n later years. But not for long were the married
children together. Alice was taken to England, while Richard spent most
of his early life in France. He was destined to be duke of his mother's
French province of Aquitaine; and it was thought best that he should be
educated in the country of which he would be ruler.

Richard was a sturdy, bold, and adventurous lad. He engaged in all the
boyish sports of the day, and later in those chivalric pastimes that
formed part of the training of a noble youth. He was taught every
accomplishment deemed necessary for a knight,--to ride like a centaur,
to cast a lance, to wield the sword, and to swing the battle-axe. He
even learned to bend the great cross-bow, the weapon of the English
peasant, and could send an arrow straight to the mark. These exercises
were severe training for the young prince, but they developed the
prodigious strength and skill in arms that later made him the greatest
warrior of his age.

In addition to these knightly accomplishments, Richard learned to read
and write,--not such common acquirements in those days as now. From his
brilliantly educated mother the prince inherited a taste for literature,
poetry, and music. It was an age of poetry, and poets were held in much
honor, influencing men to great deeds by their stirring songs. Richard
took great delight in the songs of the troubadours of Aquitaine and
Anjou. Several of these poets, especially Blondel de Nesle, were his
warm friends, and taught him the arts of verse-making and music, in
which Richard acquired admirable skill.

In the rich land of Aquitaine, with its gay, pleasure-loving people,
Richard was surrounded by luxury and splendor, but, alas! not by an
atmosphere of peace or love. His mother was a frivolous woman, and his
father, Henry, a violent-tempered, despotic, and wicked man. The two
did not love each other, and when together quarreled continually in the
most violent manner. So Richard and his brothers--Henry, Geoffrey, and
John--passed their youth in an atmosphere of strife; and all that was
violent and contentious in their natural dispositions was fostered by
their home life and the bad example of their parents.

The princes quarreled among themselves, and as they grew older,
naturally took part in the bitter disputes continually taking place
between Henry and Eleanor. As Geoffrey once said, it was their
inheritance _not_ to love one another. The princes were all proud,
headstrong, and