After just a year, Château Gaillard was approaching completion and Richard remarked "Behold, how fair is this year-old daughter of mine!" Richard later boasted that he could hold the castle "were the walls made of butter". By 1198, the castle was largely completed. At one point, the castle was the site of the execution of three soldiers of the king of France in retaliation for a massacre of Welsh mercenaries ambushed by the French; the three were thrown to their deaths from the castle's position high above the surrounding landscape. In his final years, the castle became Richard's favourite residence, and writs and charters were written at Château Gaillard, bearing ""apud Bellum Castrum de Rupe"" (at the Fair Castle of the Rock). Richard did not enjoy the benefits of the castle for long, however, as he died in Limousin on 6 April 1199, from an infected arrow wound to his shoulder, sustained while besieging Châlus.