Reviews for Richard the Lionheart

The average rating for Richard the Lionheart based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-04-17 00:00:00 Cassandra Dabor This is a military man’s assessment of the military capabilities of Richard I of England. It does not attempt to analyze his capabilities as a politician or monarch, much less a son or husband, as the excellent forward by Major General Julian Thompson warns. As such it delivers very well indeed. Miller, a retired British officer, first provides the context of Richard’s campaign in the Holy Land, and then a chronological account of it. Finally, the book looks at Richard's achievements by topic (combined operations, logistics, command). Perhaps because I was familiar with the sequence of events, I found the analysis in the last three chapters most useful. While not a biography in the sense of providing the life story of its subject or insight into what made Richard Plantagenet who he was and what he did, it is a very useful supplement to other biographies. I highly recommend this book to anyone seriously interested in Richard, the period, or military history generally. It is particularly valuable because it highlights just how sophisticated and complex the crusades were and debunks notions of all medieval armies being little more than rabble and egotistical knights errant. After reading this book, my respect for military leadership in the middle ages increased significantly, and I look forward to applying many of the things I learned to my novel on Balian d’Ibelin.

Review # 2 was written on 2020-03-15 00:00:00 Bryan Scott 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.