money from King Richard's ransom was used by Duke Leopold V to finance the founding in 1194 of the new city of Wiener Neustadt, which had a significant role in various periods of subsequent Austrian history up to the present.

Later years and death

In Richard's absence, his brother John revolted with the aid of Philip; amongst Philip's conquests in the period of Richard's imprisonment was Normandy. Richard forgave John when they met again and, bowing to political necessity, named him as his heir in place of Arthur, whose mother Constance of Brittany was perhaps already open to the overtures of Philip II.

Richard began his reconquest of Normandy. The fall of Château de Gisors to the French in 1196 opened a gap in the Norman defences. The search began for a fresh site for a new castle to defend the duchy of Normandy and act as a base from which Richard could launch his campaign to take back the Vexin from French control. A naturally defensible position was identified perched high above the River Seine, an important transport route, in the manor of ''Andeli''. Under the terms of the Peace of Louviers (December 1195) between Richard and Philip II, neither king was allowed to fortify the site; despite this, Richard intended to build the vast Chateau Gaillard. Richard tried to obtain the manor through negotiation. Walter de Coutances, Archbishop of Rouen, was reluctant to sell the manor as it was one of the diocese's most profitable, and other lands belonging to the diocese had recently been damaged by war. When Philip besieged Aumale in Normandy, Richard grew tired of waiting and seized the manor, although the act was opposed by the Church. Walter de Coutances issued an interdict against the duchy of Normandy which prohibited church services from being performed in the region. Roger of Howden detailed "the unburied bodies of the dead lying in the streets and square of the cities of Normandy". Construction began with the interdict hanging over Normandy, but it was later repealed in April 1197 by Pope Celestine III, after Richard made gifts of land to Walter de Coutances and the diocese of Rouen, including two manors and the prosperous port of Dieppe.

During Richard's reign, royal expenditure on castles declined from the levels spent under Henry II, Richard's father. This has been attributed to a concentration of resources on Richard's war with the king of France. However, the work at Château Gaillard was some of the most expensive of its time and cost an estimated £15,000 to £20,000 between 1196 and 1198. This was more than double Richard's spending on castles in England, an estimated £7,000. Unprecedented in its speed of construction, the castle was mostly complete in just two years, when most construction on such a scale would have taken the best part of a decade. According to William of Newburgh, in May 1198 Richard and the labourers working on the castle were drenched in a "rain of blood". While some of his advisers thought the rain was an evil omen, Richard was undeterred:

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As no master-mason is mentioned in the otherwise detailed records of the castle's construction, military historian Allen Brown has suggested that Richard himself was the overall architect; this is supported by the interest Richard showed in the work through his frequent presence. In his final years, the castle became Richard's favourite residence, and writs and charters were written at Château Gaillard bearing "''apud Bellum Castrum de Rupe''" (at the Fair Castle of the Rock). Château Gaillard was ahead of its time, featuring innovations that would be adopted in castle architecture nearly a century later. Richard later boasted that he could hold the castle "were the walls made of butter". Allen Brown described Château Gaillard as "one of the finest castles in Europe" and military historian Sir Charles Oman wrote that: }}

Determined to resist Philip's designs on contested Angevin lands such as the Vexin and Berry, Richard poured all his military expertise and vast resources into war on the French King. He constructed an alliance against Philip, including Baldwin IX of Flanders, Renaud, Count of Boulogne, and his father-in-law King Sancho VI of Navarre, who raided Philip's lands from the south. Most importantly, he managed to secure the Welf inheritance in Saxony for his nephew, Henry the Lion's son Otto of Poitou, who was elected Otto IV of Germany in 1198.

Partly as a result of these and other intrigues, Richard won several victories over Philip. At Freteval in 1194, just after Richard's return from captivity and money-raising in England to France, Philip fled, leaving his entire archive of financial audits and documents to be captured by Richard. At the battle of Gisors (sometimes called Courcelles) in 1198 Richard took "Dieu et mon Droit"—"God and my Right"—as his motto (still used by the British monarchy today), echoing his earlier boast to the Emperor Henry that his rank acknowledged no superior but God.

In March 1199, Richard was in the Limousin suppressing a revolt by Viscount Aimar V of Limoges. Although it was Lent, he "''devastated the Viscount's land with fire and sword''". He besieged the puny, virtually unarmed castle of Chalus-Chabrol. Some chroniclers claimed that this was because a local peasant had uncovered a treasure trove of Roman gold, which Richard claimed from Aimar in his position as feudal overlord.

In the early evening of 25 March 1199, Richard was walking around the castle perimeter without his chainmail, investigating the progress of sappers on the castle walls. Missiles were occasionally shot from the castle walls, but these were given little attention. One defender in particular amused the king greatly—a man standing on the walls, crossbow in one hand, the other clutching a frying pan which he had been using all day as a shield to beat off missiles. He deliberately aimed at the king, which the king applauded; however, another crossbowman then struck the king in the left shoulder near the neck. He tried to pull this out in the privacy of his tent but failed; a surgeon, called a 'butcher' by Hoveden, removed it, 'carelessly mangling' the King's arm in the process. The wound swiftly became gangrenous. Accordingly, Richard asked to have the crossbowman brought before him; called alternatively Peter Basile, John Sabroz, Dudo, and Bertrand de Gurdon (from the town of Gourdon) by chroniclers, the man turned out (according to some sources, but not all) to be a boy. This boy claimed that Richard had killed the boy's father and two brothers, and that he had killed Richard in revenge. The boy expected to be executed; Richard, as a last act of mercy, forgave the boy of his crime, saying, "Live on, and by my bounty behold the light of day," before ordering the boy to be freed and sent away with 100 shillings. Richard then set his affairs in order, bequeathing all his territory to his brother John and his jewels to his nephew Otto.

