The Church of the Madeleine in Verneuil-sur-Avre in Normandy, France. The church grew up with the town and parts date back to Richard I’s time; the eye-catching tower is a later addition, however, belonging to the fifteenth century. Normandy was the inheritance of the sons of William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, who seized the English crown at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Generations of the Kings of France strove to claw back Normandy and other ducal lands held by their English cousins; Henry II and his son Richard I resisted stoutly, but Richard’s younger brother John (r. 1199-1216) suffered heavy losses, and at the close of the Hundred Years’ War in 1453 all were gone except for Calais.
WHEN it was signified unto King Richard the First, son to the foresaid King Henry,* sitting at supper in his Palace at Westminster (which we call the old Palace now), that the French King besieged his Town of Verneuil,* in Normandy, he in greatness of courage protested in these words: “I will never turn my back until I have confronted the French.”
For performance of which his Princely word, he caused the wall in his Palace at Westminster to be broken down directly towards the South, posted* to the coast, and immediately into Normandy, where the very report of his sudden arrival so terrified the French that they raised the siege and retired themselves.
* Henry II of England, who reigned from 1154 to 1189.
* Verneuil-sur-Avre in Normandy. The threatened siege described here took place early in May 1194. Philip II of France had tried to capture Verneuil before: back on June 23rd, 1173, he had briefly taken the town only for Henry II to reclaim it days later. An even more famous battle was fought there in 1425, during the Hundred Years’ War, in which some 9,000 English defeated 15,000 French and their Scottish allies. The town was taken by the French in 1449.
* In the days of horse-drawn carriages, to travel ‘post’ meant to go quickly, changing to a fresh team of horses every few miles. The journey posed a further test of Richard’s resolve. His ship had just left Portsmouth on May 2nd when a storm forced the royal fleet to turn about, and take shelter in the harbour again, awaiting more favourable weather. Judging from his performance at Westminster, one can only assume that he made every necessary arrangement to keep his vow throughout.
Précis
In 1194, Richard the Lionheart heard that Verneuil in Normandy, an English town, was under siege by Philip II of France. Richard vowed not to turn aside until he had met his foe, and took it so literally that he had the Palace wall broken down so he could walk straight towards France, where he relieved Verneuil without bloodshed. (58 / 60 words)
