Thursday, April 6, 2023

It is the 6th of April 2023. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org, I’m Dan van Voorhis.

 

I’ll admit- as a modern and as an American, the idea of a king doesn’t do much for me. I was raised on Schoolhouse Rocks- they taught me a song, “no more kings”- I won’t sing it, but you can find it online.

But, for most of the Western world, the idea of a monarch has been the rule, not the exception. And in the West, where the Bible has been the primary text for centuries the idea of a king- ultimately culminating in King Jesus has had a strong cultural pull. And thus a king, a good king, could be seen as a Christian ideal, leading chroniclers and historians to paint with broad brushes to generalize. So, if I was to ask you: who was the greatest king of England, who would you choose?

And yes, this takes us back to the legendary days of Robin Hood (I can’t help myself, sorry). It is, after all, good King Richard- the lion heart who comes back from the 3rd Crusade to save the people from that dastardly usurper King John. It’s a nice story. It’s just not what happened.

Richard was born, the second son to King Henry II in Oxford in 1157. His mother was Eleanor of Aquitaine, and being the second in line he would take her titles while his older brother would be King. The younger Henry died, putting Richard in line for the English throne- despite having spent his life in France (he was the Duke of Aquitaine, after all). He, his brother Geoffrey and brother John sided with their mom in a nasty marital dispute between parents, eventually leading the boys to harass their father to the point of death.

Richard would be crowned king on July 20th, 1189. He seemed to have one ambition as king- to retake the Holy Land after the disaster of the 2nd Crusade (that’s when Saladin took Jerusalem). This would cement him as the ultimate as both king and Christian king. Unfortunately, to do that, he had to raise money. And so he sold everything he could, every possible office, even selling back Scotland for a sum.

He eventually took off for the Holy Land through the Mediterranean- he would take Sicily and Cyprus on the way and land in Acre in 1191. He would crusade with various European nobles from the King of France (whom he was also fighting back in France) and, importantly, Duke Leopold of Austria. When the Crusaders took Acre, Richard insulted the Duke by taking down his banner on a castle that was taken.

Richard- called the Lionheart, or Coeur de Lion (he was more French than English and would only spend six months of his reign in England) met with Saladin and made a three-year truce so he could ostensibly raise more money- sell more of Englands lands and titles and raise taxes. On his way home, he was shipwrecked, kidnapped by the Austrian Duke he had insulted, and given to the German Emperor, who demanded a ransom of an astronomical 150,000 marks. The English paid it, but with that and the raised taxes would be economically crippled- and John gets blamed for this! Perhaps absence made the heart grow fonder- Richard, the man who got the country into debt with his taxes and Crusading (and never took back Jerusalem, by the way), gets played by Sean Connery and heralded as the great Christian king. In 1199 Richard demanded that a French nobleman give him gold that a local peasant had discovered. The nobleman refused. Richard laid siege to the nobleman's castle, was shot in the arm with a crossbow, and died on the 6th of April in 1199.

The question of, and the problem of, a “Christian King” is a regular feature here on the almanac. Questions of proper rule, sin, and violence seem inescapable. Perhaps today, Maundy Thursday of Holy Week, we might remember the king who entered Jerusalem not with a conquering army, not having taxed his people to death, but as a servant on a lowly donkey.

Richard- the king with, perhaps, the best PR in the history of England was born in 1157, died on this day in 1199 was 41 years old.

 

The last word for today comes from the daily lectionary- from  John 13 for Maundy Thursday:

13:1 Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

13:2 The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper

13:3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God,

13:4 got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself.

13:5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him.

13:6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?"

13:7 Jesus answered, "You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand."

13:8 Peter said to him, "You will never wash my feet." Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no share with me."

13:9 Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!"

 

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 6th of April 2023, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man whose favorite King Richards in the film includes Sean Connery, Peter Ustinov, Richard Harris, Anthony Hopkins, and Patrick Stewart- he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who reminds you that poor King John’s PR was so bad that there’s never been another to take that name. I'm Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.