Richard died on 6 April 1199 in the arms of his mother; it was later said that "As the day was closing, he ended his earthly day." His death was later referred to as 'the Lion (that) by the Ant was slain'. According to one chronicler, Richard's last act of chivalry proved fruitless; in an orgy of medieval brutality, the infamous mercenary captain Mercadier had the crossbowman flayed alive and hanged as soon as Richard died.

Richard's heart was buried at Rouen in Normandy, the entrails in Châlus (where he died) and the rest of his body was buried at the feet of his father at Fontevraud Abbey in Anjou.

A 13th century Bishop of Rochester wrote that Richard spent 33 years in purgatory as expiation for his sins, eventually ascending to Heaven in March 1232.

Sexuality

Before 1948, no historian appears to have clearly affirmed that Richard was homosexual. Historian Jean Flori, however, has analysed the work of contemporary historians, and reported that they quite generally accepted that Richard was homosexual. However, not all historians agree regarding Richard's sexuality: indeed Richard's homosexuality was disputed by historian John Gillingham. But Flori analysed the available contemporaneous evidence in great detail, and concluded that Richard's two public confessions and penitences (in 1191 and 1195) must have referred to the "sin of sodomy". There are contemporaneous accounts of Richard's relations with women, and Richard acknowledged one illegitimate son, Philip of Cognac. Flori thus concludes that Richard was probably bisexual. Flori thus disagrees with Gillingham, although he does agree with Gillingham that the contemporaneous accounts do not support the allegation that Richard had a homosexual relation with King Philip II of France.

Legacy

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Richard's contemporaneous image was that of a king who was also a knight, and that was apparently the first such instance of this combination. He was known as a valiant and competent military leader and individual fighter: courageous and generous. That reputation has come down through the ages and defines the popular image of Richard. He left an indelible imprint on the imagination extending to the present, in large part because of his military exploits. This is reflected in Steven Runciman's final verdict of Richard I: ''"he was a bad son, a bad husband and a bad king, but a gallant and splendid soldier."''("History of the Crusades" Vol. III) meanwhile, Muslim writers during the Crusades period and after wrote of him: 'Never have we had to face a bolder or more subtle opponent.'

During his life, he was criticized by chroniclers (and the clergy) for having taxed the clergy both for the Crusade and for his ransom, whereas the church and the clergy were usually exempt from taxes.

Richard produced no legitimate heirs and acknowledged only one illegitimate son, Philip of Cognac. As a result, he was succeeded by his brother John as King of England. However, his French territories initially rejected John as a successor, preferring his nephew Arthur of Brittany, the son of their late brother Geoffrey, whose claim is by modern standards better than John's. Significantly, the lack of any direct heirs from Richard was the first step in the dissolution of the Angevin Empire. While Kings of England continued to press claims to properties on the continent, they would never again command the territories Richard I inherited.

Medieval folklore

Around the middle of the 13th century, various legends developed that, after Richard's capture, his minstrel Blondel travelled Europe from castle to castle, loudly singing a song known only to the two of them (they had composed it together). Eventually, he came to the place where Richard was being held, and Richard heard the song and answered with the appropriate refrain, thus revealing where the king was incarcerated. The story was the basis of André Ernest Modeste Grétry's opera ''Richard Coeur-de-Lion'' and seems to be the inspiration for the opening to Richard Thorpe's film version of ''Ivanhoe''. It seems unconnected to the real Jean 'Blondel' de Nesle, an aristocratic trouvère. It also does not correspond to the historical reality, since the king's jailers did not hide the fact; on the contrary, they publicized it.

At some time around the 16th century, tales of Robin Hood started to mention him as a contemporary and supporter of King Richard the Lionheart, Robin being driven to outlawry, during the misrule of Richard's evil brother John, while Richard was away at the Third Crusade. Although this view has become increasingly popular, it is certainly not supported by the earliest ballads.

Ancestors

{{ahnentafel-compact5 |style=font-size: 90%; line-height: 110%; |border=1 |boxstyle=padding-top: 0; padding-bottom: 0; |boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc; |boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9; |boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc; |boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc; |boxstyle_5=background-color: #9fe; |1= 1. Richard I of England |2= 2. Henry II of England |3= 3. Eleanor of Aquitaine |4= 4. Geoffrey V of Anjou |5= 5. Empress Matilda |6= 6. William X of Aquitaine |7= 7. Aenor de Châtellerault |8= 8. Fulk V of Anjou |9= 9. Ermengarde of Maine |10= 10. Henry I of England |11= 11. Matilda of Scotland |12= 12. William IX of Aquitaine |13= 13. Philippa of Toulouse |14= 14. Aimery I of Châttellerault |15= 15. Dangereuse de L' Isle Bouchard |16= 16. Fulk IV of Anjou |17= 17. Bertrade de Montfort |18= 18. Elias I of Maine |19= 19. Matilda of Château-du-Loir |20= 20. William I of England |21= 21. Matilda of Flanders |22= 22. Malcolm III of Scotland |23= 23. Margaret of Scotland |24= 24. William VIII of Aquitaine |25= 25. Hildegarde of Burgundy |26= 26. William IV of Toulouse |27= 27. Emma of Mortain |28= 28. Boson II de Châtellerault |29= 29. Alienor de Thouars |30= 30. Barthelemy de L'Isle Bouchard |31= 31. Gerberge de Blaison }}

