It was in March 1199, during a revolt by Viscount Aimar V of Limoges, that Richard besieged the tiny, virtually unarmed castle of Châlus–Chabrol. Some chroniclers claimed that this was because a local peasant had uncovered a treasure trove of Roman gold. Although it was Lent, he "devastated the Viscount's land with fire and sword".
On 26 March 1199, Richard was hit in the shoulder by a crossbow, and the wound turned gangrenous. Richard asked to have the crossbowman brought before him; the man turned out (according to some sources, but not all) to be a boy, given various names including Pierre (or Peter) Basile. He said that Richard had killed his father and two brothers, and that he had killed Richard in revenge. He expected to be executed, but as a final act of mercy Richard forgave him, ordering the boy to be freed and sent away with 100 shillings.
Richard died on 6 April 1199 in the arms of his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine. His death was later referred to as "the Lion [being slain] by the Ant". According to one chronicler, Richard's last act of chivalry proved fruitless when the the Occitan captain Mercadier (an infamous mercenary, working in Richard's service) had the boy flayed alive and hanged as soon as Richard died.
Richard's heart was buried at Rouen in Normandy, his entrails in Châlus (where he died), and the rest of his remains at the feet of his father in Fontevraud Abbey, in Anjou In 2012, scientists analysed the remains of Richard's heart and found that it had been embalmed with various substances, including frankincense, a symbolically important substance because it had been present both at the birth and embalming of the Christ.
Henry Sandford, Bishop of Rochester (1226–1235) announced that he had seen a vision of Richard ascending to Heaven in March 1232 (along with Stephen Langton, the former archbishop of Canterbury), the King having presumably spent 33 years in purgatory as expiation for his sins.
Wikipedia (the source of this edited note) points out that Richard I is almost unique among the kings of England (at least since the Norman conquest – Wikipedia doesn't mention this) in being remembered more commonly by his epithet than his regnal number.
© Haydn Thompson 2020