Richard the Lionheart: The Mighty Crusader

King Richard I won an enduring reputation for personal courage in his numerous wars, but his reputation as a military commander, let alone as a political leader, is less certain. British historians in particular have judged him harshly for what has been seen as absenteeism: he spent so little time in England that his younger brother was eventually able to seize power while he was away. Yet Richard ruled an empire, and the bulk of his territories were on the European mainland. His ability to undertake a two-year campaign at the other end of the Mediterranean demonstrated strategic skills far in advance of other Crusader commanders. As David Miller observes, this was the furthest 'overseas deployment' of an English army to date. Of course, his army was actually an alliance of often mutually hostile elements and to hold this multinational force together for so long suggests the king's political talent has been undervalued. If King Richard ultimately failed to wrest the Holy City from Saladin and the Muslim armies, he restored the fortunes of the Crusader Kingdom that had been on the brink of extinction when he set out for the Middle East. Book jacket.

David Miller served in the British Army from 1956 to 1991. He took early retirement to become a journalist and to write books. He has had over forty books published on subjects ranging from the Samurai to the Battle of Waterloo, a shipwreck in the Falkland Islands and the Crusades. Working on the latter book revived his interest in Richard the Lionheart, one of the greatest warrior-kings England has ever known