See also

''The Crusade and Death of Richard I''

Cultural depictions of Richard I of England

List of English monarchs

References

;Notes

;Bibliography

Cannon, John & Hargreaves, Anne (eds). ''Kings and Queens of Britain'', Oxford University Press 2001, 2004, ISBN 0-19-860956-6. Richard I, by John Gillingham

See also

Ralph of Coggeshall, ''Chronicon Anglicanum''

Roger of Hoveden, ''Gesta Regis Henrici II & Gesta Regis Ricardi Benedicti Abbatis'', ed. William Stubbs, 2 vols, (London, 1867), available at Gallica.

Roger of Hoveden, ''Chronica Magistri Rogeri de Houedene'', ed. William Stubbs, 4 vols, (London, 1868–71), available at Gallica.

Further reading

Ralph of Diceto, ''Radulfi de Diceto Decani Lundoniensis Opera Historica'', ed. William Stubbs, 2 vols (London, 1876)

Berg, Dieter. ''Richard Löwenherz''. Darmstadt, 2007.

Edbury, Peter W. ''The Conquest of Jerusalem and the Third Crusade: Sources in Translation''. Ashgate, 1996. [Includes letters by Richard reporting events of the Third Crusade (pp. 178–182).] ISBN 1-84014-676-1

Gabrieli, Francesco. (ed.) ''Arab Historians of the Crusades'', English translation 1969, ISBN 0-520-05224-2

Gillingham, John, ''Richard Coeur de Lion: Kingship, Chivalry and War in the Twelfth Century'', 1994, ISBN 1-85285-084-1

Nelson, Janet L. (ed.) ''Richard Coeur de Lion in History and Myth'', 1992, ISBN 0-9513085-6-4

Nicholson, Helen J. (ed.) ''The Chronicle of the Third Crusade: The Itinerarium Peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi'', 1997, ISBN 0-7546-0581-7

Runciman, Steven. ''A History of the Crusades'', 1951–54, vols. 2–3.

Stubbs, William (ed.), ''Itinerarium Peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi'' (London, 1864), available at Gallica. (PDF of anon. translation, ''Itinerary of Richard I and others to the Holy Land'' (Cambridge, Ontario, 2001))

William of Tyre, French continuation of. ''Historia rerum in partibus transmarinis gestarum'' (external link to text in mediæval French).

Williams, Patrick A. "The Assassination of Conrad of Montferrat: Another Suspect?", ''Traditio'', vol. XXVI, 1970.

Reston, James Jr. "Warriors of God", 2001, ISBN 0-385-49562-5

External links

Richard I "Lionheart" BY JACOB ABBOTT in "btm" format

Roger of Hoveden on Richard the Lion-Hearted and King Philip II of France

Richard and Saladin: Warriors of the Third Crusade

Medieval and Modern Passages Supporting the Theory of Richard I's Homosexuality

Richard I, Ja nuls om pres non dira sa razon (Occitan version of lyric)

Richard I, Ja nus hons pris ne dira sa reson (French version of lyric, with English translation by James H. Donalson)

The Lion roars in France

King Richard a Middle English metrical romance from the ''Auchinleck manuscript'' (edited by David Burnley and Alison Wiggins) at the National Library of Scotland

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ab:Ричард I Алымгәы af:Richard I van Engeland ar:ريتشارد الأول ملك إنجلترا an:Ricardo I d'Anglaterra be:Рычард I be-x-old:Рычард I bs:Rikard I, kralj Engleske br:Richarzh Iañ (Bro-Saoz) bg:Ричард I (Англия) ca:Ricard Cor de Lleó cs:Richard I. Lví srdce cy:Rhisiart I, brenin Lloegr da:Richard Løvehjerte de:Richard Löwenherz et:Richard I el:Ριχάρδος ο Λεοντόκαρδος es:Ricardo I de Inglaterra eo:Rikardo la 1-a (Anglio) eu:Rikardo I.a Ingalaterrakoa fa:ریچارد اول انگلستان fr:Richard Ier d'Angleterre ga:Risteard I Shasana gl:Ricardo I de Inglaterra ko:리처드 1세 hy:Ռիչարդ I Առյուծասիրտ hr:Rikard I. Lavljeg Srca id:Richard I dari Inggris is:Ríkharður ljónshjarta it:Riccardo I d'Inghilterra he:ריצ'רד הראשון, מלך אנגליה ka:რიჩარდ I (ინგლისი) ku:Richard I. la:Ricardus I (rex Angliae) lv:Ričards I Plantagenets lt:Ričardas I Liūtaširdis hu:I. Richárd angol király mk:Ричард I mr:रिचर्ड पहिला, इंग्लंड arz:ريتشارد قلب الأسد ms:Richard I dari England nl:Richard I van Engeland ja:リチャード1世 (イングランド王) no:Rikard I av England nn:Rikard I av England oc:Ricard Ièr d'Anglatèrra pl:Ryszard I Lwie Serce pt:Ricardo I de Inglaterra ro:Richard Inimă de Leu ru:Ричард I Львиное Сердце scn:Riccardu I di Ngriterra simple:Richard I of England sk:Richard I. (Anglicko) sl:Rihard I. Levjesrčni sr:Ричард I Лавље Срце sh:Ričard I Lavlje Srce fi:Rikhard I Leijonamieli sv:Rikard I Lejonhjärta th:สมเด็จพระเจ้าริชาร์ดที่ 1 แห่งอังกฤษ tr:I. Richard uk:Річард I Левове Серце ur:رچرڈ شیر دل vi:Richard I của Anh fiu-vro:Richard I zh:理查一世

