Richard I of England has been depicted many times in romantic fiction and popular culture.

Robin Hood

The Scots philosopher and chronicler John Mair was the first to associate Richard with the Robin Hood legends in his Historia majoris Britannae, tam Angliae quam Scotiae (1521). In the earliest Robin Hood ballads the only king mentioned is "Edward our comely king", most probably Edward II or Edward III. However, Sir Walter Scott's novel Ivanhoe popularised Mair's linking of the Hood legends to Richard's reign, and it was taken up by later novelists and by cinema. Typically Robin is depicted upholding justice in Richard's name against John and his officials during the king's imprisonment. Richard appears in the novella about Robin Hood, Maid Marian (1822), by Thomas Love Peacock.

Other literature Richard has appeared frequently in fiction, latterly as a result of the 'chivalric revival' of the Romantic era.

Medieval The verse romance Richard Coer de Lyon, written around the start of the fourteenth century, fictionalises and celebrates Richard's exploits on the Third Crusade. Two versions survive: the longer version incorporates more fantastical material and is unusual in its portrayal of Richard as - while also being the hero - a quasi-demonic figure and a cannibal.

Post-medieval The Adventures of King Richard Coeur-de-Lion (1791) by James White is a humorous historical novel about Richard's adventures.Stevens, Anne. H. British Historical Fiction Before Scott. Palgrave Macmilian, 2016. (p. 108) In 1822, he was the subject of Eleanor Anne Porden's epic poem, Cœur de Lion. After Ivanhoe, in which he is depicted as initially adopting the pseudonym of Le Noir Fainéant ("The Black Sluggard"), Sir Walter Scott portrayed Richard in The Talisman (1825), a highly fictionalized treatment of the Third Crusade. In her poem , Felicia Hemans relates how Richard was discovered in captivity by the troubadour, Blondel. Winning His Spurs: A Tale of the Crusades (1882) ( Boy Knight) by G. A. Henty, is a novel about a young noble, Cuthbert, who accompanies Richard during the Third Crusade. According to historian Mike Horswell, Winning His Spurs depicts Richard as "a man of action, inspirational leader and phenomenal fighter".Horswell, Mike The Rise and Fall of British Crusader Medievalism, c.1825–1945 .Abingdon-on-Thames, Oxford; Routledge. (pgs. 76-8)). The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood (1883) by Howard Pyle, features a heroic and admirable depiction of King Richard. This book helped popularize the connection between the Robin Hood legends and Richard.Coyle, Heather Campbell. Howard Pyle : American master rediscovered. Wilmington Del. : Delaware Art Museum. (pg. 56). Maurice Hewlett's novel The Life and Death of Richard Yea-and-Nay (1900) is a novel about Richard's life.Nield, Jonathan, A Guide to the Best Historical Novels and Tales. London, E. Mathews & Marrot, 1929 (p.34). The Assassins (1902), a novel by Nevill Myers Meakin (1876-1912), features Richard, Philip II of France and Saladin, in a plot involving the Order of Assassins.Ernest A. Baker, A Guide to Historical Fiction. London : G. Routledge and Sons, 1914. (p.401)"Among “popular” novels, see also Nevill Myers Meakin, The Assassins: A Romance of the Crusades (1902)". Satia, Priya Spies in Arabia : the Great War and the cultural foundations of Britain's covert empire in the Middle East. Oxford; Oxford University Press 2010. (p. 174) The juvenile novel Lion-Heart: A Story of the Reign of Richard I (1910) by "Herbert Strang" and Richard Stead, is a tale about Richard, that is influenced by Henty's work.Baker, Ernest A., A Guide to Historical Fiction. London : G. Routledge and Sons, 1914. (p. 18) Walter of Tiverton (1923) by Bernard G. Marshall, is another juvenile novel where two young knights help Richard resist the plots of Prince John.Logasa, Hannah, Historical fiction and other reading references for classes in junior and senior high schools. McKinley Pub. Co., 1941 (p.40) Unhurrying Chase (1925) by H. F. M. Prescott, revolves around the conflict between the novel's protagonist, a young Frenchman, and Richard.McGarry, Daniel D., White, Sarah Harriman, Historical Fiction Guide: Annotated Chronological, Geographical, and Topical List of Five Thousand Selected Historical Novels. Scarecrow Press, New York, 1963 (pgs. 59, 66, 72, 74). "Hawks of Outremer" (1931) by Robert E. Howard, is a short story that features a brief appearance by Richard.Howard, Robert E., Lord of Samarcand and Other Adventure Tales of the Old Orient. Lincoln, NE, Bison Books. 