Itinerary of King Richard I

Therefore, in that same year, after the death of his father, Richard, Count of Poitou, having settled affairs in Normandy, and after about two months had passed, crossed over into England. And on the feast of Saint Giles [1 September] he was received with a solemn procession at Westminster, and on the third day following, namely, on the feast of the ordination of Saint Gregory the Pope, which was a Sunday, he was solemnly anointed king, by the hand of Archbishop Baldwin who performed the office and ministry, with many of his suffragans assisting. He was crowned, with his brother Count John and their mother Eleanor standing by, she who, after the death of King Henry, at the command of her son Richard the future king, had been released from the custody in which she had been kept for nearly ten years. Present also were earls, barons, knights, and an innumerable multitude of people. And the kingdom was confirmed into the hand of King Richard. Thus, in the year of our Lord 1189, Richard was anointed king, namely on the third day of September [3rd September 1189], a Sunday, the dominical letter being A, in the year immediately after a leap year. Many at that time made conjectures, because in the Calendar that very day was marked as unlucky; and in truth that day was unlucky, and very bitter for the Jews of London, who on that day were destroyed. And in that same year likewise the Jews settled in various places throughout England suffered many evils. When therefore the royal dignity had been celebrated with three days of festivity in the royal palace at Westminster, King Richard, with befitting munificence, delighted all his subjects, distributing gifts beyond reckoning and measure to each according to their rank, and gladdening them by his incomparable excellence. His greatness of spirit and the gifts of his virtues had been bestowed upon him by the Ruler of the ages, gifts more fitting to ancient times, which now, in the old age of the world, with the seeds of virtue well-nigh exhausted, scarcely appear at all, and if so, only in a few, as something to be wondered at and remembered. To him belonged the valor of Hector, the magnanimity of Achilles; he was no less than Alexander, nor inferior in virtue to Roland; nay rather, surpassing them easily in many ways, as one more praiseworthy in our times. He was, as it were, another Titus…

"His right hand scattered riches."

“… and, which is most rarely found in so famous a knight, the tongue of Nestor and the prudence of Ulysses in all matters, whether for speaking or for action, rightly made him superior to others. His knowledge never shrank from the will to act vigorously, nor did his will reproach itself with a lack of knowledge. If anyone perchance should think him open to a charge of presumption, let him know that his spirit, unconquerable, impatient of injury, driven by inborn nobility to seek what was rightfully due, can not without reason be excused. His success in every undertaking made him the more distinguished, since

"Fortune favors the bold."¹

Igitur eodem anno post obitum patris sui, Ricardus comes Pictavensis, ordinatis rebus in Normannia, at tanquam transactis duobus mensibus, transfretavit in Angliam, et die Sancti Ægidii receptus est cum processione solemni ad Westmonasterium, et die tertia sequenti, videlicet in die ordinationis Sancti Gregorii papæ, quæ dies fuit Dominica, solemniter unctus est in regem, ex officio manum eidem imponente, et ministerium exequente archiepiscopo Baldewino, assistentibus suffraganeis ejus plurimis; et coronatus est, circumstantibus fratre suo comite Johanne, et matre eorum Alianora, quæ post mortem regis Henrici, per mandatum filii sui Ricardi regis futuri, educta fuit a custodia in qua fuerat circiter decem annos; præsentibus etiam comitibus, et baronibus et militibus et infinita hominum multitudine; et confirmatum est regnum in manum regis Ricardi. Anno igitur Domini millesimo centesimo octogesimo nono, inunctus est Ricardus rex in regem, videlicet tertia die Septembris, in die Dominica, dominicali littera existente A, anno scilicet proximo post Bissextum. Multi multa tunc conjecturabant, eo quod dies mala super eandem diem in Kalendario annotata est; et vere dies illa mala, et valde amara fuit Judæis Londoniæ, qui eodem die destructi sunt; et in illo anno similiter Judæi, in diversis locis per Angliam constituti multa mala perpessi sunt. Dignitate itaque regali trium dierum festivitate peracta in palatio regio Westmonasterii, munificentia regem Ricardum decenti, donariis sine æstimatione et numero singulis pro dignitate distributis, subjectos omnes lætificabat, operibus suis et incomparabili præstantia. Cujus animi generositatem, et dotes virtutum priscis potius sæculis Rector sæculorum contulerat, quæ per ætatem mundi jam senescentis, lassatis veluti seminibus emedullate, parum aliquid in hoc tempore in quibusdam, et id in paucis mirandum ostentant ac memorabile. Huic autem virtus Hectoris, magnanimitas erat Achillis, nec inferior Alexandro, nec virtute minor Rolando; immo nostri temporis laudabiliores facile multifariam transcendens. Cujus, velut alterius Titi,

"Dextra sparsit opes,"

et quod in tam famoso milite perrarum esse solet, lingua Nestoris, prudentia Ulixis, in omnibus negotiis vel perorandis, vel gerendis, aliis merito reddebant excellentiorem. Cujus nec scientia strenue agendi voluntatem refugeret, nec voluntas scientiæ inopiam accusaret. Quem siquis forte præsumptionis æstimaverit arguendum, noverit ejus animum vinci nescium, injuriæ impatientem, ad jure debita repetenda, innata generositate compulsum, non inconvenienter excusari: quem ad quæque gerenda effecerat successus elegantiorem, quoniam

"Audentes fortuna juvat,"

Note 1. Virgil’s Aeneid, Book 10, line 284.