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Dromo's Den
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[Up] [Dromo's Den] Richard II RICHARD II (1367–1400). King of England from 1377 to 1399. He was the second son of Edward the Black Prince and Joan of Kent and was born at Bordeaux on Jan. 6, 1367. Many miraculous stories arose in time concerning his birth, due chiefly to his subsequent unfortunate career. Richard's elder brother died in 1371, and his father in 1376, so that he was placed in the care of his uncle John of Gaunt (q.v.). On June 21, 1377, Edward III died and left to the infant King a country devastated by plague and a people oppressed by heavy taxes due to the war with France (q.v.). Parliament, which had obtained greater power in the last years of Edward III's reign, sought now to secure control of the government, but was opposed by John of Gaunt and his followers. In 1381 took place the Tyler Insurrection (q.v.), which was caused partly by an onerous capitation tax. The speedy suppression of this dangerous rising was due to a considerable extent to Richard's spirit and daring. In 1383 Richard was married to Anne of Bohemia, and in the same year the King began to seek the downfall of the great nobles, who controlled Parliament and prevented the development of the royal power. The next two years were occupied by a war with France, with which country Scotland was allied. For a while Richard conducted the war in Scotland in person, and Edinburgh was burned. In the absence of John of Gaunt in Spain, Richard's youngest uncle, the Duke of Gloucester, put himself at the head of affairs; an attempt which Richard made to free himself from control having been defeated, several of his counselors were put to death, which act was approved by the Parliament of 1388. In 1389, however, Richard by a coup d'état succeeded in throwing off the yoke. Gloucester, Warwick, and Arundel were deprived of their power. These three nobles, together with Henry, Earl of Derby, eldest son of John of Gaunt, and Thomas Mowbray, Earl of Nottingham, had been the nobles who had "appealed" or accused Richard's adherents in 1388. Hence they are known in history as the "lords appellant." In 1394 Richard went to Ireland and received the submission of the four "kings" of Meath, Thomond, Leinster, and Connaught. The same year the Queen died, and in 1396 a marriage treaty was concluded between Richard and Isabella, infant daughter of King Charles VI of France. Gloucester disapproving of this marriage, which seems to have been unpopular, Richard caused him to be privately arrested and conveyed to Calais, where he either died or was murdered. On the meeting of Parliament the Earl of Warwick was banished and the Earl of Arundel beheaded. A misunderstanding having taken place between Henry, Duke of Hereford (formerly Earl of Derby), and Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk (formerly Earl of Nottingham), the King, desirous to be rid of both, sent the former into banishment for 10 years and the latter for life. But Hereford had been assiduously cultivating the popularity which his cousin had been as assiduously throwing away, and the result became apparent in 1399. On his return in that year from a military expedition in Ireland, Richard found that Bolingbroke (as Hereford was generally known) had in his absence landed in England, that he had placed himself at the head of a formidable army, and that the Duke of York had yielded and gone over to his side. The army which the King had with him in Ireland, also, no sooner landed than it almost entirely passed over to the invader. Meeting the conqueror at Flint Castle, Richard was carried captive in his train to London. On Sept. 30, 1399, he formally resigned his crown. On the following day the resignation was ratified by Parliament, and the crown conferred on Bolingbroke (who had assumed the title of Duke of Lancaster), who was henceforth known as Henry IV (q.v.). By order of the peers Richard was confined secretly in various castles. In the February following his resignation the nation was told that he was dead, and his body, or what was supposed to be it, was brought with much pomp from Pontefract Castle and shown to the people. There were rumors afterward of his being alive and in Scotland. It is probable that he was murdered about Feb. 14, 1400. Richard had ability, but was very extravagant, fond of pleasure, and subject to fits of passion. He had some taste for literature and was a patron of Gower, Froissart, and Chaucer. His reign is important on account of the development of the Privy Council (q.v.) and the active rôle played by Parliament. Furthermore it was during this reign that the work of Wiclif (q.v.) bore fruit in the rise of the Lollard (q.v.) movement. The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. XIX (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 798-799. |