Richard the Lionheart Book

Remarks:Miller's book reads like a collection of appendices you might find at the end of a chronicle about Richard's role overseas, and I literally couldn't get enough of it.

I actually never realized how detailed the primary sources were about the march to Jaffa. It read like a daily log and it makes the history of it feel so visceral; details about the rations of foodstuffs and the transportation of horses for example were particularly interesting. Miller even goes so far as to compare the probable rations of Richard's army to rations distributed to British soldiers throughout other wars in history. This was literally one of those books that I wish was longer, but obviously Miller only had so many sources to elaborate on.

I want to end this on a quote straight from the mouth of the commander-in-chief, rivaling that of Shakespeare's Hal:

"Brave men should either conquer nobly, or gloriously die. Martyrdom is a boon which we should receive with willing mind: but before we die, let us whilst still alive do what may avenge our deaths, giving thanks to God that it has been our lot to die martyrs."

Thank god for contemporary chroniclers or all this would be lost to us.