Pierre Basile (died 6 April 1199), also identified in some sources as Bertran de Gourdon and John Sabroz, was a

Limousin Limousin (; ) is a former administrative region of southwest-central France. Named after the old province of Limousin, the administrative region was founded in 1960. It comprised three departments: Corrèze, Creuse, and Haute-Vienne. On 1 Jan ...

boy famous for shooting King

Richard I of England Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199), known as Richard the Lionheart or Richard Cœur de Lion () because of his reputation as a great military leader and warrior, was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ru ...

with a

crossbow A crossbow is a ranged weapon using an Elasticity (physics), elastic launching device consisting of a Bow and arrow, bow-like assembly called a ''prod'', mounted horizontally on a main frame called a ''tiller'', which is hand-held in a similar f ...

at the siege of Châlus-Chabrol on 25 March 1199. Richard, who had removed some of his

chainmail Mail (sometimes spelled maille and, since the 18th century, colloquially referred to as chain mail, chainmail or chain-mail) is a type of armour consisting of small metal rings linked together in a pattern to form a mesh. It was in common milita ...

, was not mortally wounded by Basile's bolt directly; however the wound resulted in

gangrene Gangrene is a type of tissue death caused by a lack of blood supply. Symptoms may include a change in skin color to red or black, numbness, swelling, pain, skin breakdown, and coolness. The feet and hands are most commonly affected. If the ga ...

, of which Richard later died. Basile was one of only two knights defending the castle and was renowned amongst the English attackers for his appearance: the castle was so ill-prepared for King Richard's siege that Basile was forced to defend the ramparts with cobbled-together armour and a makeshift shield constructed from a frying pan, much to the mirth of the English besiegers. It is perhaps this dismissive attitude that led to Richard taking little precaution on the day he was shot. Upon wounding Richard, Basile was captured, after which he explained that he had sought vengeance against the king for killing his father and his two brothers. Although there are numerous variations of the story's details, it is generally agreed that King Richard ordered that Basile suffer no punishment (and, in fact, that he be paid 100 shillings). Not much is known about Basile's fate afterwards, but according to one account the mercenary soldier

Mercadier Mercadier or Mercardier (died 10 April 1200) was a famous Occitan warrior of the 12th century, and the leader of a group of mercenaries in the service of King Richard I of England. In 1183 he appears as a leader of Brabançon mercenaries in So ...

disregarded Richard's orders after his death and Basile was

flayed Flaying is a method of slow and painful torture and/or execution in which skin is removed from the body. Generally, an attempt is made to keep the removed portion of skin intact. Scope A dead animal may be flayed when preparing it to be used a ...

alive and then

hanged Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature strangulation, ligature. Hanging has been a standard method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and has been the primary execution method in numerou ...

. "Peter Basili" or "Pierre Basile" is not believed to be his real name, especially since it contrasts with the names "John Sabroz" and "Bertran de Gourdon" as the name of Richard's killer. In truth, it is considered unlikely that contemporary chroniclers knew his real name.

Notes

References

* *. *Meade, Marion ''Eleanor of Aquitaine'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Basile, Pierre 1199 deaths French knights English regicides Executed French people People executed by flaying People executed by hanging Executed regicides People executed under the Plantagenets