The not so noble death of Richard the Lionheart — France, 1199On March 25th of 1199 Richard th

The not so noble death of Richard the Lionheart — France, 1199On March 25th of 1199 Richard the Lionheart and his armies were besieging the castle Chalus-Chabrol in Central France, which was revolting against his rule.  A puny and unarmed castle, Richard believed that the siege would be short and without incident.  Without wearing armor he walked outside the castle walls to inspect the work done by his engineers.  It was then that he noticed a comical sight; one of the besieged soldiers, a crossbowman named Bertrand de Gurdon was using a frying pan as a shield to deflect incoming arrows.  Believing himself out of archery range, Richard began taunting the crossbowman, laughing at and mocking the besieged Frenchman.  He then dared the crossbowman to try and shoot him, most likely doing something akin to the chicken dance as he continued to mock the crossbowman.In response the crossbowman shot Richard in the left shoulder near the neck.  Richard collapsed and had to be carried to his tent where he tried to remove the arrow.  Unable to do so the arrow was surgically removed, but a nasty gangrenous infection developed soon after.  A week later King Richard the Lionheart of England was dead. -- source link

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