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RICHARD II

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Originally appearing in Volume V23, Page 297 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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RICHARD II . (1367-1400), See also:king of See also:England, younger son of See also:Edward the See also:Black See also:Prince by See also:Joan " the See also:Fair Maid of See also:Kent, was See also:born at See also:Bordeaux on the 6th of See also:January 1367. He was brought to. England in 1371, and after his See also:father's See also:death was, on the See also:petition of the See also:Commons in See also:parliament, created prince of See also:Wales on the 20th of See also:November 1376. When Edward III. died, on the 2ISt of See also:June 1377, Richard became king. Popular See also:opinion had credited See also:John of Gaunt with designs on the See also:throne. This was not justified; nevertheless, the rivalry of the boy-king's uncles added another to the troubles due to the See also:war, the Black Death and the prospect of a See also:long minority. At first the See also:government was conducted by a See also:council appointed by parliament. The council was honest, but the difficulties of the situation were too See also:great. The See also:ill-considered See also:poll-tax of 1381 was the occasion, though not the real cause, of the Peasants' Revolt in that See also:year. The ministers were quite unequal to the crisis, and when Wat See also:Tyler and his followers got See also:possession of See also:London, it was Richard who showed a precocious tact and confidence in handling it. It was the boy-king who met and temporized with the rebels on the 13th of June at Mile End, and again next See also:day at Smithfield; and he who, with courageous presence of mind, saved the situation when Tyler was killed, by calling on them to take him for their See also:leader.

From this See also:

time Richard began to assert himself. His See also:chief ministers, appointed by parliament in 1382, were the See also:earl of See also:Arundel and See also:Michael de la See also:Pole. Arundel Richard disliked, and dismissed next year, when he began his See also:personal government. Pole, whom he retained as See also:chancellor and made earl of See also:Suffolk, was a well-chosen adviser. But others, and especially his youthful favourite See also:Robert de See also:Vere, promoted by unheard-of See also:honour to be See also:marquess of See also:Dublin and See also:duke of See also:Ireland, were less worthy. Further, Richard made his own position difficult by lavish extravagance and unseemly out-bursts of See also:temper. He chafed under the See also:restraint of his relatives, and therefore encouraged John of Gaunt in his See also:Spanish enter-prise. This gave the less scrupulous See also:Thomas of See also:Gloucester his opportunity. Gloucester, supported by Arundel, attacked his See also:nephew's ministers in the parliament of 1386, and by open hints at deposition forced Richard to submit to a council of See also:control. When Richard, with the aid of his See also:friends and by the See also:advice of subservient See also:judges, planned a reversal of the parliament, Gloucester, at the See also:head of the so-called lords appellant, anticipated him. Richard had been premature and ill-advised. Gloucester had the See also:advantage of posing as the head of the constitutional party.

The king's friends were driven into See also:

exile or executed, and he himself forced to submit to the loss of all real See also:power (May 1388). Richard changed his methods, and when the lords appellant had lost See also:credit, asserted the apparent indifference which he showed in his fall was the himself constitutionally by dismissing Gloucester's supporters See also:mere acting of a See also:part. His violent outbursts of See also:passion perhaps from See also:office, and appointing in their See also:place well-approved men give the best See also:clue to a See also:mercurial and impulsive nature, easily like See also:William of Wykeham. In the next parliament of 1390 elated and depressed. He had real ability, and in his Irish the king showed himself ready to meet and conciliate his policy, and in the preference which he gave to it over See also:continental subjects. The simultaneous return of John of Gaunt from See also:adventure, showed a statesmanship in advance of his time. See also:Spain put a check on Gloucester's ambition. For seven years But this, in spite of his lofty theory of kingship, makes it all Richard ruled constitutionally and on the whole well. The the more difficult to explain his extravagant bearing in his opposition was quiescent except for two outbreaks by Arundel: prosperity. His fall was due to the See also:triumph of See also:national right the first was a violent attack on John of Gaunt, which rather over See also:absolute government, but it was his personal conduct strengthened Richard's position; the second was a wanton which made it inevitable. In See also:appearance Richard was tall insult to the king at the funeral of his See also:queen. and handsome, if effeminate. He had some See also:literary tastes, In January 1383 Richard had married See also:Anne of Bohemia which were shown in fitful patronage of See also:Chaucer, See also:Gower and (1366–1394), daughter of the See also:emperor See also:Charles IV.