2005 . (p.35) Kay, the Left-Handed (1935) by Leslie Barringer deals with Richard's travels abroad and the effects of his absence from England. The Golden Knight (1937), written by Frederick Schiller Faust under the pseudonym "George Challis", focuses on Richard's captivity in Austria. The Passionate Brood by Margaret Campbell Barnes (1945) is based on the legend of Blondel de Nesle's quest to find Richard. King's Man (1948) by C. M. Edmondston and M. L. F. Hyde, is a juvenile novel exploring the working relationship between William Marshal and Richard. Harold Lamb wrote a short story "Lionheart" (1949), which focuses on Richard near the end of his life.Lamb, Harold, Swords from the West. University of Nebraska Press, 2010 (p.603) Gore Vidal's novel A Search for the King (1950) also retells the legend of Blondel and Richard. Ronald Welch's novel Knight Crusader (1954), depicts Richard as a hero.Crouch, Marcus, The Nesbit Tradition: The Children's Novel in England 1945–1970, Ernest Benn, 1972, (pgs. 72–74). John Jakes published a novel, Sir Scoundrel (1962) about Richard and Blondel. Sir Scoundrel was published under Jakes' pen-name Jay Scotland. Jakes later revised the novel and published it under his own name as King's Crusader (1977). Jakes' novel is one of the first works of fiction to depict Richard as a homosexual.Jones, Mary Ellen. John Jakes : a critical companion. Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 1996. (pgs. 16-17) The young Richard is also a major character in James Goldman's play The Lion in Winter (1966), which depicts him as homosexual. Molly Costain Haycraft's My Lord Brother, the Lion Heart (1968) is a novel that centres on the relationship between Richard and his sister, Joan of England.Sapp, Gregg, & Hartman, Donald. K. Historical figures in fiction.Phoenix (Ariz.) : Oryx Press, 1994. (p.332) He features in Graham Shelby's The Kings of Vain Intent and, more centrally, in The Devil is Loose, Norah Lofts' The Lute-Player, Jean Plaidy's The Heart of the Lion, Cecelia Holland's The King's Witch, and Sharon Kay Penman's The Devil's Brood and Lionheart. Richard is depicted in The Isle of Glass (1985) by Judith Tarr, the first volume of her historical fantasy trilogy The Hound and the Falcon.Kelso, Sylvia. "The God in the Pentagram: Religion and Spirituality in Modern Fantasy".Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts. 18(1) (pgs. 61-82). 2007. Swedish author Jan Guillou depicts Richard as a merciless Muslim killer in The Knight Templar (Crusades trilogy), while Rachel Bard's Queen Without a Country portrays him as Berengaria of Navarre's reluctant husband. Tariq Ali depicts Richard in his novel The Book of Saladin (1998). Here Richard is given the derisive nick-name "Richard the Lion-Arse" by Saladin's soldiers. According to Reed Way Dasenbrock, Ali's Richard "breaks his word repeatedly and falls quite short of the standard of chivalry and courtesy set by Salah-ud-din".Dasenbrock, Reed Way, "Tariq Ali's Islam Quintet" in Murphy, Niel, and Sim, Wai-chew (eds.), British Asian Fiction : framing the contemporary. Amherst, N.Y. : Cambria Press, 2008. (pgs. 17-18) Richard appears in several of the Crowner John historical mystery novels by Bernard Knight, beginning with The Sanctuary Seeker (1998).Michael Burgess; Jill H Vassilakos Murder in retrospect : a selective guide to historical mystery fiction. Westport, Conn. : Libraries Unlimited, 2005. (pg. 182) Kamran Pasha depicts Richard in his novel, Shadow of the Swords (2010). This depicts Richard during his conflict with Saladin, and also has Richard meeting the Jewish philosopher Maimonides.Ulett, Eva "Review: "Shadow of the Swords" by Kamran Pasha". Historical Novel Society, August 2010. Retrieved 16 March 2020. Richard is referenced in Jennifer Roberson's novels Lady of the Forest and Lady of Sherwood. Richard appears in the Japanese Light novel Fate/strange fake as a Saber class servant.