name	Nina Simone
background	solo_singer
birth name	Eunice Kathleen Waymon
born	February 21, 1933Tryon, North Carolina, United States
died	April 21, 2003Carry-le-Rouet, Bouches-du-Rhône, France
genre	Jazz, blues, R&B;, folk, gospel
occupation	Singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, activist
years active	1954–2003
label	Bethlehem, Colpix, Philips, RCA Victor, CTI, Legacy Recordings
website	http://www.ninasimone.com/ }}

Eunice Kathleen Waymon (February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003), better known by her stage name Nina Simone (), was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist widely associated with jazz music. Simone aspired to become a classical pianist while working in a broad range of styles including classical, jazz, blues, folk, R&B;, gospel, and pop.

Born the sixth child of a preacher's family in North Carolina, Simone aspired to be a concert pianist as a child. Her musical path changed direction after she was denied a scholarship to the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, despite a well-received audition. Simone was later told by someone working at Curtis that she was rejected because she was black. She then began playing in a small club in Philadelphia to fund her continuing musical education to become a classical pianist and was required to sing as well. She was approached for a recording by Bethlehem Records, and her rendition of "I Loves You Porgy" became a smash hit in the United States in 1958. and accompanied with her expressive jazz-like singing in her characteristic low tenor. She injected as much of her classical background into her music as possible to give it more depth and quality, as she felt that pop music was inferior to classical. Her intuitive grasp on the audience-performer relationship was gained from a unique background of playing piano accompaniment for church revivals and sermons regularly from the early age of six years.

After 20 years of performing, she became involved in the civil rights movement and the direction of her life shifted once again.

Biography

Youth (1933–1954)

Simone was born Eunice Kathleen Waymon in Tryon, North Carolina. The sixth of eight children in a poor family, she began playing piano at age three; the first song she learned was "God Be With You, Till We Meet Again". Demonstrating a talent with the instrument, she performed at her local church, but her concert debut, a classical recital, was given when she was twelve. Simone later claimed that during this performance her parents, who had taken seats in the front row, were forced to move to the back of the hall to make way for white people. Simone said she refused to play until her parents were moved back to the front, and that the incident contributed to her later involvement in the civil rights movement.

Simone's mother, Mary Kate Waymon, was a strict Methodist minister and a housemaid. Simone's father, John Divine Waymon, was a handyman who at one time owned a dry cleaning business, but who also suffered bouts of ill health. Mary Kate's employer, hearing of her daughter's talent, provided funds for piano lessons. Subsequently, a local fund was set up to assist in Simone's continued education. With the assistance of this scholarship money she attended high school.

After finishing high school, she had studied for an interview with the help of a private tutor to study piano further at the Curtis Institute, but she was rejected. Simone believed that this rejection was related directly to her race. Simone then moved to New York City, where she studied at the Juilliard School of Music.

Early success (1954–1959)

To fund her private lessons, Simone performed at the Midtown Bar & Grill on Pacific Avenue in Atlantic City, whose owner insisted that she sing as well as play the piano. In 1954 she adopted the stage name Nina Simone. "Nina" (from niña, meaning 'little girl' in Spanish) was a nickname a boyfriend had given to her, and "Simone" was taken from the French actress Simone Signoret, whom she had seen in the movie ''Casque d'or''. Simone's mixture of jazz, blues, and classical music in her performances at the bar earned her a small, but loyal, fan base.

In 1958, she befriended and married Don Ross, a beatnik who worked as a fairground barker, but quickly regretted their marriage. After playing in small clubs, in 1958 she recorded a rendition of George Gershwin's "I Loves You Porgy" (from ''Porgy and Bess''), which she learned from a Billie Holiday album and performed as a favor to a friend. It became her only ''Billboard'' top 40 success in the United States, and her debut album ''Little Girl Blue'' soon followed on Bethlehem Records. Simone missed out on more than $1 million in royalties (mainly because of the successful re-release of ''My Baby Just Cares for Me'' during the 1980s) and never benefited financially from the album, because she had sold her rights to it for $3,000.

