The Middle Ages, also known as the Medieval Period, spanned between the fifth and fifteenth centuries, ending with the death of Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field. Given the brutality of the time period, the idea of death was viewed very differently than the modern perception, and average life expectancy was significantly lower than today. War and savage violence was extremely common and as such, untimely deaths were not considered unusual. This list encompasses some of the most famously bizarre deaths in recorded history.
10
Richard I
1199
Cause of Death: Shot down by a boy who was holding a frying pan.
In 1199 Richard I had bankrupted England, thanks to the costly Third Crusade and his subsequent ransom payment after being captured by the German Emperor. To finance his war efforts in France, Richard found he needed vast amounts of money which could not be provided on tax alone. Fittingly he died whilst looking for money at Castle Chalus-Chabrol in France, which housed a pot of gold according to rumor. During the siege of the tiny castle, a young boy fighting with a frying pan grabbed a crossbow and shot into a group of knights on horseback. He hit one in the shoulder, and the victim immediately stood up and congratulated the child on his well-aimed shot. This knight was Richard the Lionheart. Richard died days later as the minor wound turned gangrenous, though on his deathbed he awarded his impoverished killer one-hundred shillings in an act of final chivalry. Despite this, the boy who killed Richard was later flayed alive on the orders of one of Richard’s generals and Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard’s grieving mother, before a public hanging.
