Historical Romance in the time of Richard the Lionheart and the Crusades

History's Forgotten Princesses. There were two important women in the life of Richard the Lionheart; they were Princess Alys, also known as Alix, daughter of the King of France, Louis VII and Princess Berengaria, daughter of the King of Navarre.

The early royal families of Europe behaved like the characters in a soap opera. King Louis VII was previously married to Eleanor of Aquitaine, the mother of Richard the Lionheart. Alys' sister, Marguerite, was sent off to be raised by the family of Henry II, Richard's father, at the age of two. She was betrothed to Richard's elder brother, Henry. So, although Marguerite was Alys' sister, she had never before laid eyes on her!

It seems that children were pawns in a gigantic game of politics. I wonder what sort of psychological problems they ended up with.

Alys was sent to live with Richard's family in England at the age of only eight. Not much is known about her, so this book is purely fictional, with as much history as is known for its setting. Much of it is true.

Richard had little interest in anything save wars and battles. He would have married Alys; she was as good as anyone else.

Poor Alys was mostly ignored and King Henry seduced her at a young age and made her his mistress. Now she was no longer as good as anyone else; she was sullied and Richard refused to marry her.

When King Louis died, his son, Philip took the throne of France and Richard was able to buy himself out of his betrothal to the King's sister. He was, after all, Philip's best friend and Richard even named his only son after him. They went on Crusade together. That was the third crusade, by the way, which confuses a lot of people. There were four. But let's be clear - there was no passionate affair between the two men. They were best friends, nothing more.

Even after being released from her betrothal to Richard, Alys was still imprisoned in a castle, awaiting instruction on how to live her life from her brother. 

He arranged a marriage to the much younger Count of Blois, a marriage Philip believed to be to his advantage. He believed his sister to be barren, since she had been King Henry's lover for years and never produced offspring.

I don't know how close Alys became with her much younger husband, but she did have children, which must have been a huge disappointment to her brother.

Richard had arranged to meet Berengaria, the woman he wanted to marry, in Sicily where they would be married. 

Richard's sister, Joan, was Queen of Sicily but when Richard arrived it was to find that the King (Joan's husband) was dead and she had been abducted and imprisoned. Of course, nobody was going to treat the sister of Richard the Lionheart like that!

Having sorted out the usurper and taken Joan under his wing, by the time Berengaria arrived, it was Lent and they couldn't marry. Richard was anxious to get to the Holy Land and start his crusade, so they all set out. They were shipwrecked off the coast of Cyprus, where Richard and Berengaria were married before going on to the Holy Land with the daughter of the King of Cyprus as hostage.

There is a lot of difference of opinion as to the age of the daughter. Some say she was an adult and that Richard had an affair with her, while others insist she was only a child. The Loves of the Lionheart accepts her as a child.

Now, Richard had got himself into a bit of a pickle. He was going on Crusade, with his new bride, and meeting up with his friend, Philip, King of France and brother of Alys, to whom he was still betrothed! The only thing to do was buy his way out of the betrothal and he paid Philip a lot of money to be free of her.

I believe Richard and Berengaria tried to achieve a happy marriage, but his need for constant warfare meant he was away a lot. There is also doubt as to his sexual orientation and the fact that someone challenged him about his lifestyle and told him to go home to his wife. Whether that someone was a Bishop of the church or a hermit is in doubt.

After he was killed, she lived in poverty since his successor, John, refused to release to her the property Richard had left her. She also sold what she did have to help the poor and to buy masses for Richard's soul. 

She must have thought he needed them!