Becoming popular (1959–1964)

After the success of ''Little Girl Blue'', Simone signed a contract with Colpix Records, and recorded a string of studio and live albums. Colpix relinquished all creative control to her, including the choice of material that would be recorded, in exchange for her signing the contract with them. At this point, Simone only performed pop music to make money to continue her classical music studies, and was indifferent about having a recording contract. She kept this attitude toward the record industry for most of her career.

Simone married a New York police detective, Andrew Stroud, in 1961; Stroud later became her manager.

Civil rights era (1964–1974)

In 1964, she changed record distributors, from the American Colpix to the Dutch Philips, which also meant a change in the contents of her recordings. Simone had always included songs in her repertoire that drew upon her African-American origins (such as "Brown Baby" and "Zungo" on ''Nina at the Village Gate'' in 1962). On her debut album for Philips, ''Nina Simone In Concert'' (live recording, 1964), however, Simone for the first time openly addressed the racial inequality that was prevalent in the United States with the song "Mississippi Goddam", her response to the murder of Medgar Evers and the bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama that killed four black children. The song was released as a single, and it was boycotted in certain southern states. "Old Jim Crow", on the same album, addressed the Jim Crow Laws.

From then on, a civil rights message was standard in Simone's recording repertoire, becoming a part of her live performances. Simone performed and spoke at many civil rights meetings, such as at the Selma to Montgomery marches. Simone advocated violent revolution during the civil rights period, rather than Martin Luther King's non-violent approach, and she hoped that African Americans could, by armed combat, form a separate state. Nevertheless, she wrote in her autobiography that she and her family regarded all races as equal.

She covered Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit", a song about the lynching of black men in the South, on ''Pastel Blues'' (1965). She also sang the W. Cuney poem "Images" on ''Let It All Out'' (1966), about the absence of pride she saw among African-American women. Simone wrote "Four Women", a song about four different stereotypes of African-American women, and included the recording on her 1966 album ''Wild Is the Wind''.

Simone moved from Philips to RCA Victor during 1967. She sang "Backlash Blues", written by her friend Langston Hughes on her first RCA album, ''Nina Simone Sings The Blues'' (1967). On ''Silk & Soul'' (1967), she recorded Billy Taylor's "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free" and "Turning Point". The album ''Nuff Said'' (1968) contains live recordings from the Westbury Music Fair, April 7, 1968, three days after the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr. She dedicated the whole performance to him and sang "Why? (The King Of Love Is Dead)", a song written by her bass player, Gene Taylor, directly after the news of King's death had reached them. In the summer of 1969 she performed at the Harlem Cultural Festival in Harlem's Mount Morris Park.

Together with Weldon Irvine, Simone turned the late Lorraine Hansberry's unfinished play ''To Be Young, Gifted, and Black'' into a civil rights song. Hansberry had been a personal friend whom Simone credited with cultivating her social and political consciousness. She performed the song live on the album ''Black Gold'' (1970). A studio recording was released as a single, and renditions of the song have been recorded by Aretha Franklin (on her 1972 album ''Young, Gifted and Black'') and by Donny Hathaway.

Later life (1974–2003)

Simone left the United States in September 1970, flying to Barbados and expecting Stroud to communicate with her when she had to perform again. However, Stroud interpreted Simone's sudden disappearance, and the fact that she had left behind her wedding ring, as an indication of a desire for a divorce. As her manager, Stroud was in charge of Simone's income.

When Simone returned to the United States she learned that a warrant had been issued for her arrest for unpaid taxes (as a protest against her country's involvement with the Vietnam War), causing her to return to Barbados again to evade the authorities and prosecution. Simone stayed in Barbados for quite some time and she had a lengthy affair with the Prime Minister, Errol Barrow. A close friend, singer Miriam Makeba, then persuaded her to go to Liberia. After that she lived in Switzerland and the Netherlands, before settling in France during 1992.

She recorded her last album for RCA, ''It Is Finished'', during 1974. Simone did not make another record until 1978, when she was persuaded to go into the recording studio by CTI Records owner Creed Taylor. The result was the album ''Baltimore'', which, while not a commercial success, did get good reviews and marked a quiet artistic renaissance in Simone's recording output. Her choice of material retained its eclecticism, ranging from spiritual songs to Hall & Oates' "Rich Girl". Four years later Simone recorded ''Fodder On My Wings'' on a French label. During the 1980s Simone performed regularly at Ronnie Scott's jazz club in London, where she recorded the album ''Live at Ronnie Scott's'' in 1984. Although her early on-stage style could be somewhat haughty and aloof, in later years, Simone particularly seemed to enjoy engaging her audiences sometimes by recounting humorous anecdotes related to her career and music and by soliciting requests. In 1987, the original 1958 recording of "My Baby Just Cares For Me" was used in a commercial for Chanel No. 5 perfume in the United Kingdom. This led to a re-release of the recording, which stormed to number 4 on the UK's ''NME'' singles chart, giving her a brief surge in popularity in the UK. Her autobiography, ''I Put a Spell on You'', was published in 1992. She recorded her last album, ''A Single Woman'', in 1993.

