Student Publications Student Scholarship Fall 2015 He Was The Best of Kings; He Was the Worst of Kings: A Critique of the Literary Presentation of Richard I Estelle Reed Gettysburg College Follow this and additional works at: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/student_scholarship Part of the European History Commons Share feedback about the accessibility of this item. Reed, Estelle, "He Was The Best of Kings; He Was the Worst of Kings: A Critique of the Literary Presentation of Richard I" (2015). Student Publications. 410. https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/student_scholarship/410 This is the author's version of the work. This publication appears in Gettysburg College's institutional repository by permission of the copyright owner for personal use, not for redistribution. Cupola permanent link: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/student_scholarship/ 410 This open access student research paper is brought to you by The uC pola: Scholarship at Gettysburg College. It has been accepted for inclusion by an authorized administrator of The uC pola. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. He Was The Best of Kings; He Was the Worst of Kings: A Critique of the Literary Presentation of Richard I Abstract In order to achieve a more holistic understanding of Mediterranean History during the Third Crusade, a critical analysis of Richard I is necessary. This paper questions how accurately Richard I was portrayed in literary sources during the Third Crusade and attempts to construct as complete an image of the various motivations that led to differing depictions of Richard I as possible through a critical analysis of literary sources. Focusing on how his actions during the Third Crusade were interpreted, this paper will show the various, often opposing, sentiments held by both Western and Muslim authors on Richard I.