Richard, earl of Cornwall (1209-72), king of the Romans (1257-72). The younger brother of Henry III, he was granted the earldom of Cornwall (with its tin-mines), which made him the richest man in England after the king. He led the baronial opposition to Henry in the late 1230s, but remained solidly loyal in the years of baronial reform and rebellion (1258-65), suffering the indignity of being captured in a windmill, after the battle of Lewes (1264). In 1257 he was elected king of Germany, but never fully established his authority over the country before his death.
A Dictionary of British History. Copyright © 2001, 2004 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.