In 1993, Simone settled near Aix-en-Provence in Southern France. She had suffered from breast cancer for several years before she died in her sleep at her home in Carry-le-Rouet, Bouches-du-Rhône on April 21, 2003. (In addition, Simone received a diagnosis of bipolar disorder in the late 1980s). Her funeral service was attended by singers Miriam Makeba and Patti Labelle, poet Sonia Sanchez, actor Ossie Davis, and hundreds of others. Elton John sent a floral tribute with the message "You were the greatest and I love you". Simone's ashes were scattered in several African countries. She left behind a daughter, Lisa Celeste Stroud, an actress and singer, who took the stage name Simone, and has appeared on Broadway in ''Aida''.

Musical style

Simone standards

Throughout her career, Simone assembled a collection of songs that would become standards in her repertoire. These songs were self-written tunes, tributes to works by others with a new arrangement by Simone, or songs written especially for Simone. Her first hit song in America was her rendition of George Gershwin's "I Loves You, Porgy" (1958). It peaked at number 18 in the pop singles chart and number 2 on the black singles chart. During that same period Simone recorded "My Baby Just Cares for Me", which would become her biggest success years later, in 1987, when it was featured in a Chanel No. 5 perfume commercial. A music video was created by Aardman Studios for the commercial. !!DON'T put detailed cover/sample/soundtrack use of songs here, only the very basics. Put that sort of information on the ARTICLE ABOUT THE SONG OR ALBUM!! Well known songs from her Philips albums include "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" on ''Broadway-Blues-Ballads'' (1964), "I Put a Spell on You", "Ne Me Quitte Pas" (a rendition of a Jacques Brel song) and "Feeling Good" on ''I Put A Spell On You'' (1965), "Lilac Wine" and "Wild Is the Wind" on ''Wild is the Wind'' (1966). Especially the songs "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood", "Feeling Good", and "Sinnerman" (''Pastel Blues'', 1965) have great popularity today in terms of cover versions (most notably a version of the former song by The Animals), sample usage, and its use on soundtracks for various movies, TV-series, and video games. "Sinnerman", in particular, has been featured in the TV series ''Scrubs'' and ''Person of Interest'', on movies such as ''The Thomas Crown Affair'', ''Miami Vice'', and ''Inland Empire'', and sampled by artists such as Talib Kweli and Timbaland. The song "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" was sampled by Devo Springsteen on "Misunderstood" from Common's 2007 album ''Finding Forever'', and by little-known producers Rodnae and Mousa for the song "Don't Get It" on Lil Wayne's 2008 album ''Tha Carter III''. The song "See-Line Woman" was sampled by Kanye West for "Bad News" on his album ''808s and Heartbreak''.

Simone's years at RCA-Victor spawned a number of singles and album songs that were popular, particularly in Europe. In 1968, it was "Ain't Got No, I Got Life", a medley from the musical ''Hair'' from the album '''Nuff Said!'' (1968) that became a surprise hit for Simone, reaching number 4 on the UK pop charts and introducing her to a younger audience. In 2006, it returned to the UK Top 30 in a remixed version by Groovefinder. The following single, the Bee Gees' rendition of "To Love Somebody" also reached the UK top 10 in 1969. "House of the Rising Sun" was featured on ''Nina Simone Sings The Blues'' in 1967, but Simone had recorded the song in 1961 and it was featured on ''Nina At The Village Gate'' (1962), predating the versions by Dave Van Ronk and Bob Dylan. It was later covered by The Animals, for whom it became a signature hit.

Performing style

Simone's bearing and stage presence earned her the title "High Priestess of Soul". She was a piano player, singer, and performer, "separately and simultaneously". On stage, Simone moved from gospel to blues, jazz, and folk, to numbers with European classical styling, and Bach-style fugal counterpoint. She incorporated monologues and dialogues with the audience into the program, and often used silence as a musical element. Simone compared it to "mass hypnosis. I use it all the time". Throughout most of her life and recording career she was accompanied by percussionist Leopoldo Fleming and guitarist and musical director Al Schackman.

Simone had a reputation in the music industry for her volatility. In 1995, she shot and wounded her neighbor's son with a pneumatic pistol after his laughter disturbed her concentration. She also fired a gun at a record company executive whom she accused of stealing royalties. According to a biographer, Simone took medication for a condition from the mid-1960s on. All this was only known to a small group of intimates, and kept out of public view for many years, until the biography ''Break Down And Let It All Out'' written by Sylvia Hampton and David Nathan revealed this in 2004 after her death.

Legacy and influence

Music

Musicians who have cited Simone as important for their own musical upbringing include Antony and the Johnsons, Nick Cave, Van Morrison, Christina Aguilera, Elkie Brooks, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Kanye West, Lena Horne, John Legend, Elizabeth Fraser, Cat Stevens, Anna Calvi, Peter Gabriel, Cedric Bixler-Zavala, Mary J. Blige, Michael Gira, Angela McCluskey, Lauryn Hill, Patrice Babatunde, Alicia Keys, Ian MacKaye, Kerry Brothers, Jr. "Krucial", Amanda Palmer, Steve Adey and Jeff Buckley. John Lennon cited Simone's version of ''"I Put a Spell on You"'' as a source of inspiration for the Beatles song ''"Michelle"''. Musicians who have covered her work (or her specific renditions of songs) include Black Rock Coalition Orchestra, J.Viewz, Carola, Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin, Marilyn Manson, Donny Hathaway, David Bowie, Elkie Brooks, Roberta Flack, Jeff Buckley, The Animals, Nick Cave, Shivaree (band), Ambrosia Parsley, Muse, Cat Power, Katie Melua, Timbaland, Feist, Shara Worden, Common, Lil Wayne, and Michael Bublé. Simone's music has been featured in soundtracks of various motion pictures and video games, including but not limited to, ''The Big Lebowski'' (1998), ''Point of No Return'' (AKA ''The Assassin'', 1993), ''Notting Hill'' (1999), ''Any Given Sunday'' (1999), ''The Thomas Crown Affair'' (1999), ''Six Feet Under'' (2001), ''The Dancer Upstairs (film)'' (2002), ''Before Sunset'' (2004), ''Cellular'' (2004), ''Inland Empire'' (2006), ''Sex and the City'' (2008), ''The World Unseen'' (2008), ''Revolutionary Road'' (2008), ''Watchmen'' (2009), ''The Saboteur'' (2009), ''Repo Men'' (2010). Frequently her music is used in remixes, commercials, and TV series.

