He was one of the wealthiest men in Europe and joined the Barons' Crusade, where he achieved success as a negotiator for the release of prisoners and assisted with the building of the citadel in Ascalon.

He was born 5 January 1209 at Winchester Castle, the second son of John, King of England, and Isabella, Countess of Angoulême.

[3] It has been suggested that a castle was built on the site by Richard in 1233 to establish a connection with the Arthurian legends that were associated by Geoffrey of Monmouth with the area.

In that same year he acquired his main residence, Wallingford Castle in Berkshire (now Oxfordshire), and spent much money on developing it.

After the birth of Prince Edward in 1239, provisions were made in case of the king's death, which favoured the Queen and her Savoyard relatives and excluded Richard.

[citation needed] On his journey to the Holy Land, Richard had met Sanchia in Provence, where he was warmly welcomed by her father Raymond Berenger IV.

The marriages of the kings of France and England and their two brothers to the four sisters from Provence improved the relationship between the two countries that led to the Treaty of Paris in 1259.

[10] Pope Innocent IV offered Richard the crown of Sicily, but according to Matthew Paris, he responded to the extortionate price by saying, "You might as well say, 'I will sell or give you the moon, rise up and take it'".

Ottokar II of Bohemia, who at first voted for Richard but later elected Alfonso, eventually agreed to support the Earl of Cornwall, thus establishing the required simple majority.

On 17 May 1257, Konrad von Hochstaden, Archbishop of Cologne, himself crowned Richard King of the Romans in Aachen;[13] however, like his lordships in Gascony and Poitou, his title never held much significance, and he made only four brief visits to Germany between 1257 and 1269.

After the shattering royalist defeat at the Battle of Lewes, Richard took refuge in a windmill, was discovered, and was imprisoned until September 1265.

After his death, a power struggle ensued in Germany, which only ended in 1273 with the emergence of Rudolph I of Habsburg, the first scion of a long-lasting noble family to rule the empire.

Isabel Marshal died on 17 January 1240 while giving birth at Berkhamsted Castle and was buried at Beaulieu Abbey.

By Isabel Marshal he had four children, of whom only one reached adulthood:[14] Richard's second marriage took place nearly four years after the death of his first wife.

Her father, Dietrich I, Count of Falkenburg, of Valkenburg Castle in the Netherlands, was a supporter of Richard's claim to the throne of the Holy Roman Empire.