Philip of Cognac was an illegitimate son of Richard the Lionheart, King of England by an unidentified mother.
Background
His father married him to his ward, Amelia, the heiress of Cognac, France in Charente. "Philip, illegitimate son of King Richard of England, to whom the aforesaid king his father had granted the castle and honour of Cognac, slew the previously mentioned Viscount of Limoges in vengeance for his father.".
Career
Philip had reached adulthood by the end of the 1190s. However, when she died without issue, Richard kept the castle, and handed it over to his seneschal, Robert of Thornham. The king was mortally wounded during the suppression of a revolt by Viscount Aimar V of Limoges in 1199, and died without legitimate heirs.
The chronicler Roger of Howden claimed that later that same year,
Number other source corroborates this, or explicitly indicates that Aimar of Limoges"s death was a violent one.
However, Guiraut de Bornelh"s planh (lament) for him, Planc e sospir, does suggest his death was unexpected. R. Ricardi 1 m. de dono R." ("And to Philip, son of King Richard, one mark as a gift"), but nothing later.
lieutenant seems likely that he died early in the 13th century. The sparsely-documented historical Philip of Cognac has been developed in literature.
William Shakespeare depicted him as Philip the Bastard in his play, The Life and Death of King John.
In this, he is the son of Lady Faulconbridge, widow of Sir Robert Faulconbridge, and learns of his true paternity in the first scene:
Madam, I would not wish a better father. He that perforce robs lions of their hearts
However, as mentioned above, nothing is known of the real Philip"s mother. Another highly fictionalised version of Philip, played by Stephen Moyer, figures as the romantic hero of Princess of Thieves (2001), a made-for-television Disney adventure for young viewers, in which Keira Knightley plays Gwyn, the daughter of Robin Hood.
This follows the tradition, begun by John Mair and popularised by Walter Scott, of assigning the Hood legends to Richard"s reign.