Film

The documentary ''Nina Simone: La Legende'' (''The Legend'') was made in the 1990s by French filmmakers, based on her autobiography ''I Put A Spell On You''. It features live footage from different periods of her career, interviews with friends and family, various interviews with Simone then living in the Netherlands, and while on a trip to her birthplace. A portion of footage from ''The Legend'' was taken from an earlier 26-minute biographical documentary by Peter Rodis, released in 1969 and entitled simply, ''Nina''.

Her filmed 1976 performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival is available on video courtesy of Eagle Rock Entertainment, and it is screened annually in New York City at an event called, "The Rise and Fall of Nina Simone: Montreux, 1976,", which is curated by Tom Blunt.

Plans for a Nina Simone biographical film were released at the end of 2005, to be based on Simone's autobiography ''I Put A Spell On You'' (1992) and to focus on her relationship in later life with her assistant, Clifton Henderson, who died in 2006. TV writer Cynthia Mort (''Will & Grace'', ''Roseanne'') is working on the script, and singer Mary J. Blige will play the lead role. Release of the movie is scheduled for 2012.

Her music was used in the S4C show, "Alys", in 2010.

A song sung by Nina Simone on her 1970 live album, ''Black Gold'', is used in the film ''The Dancer Upstairs''.

In the film ''Point of No Return'', the protagonist choses "Nina" as her codename in honor of Simone, her mother's favorite musical artist as well as her own. Simone's music features prominently in the film.

Honors

On Human Kindness Day 1974 in Washington, D.C., more than 10,000 people paid tribute to Nina Simone. Simone received two honorary degrees in music and humanities, from the University of Massachusetts and Malcolm X College. She preferred to be called "Dr. Nina Simone" after these honors were bestowed upon her. Only two days before her death, Simone was awarded an honorary degree by the Curtis Institute, the music school that had refused to admit her as a student at the beginning of her career. In 2010, Tryon, NC erected a statue in her honor along Trade street.

Discography

! Year	! Album	! Type	! Label	! Billboard
1958		Studio
	'' Nina Simone and Her Friends ''	Studio
'' The Amazing Nina Simone ''	Studio
'' Nina Simone at Town Hall ''	Live and studio
	'' Nina Simone at Newport ''	Live
	Studio
	'' Nina at the Village Gate ''	Live
'' Nina Simone Sings Ellington ''	Live
	'' Nina's Choice ''	Compilation
'' Nina Simone at Carnegie Hall ''	Live
	'' Folksy Nina ''	Live
'' Nina Simone in Concert ''	Live
'' Broadway-Blues-Ballads ''	Studio
		Studio
'' Pastel Blues ''	Studio
	'' Nina Simone with Strings ''	Studio (strings added)	Colpix
'' Let It All Out ''	Live and studio
	Studio
	'' High Priestess of Soul ''	Studio
'' Nina Simone Sings the Blues ''	Studio
'' Silk & Soul ''	Studio
1968	'' Nuff Said ''	Live and studio
	'' Nina Simone and Piano ''	Studio
	Studio
''A Very Rare Evening''	Live	PM Records
1970		Live	RCA Records
		Studio	RCA Records
''Gifted & Black''	Studio	Canyon Records
1972		Live and studio	RCA Records
	''Live at Berkeley''	Live	Stroud
''Gospel According to Nina Simone''	Live	Stroud
	'' It Is Finished ''	Live	RCA Records
''Sings Billie Holiday''	Live	Stroud
1978		Studio	CTI Records
1980	'' The Rising Sun Collection ''	Live	Enja
1982	'' Fodder on My Wings ''	Studio
1984	'' Backlash ''	Live	StarJazz
1985	'' Nina's Back ''	Studio
1985	'' Live & Kickin ''	Live
	'' Let It Be Me ''	Live
	Live	Hendring-Wadham
'' The Nina Simone Collection ''	Compilation	Deja Vu
1993	''A Single Woman''	Studio	Elektra Records
Additional releases
1975	''The Great Show Live in Paris''	Live	RCA?
1997	''Released''	Compilation	RCA Victor Europe
	''Gold''	Studio remastered	Universal/UCJ
''Anthology''	Compilation (from many labels)	RCA/BMG Heritage
2004	''Nina Simone's Finest Hour''	Compilation	Verve/Universal
	''The Soul of Nina Simone''	Compilation + DVD	RCA DualDisc
''Nina Simone Live at Montreux 1976''	DVD only	Eagle Eye Media
	''The Very Best of Nina Simone''	Compilation	Sony BMG
	Remix	Legacy/SBMG	5 (contemp.jazz)
''Songs to Sing: the Best of Nina Simone''	Compilation/Live Compilation	Deluxe
''Forever Young, Gifted, & Black: Songs of Freedom and Spirit''	Remix	RCA
2008	''To Be Free: The Nina Simone Story''	Compilation	Sony Legacy
2009	''The Definitive Rarities Collection - 50 Classic Cuts''	Compilation	Artwork Media
?	''Nina Simone Live''	DVD only: Studio 1961 & '62	Kultur/Creative Arts Television