Theatre In 1966 James Rado played Richard in the original Broadway production of The Lion in Winter by James Goldman. In 2011 Tom Bateman played Richard in The Lion in Winter in the plays West End theatre debut. In 2014 a play written by David Eldridge featuring Richard I, Holy Warriors, was performed at the Shakespeare's Globe. The 2014 run of Holy Warriors featured John Hopkins as Richard I, as well as Alexander Siddig as Saladin."Review:Holy Warriors". Ian Shuttleworth, Financial Times. 25 July 2014. Retrieved 4 April 2020 .

Opera Isacio tiranno (1710) by Antonio Lotti is based loosely on Richard's conquest of Cyprus. Riccardo primo, re d'Inghilterra (1727) by George Frideric Handel is based Lotti's Isacio. Richard Coeur-de-lion (1784) by André Grétry recounts the story of Richard's imprisonment and the legend of his discovery by Blondel de Nesle. Richard en Palestine (1844) by Adolphe Adam Richard also appears in some operatic adaptations of Scott's novels Ivanhoe and The Talisman, including: Il Talismano ossia La Terza Crociata in Palestina (1829) by Giovanni Pacini Der Templer und die Jüdin (1829) by Heinrich Marschner Il Talismano (1874) by Michael Balfe (completed by Michael Costa) Ivanhoe (1891) by Sir Arthur Sullivan (1891)

Film Richard has been portrayed on film by: Arthur Hollingsworth in the silent short Robin Hood (1912) Walter Craven in the silent adaptation of Ivanhoe (1913) Walter Gibbs in the silent Robin Hood (1913) Wallace Beery in the silent films Robin Hood (1922), with Douglas Fairbanks as Robin, and Richard the Lion-Hearted (1923), based on The Talisman S. J. Bingham in the silent Robin Hood, Jr. (1923) Henry Wilcoxon in Cecil B. DeMille's The Crusades (1935) Ian Hunter in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), with Errol Flynn as Robin Patrick Barr in The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men (1952), with Richard Todd as Robin and in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955–59) with Richard Greene as Robin. Norman Wooland in Ivanhoe (1952), with Robert Taylor as Ivanhoe Patrick Holt in The Men of Sherwood Forest (1954) George Sanders in King Richard and the Crusaders (1954), loosely based on The Talisman Hamdi Geiss in Egyptian director Youssef Chahine's El Naser Salah el Dine (1963) Anthony Hopkins in the film adaptation of The Lion in Winter (1968), for which he was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor Lars Bloch in the Italian film L'Arciere di Sherwood (1970) Frankie Howerd in the comedy Up the Chastity Belt (1971), in which Richard is revealed to be the double of the main character, Lurkalot (also played by Howerd) Peter Ustinov in the Disney animated film Robin Hood (1973), in which he also voiced Prince John. Both were lions, in reference to his title 'Lionheart'. In this film, Richard is depicted as the uncle of Maid Marian. Richard Harris in Robin and Marian (1976). This is a revisionist version, depicting Richard as obsessive and murderous rather than heroic.Potter, Lois, Playing Robin Hood: The Legend as Performance in Five Centuries. Delaware; University of Delaware Press, 1998 (pp. 226-227) Neil Dickson in Lionheart (1987) Sean Connery briefly (and uncredited) at the end of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) Aleksandr Baluev in the Russian film Richard the Lion-Hearted (1992), based on The Talisman Patrick Stewart in Mel Brooks's parody Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993) Iain Glen briefly (and uncredited) at the end of Kingdom of Heaven (2005)