The Problem of a Christian King

Richard, the king with perhaps the best PR in the history of England, was born in 1157 and died on this day in 1199. Richard would meet with Saladin and make a three-year truce so he could go back and raise more money,. But on his way home, he was shipwrecked and then kidnapped by that Austrian Duke who demanded a ransom of an astronomical 150,000 marks. The English paid it but with that and the raised taxes, they would be economically crippled for years to come.