References

Bibliography

External links

Nina Simone discography – at iMusic.am

Article on Nina Simone in the Encyclopedia of Jazz Musicians

The Nina Simone Database – A comprehensive Nina Simone website

Nina Simone – Legacy Recordings Page

L'hommage: Nina Simone – Tribute and archival site

Nina Simone at The Music Box – A collection of reviews

Eunice Waymon-Nina Simone Memorial Project North Carolina-based scholarship, statue & music festival

Nina Simone Biography at About.com

Obituary from ''The Daily Telegraph''

Nina Simone: The "Princess Noire" - audio report by ''NPR''

Category:1933 births Category:2003 deaths Category:American Methodists Category:African American female activists Category:African American female singer-songwriters Category:African Americans' rights activists Category:American expatriates in France Category:American jazz pianists Category:American jazz singers Category:American rhythm and blues singer-songwriters Category:American soul musicians Category:Cancer deaths in France Category:Charly Records artists Category:Deaths from breast cancer Category:Jazz songwriters Category:Juilliard School alumni Category:Musicians from North Carolina Category:People from Polk County, North Carolina Category:People from Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Category:People with bipolar disorder Category:Soul-jazz musicians Category:Torch singers Category:Women in jazz

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name	Adam and Joe
medium	Television, Radio, Podcast
nationality	English
active	1994-Present
genre	Sketch comedy
subject	Popular Culture
notable work	''The Adam and Joe Show''''Adam and Joe''
current members	Adam Buxton Joe Cornish
footnotes	}}

Adam Buxton and Joe Cornish are British comedy performers known together as Adam and Joe. They are best known for presenting ''Adam and Joe'' on BBC 6 Music, and ''The Adam and Joe Show'' on Channel 4 from 1996 to 2001.

History

Adam and Joe began working on comedy material during their time at Westminster School together, where they created numerous amateur films along with their friend Louis Theroux. Some of these films were submitted to Channel 4's home video showcase ''Takeover TV'' in 1994 and led to Adam hosting that show in 1995.

Together they hosted ''The Adam and Joe Show'' on Channel 4 from 1996 - 2001. They won the Royal Television Society Best Newcomers Award in 1998, published ''The Adam and Joe Book'' in 1999, and presented BBC Three's coverage of the Glastonbury Festival in 2000 and 2002. Other spin-off projects included ''Adam & Joe's Fourmative Years'' in 1998 and ''Adam and Joe's American Animation Adventure'' in 2001.

They directed pop promos for Frank Black and Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, as well as appearing in two Surf washing powder commercials, in which they comically brutalised Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and Keith Harris and Orville.

In 2003, Buxton and Cornish presented ''Adam and Joe Go Tokyo'', a Tokyo-based magazine show covering Japanese pop culture for BBC Three and BBC One. The same year they began hosting a show on UK radio station Xfm, filling in for Ricky Gervais on Saturday afternoons. When Gervais left the station they took over permanently, and continued to present the Saturday morning show, until Summer 2006. The best parts of these shows were condensed into a series of twenty podcasts.

Bizarrely, their most-repeated is their 2001 E4 series ''Shock Video'', in which the duo provide an often totally irrelevant comic commentary on soft-core porn clips from around the world.

From August 2006 until October 2007, they hosted the monthly "Coca-Cola New Music Podcast", which showcased unsigned bands from around Europe, presented in a similar style to their Xfm shows.

They sometimes write a column for ''The Idler'', a yearly literary magazine.

Present

Adam and Joe began presenting the BBC 6 Music Saturday morning show in October 2007.

Features on the show include 'Song Wars', where they both compose original compositions based on a common theme. Listeners then vote for which song they think is the best.

'Text the Nation' is another regular feature where listeners provide anecdotes based on a theme or question set by Adam and Joe. Themes have included 'Childhood Misconceptions' and 'Horror Film Ideas'. The 'Text the Nation' feature was also instrumental in the uncovering and then subsequent popularisation of the Stephen! call and response.

Their show won a Broadcasting Press Guild Award in 2008 for best radio programme of the year.

References

External links

Adam and Joe fansite

Adam and Joe Blog

Adam and Joe on BBC 6 Music

Adam and Joe BBC 6 Music on Facebook

Rubapedia: online encyclopedia of Adam and Joe

The Adam and Joe appreciation society on Facebook

Guardian Online live chat transcript

Independent Interview

Category:British comedy duos Category:British radio DJs Category:British television presenters