The See also:

marriage, See also:Froissart. His See also:fancy for splendid See also:dress may have been due though childless, was happy; had Anne lived or See also:borne a son to an See also:artistic sense, which found better expression in his great the course of events might have been different. Her death buildings of See also:Westminster See also:Hall and See also:Abbey. Richard's second on the 7th of June 1394 was a great See also:shock to Richard, and queen, See also:Isabella (1389–1409), was born in See also:Paris on the 9th of incidentally had important consequences. Richard sought November 1389, and was married to the See also:English king at See also:Calais See also:distraction by an expedition to Ireland, the first visit of an in See also:October, or November, 1396, but on See also:account of the See also:bride's English king for more than two centuries. In his policy there youth the marriage was never consummated. When Richard he showed a See also:wise statesmanship. At the same time he was lost his See also:crown in 1399 Isabella was captured by See also:Henry IV.'s negotiating for a permanent See also:peace with See also:France, which was partisans and sent to Sonning, near See also:Reading, while her father, finally arranged in October 1396 to include his own marriage Charles VI., asked in vain for the restoration of his daughter with Isabella, daughter of Charles VI., a See also:child of seven. and of her See also:dowry. In 1401 she was allowed to return to Gloucester criticized the peace openly, and there was some France; in 1406 she became the wife of the poet, Charles, show of opposition in the parliament of See also:February 1397. But duke of See also:Orleans, and she died on the 13th of See also:September 1409. there was nothing to foreshadow the sudden stroke by which BIBLIOGRAPHY.—The best contemporary authorities are the in See also:July Richard arrested Gloucester and his chief supporters, Chronscon Anglsae down to 1388, See also:Walsingham's Hisforia Anglicana, the earls of Arundel and See also:Warwick. The others of the five the Annales Ricardi II., Knighton's See also:Chronicle (all these in the Rolls lords appellant, Henry of See also:Bolingbroke afterwards See also:Kin See also:Series), the Vita Ricardi II. by a See also:Monk of See also:Evesham (ed.

T. See also:

Hearne), g and the Chronique de la traison et mort (English Hist. See also:Soc.). Henry IV., and the earl of See also:Nottingham, now supported the Froissart wrote from some personal knowledge. A metrical account king. Richard's See also:action was apparently in deliberate revenge of Richard's fall, probably written by a See also:French See also:knight called Creton, for the events of 1387–88. Gloucester, after a forced See also:con- is printed in See also:Arch¢eologia, xx. The chief collections of documents fession, died in See also:prison at Calais smothered b his nephew's are the Rolls of Parliament and the See also:Calendar of Patent Rolls. H. A. P , Y Wallon's Richard II. (Paris, 1864) is the fullest See also:life, though now orders.

Arundel in a packed parliament was condemned and somewhat out of date. For other See also:

modern accounts see W. See also:Stubbs, executed; his See also:brother Thomas See also:archbishop of See also:Canterbury was Constitutional See also:History, and C. W. C. See also:Oman, The See also:Political History of exiled. The king's friends, including Nottingham and Boling- England, vol. iv., and The Great Revolt of 1381. (C. L. K.) See also:broke, made See also:dukes of See also:Norfolk and See also:Hereford, were all promoted RICHARD III. (1452–1485), king of England, youngest son of in See also:title and See also:estate. Richard himself was rewarded for ten Richard, duke of See also:York, by See also:Cicely See also:Neville, was born at Fotheringyears' See also:patience by the possession of absolute power.

He See also:

hay on the and of October 1452. After the second See also:battle of might perhaps have established it if he could have exercised St Albans in February 1461, his See also:mother sent him with his it with moderation. But he declared that the See also:laws of England brother See also:George for safety to See also:Utrecht. They returned in See also:April, were in his mouth, and supported his See also:court in wanton luxury and at the See also:coronation of Edward IV. Richard was created duke by arbitrary methods of See also:taxation. By the exile of Norfolk of Gloucester. As a mere child he had no importance till 1469-and Hereford in September 1398 he seemed to have removed 1470, when he supported his brother against Warwick, shared his the last persons he need fear. He was so confident that in exile and took part in his triumphant return. He distinguished May 1399 he paid a second visit to Ireland, taking with him himself at See also:Barnet and See also:Tewkesbury; according to the Lancastrian all his most trusted adherents. Thus when Henry landed See also:story, after the latter battle he murdered the See also:young Edward at Ravenspur in July he found only See also:half-hearted opposition, of Wales in See also:cold See also:blood; this is discredited by the authority of and when Richard himself returned it was too See also:late. Ultimately See also:Warkworth (Chronicle, p. 18); but Richard may have had a Richard surrendered to Henry at See also:Flint on the 19th of See also:August, See also:share in Edward's death during the fighting.

He cannot be so promising to abdicate if his life was spared. He was taken fully cleared of complicity in the See also:

murder of Henry VI., which to London See also:riding behind his See also:rival with indignity. On the probably took place at the See also:Tower on the See also:night of the 21-22 3oth of September he signed in the Tower a See also:deed of See also:abdication, of May, when Richard was certainly See also:present there. Richard wherein he owned himself insufficient and useless, reading it shared to the full' in his brother's prosperity. He had large first aloud with a cheerful mien and ending with a See also:request grants of lands and office, and by marrying Anne (1456–1485), that his See also:cousin would be See also:good See also:lord to him. The parliament the younger daughter of Warwick, secured a share in the Neville ordered that Richard should be kept See also:close prisoner, and he See also:inheritance. This was distasteful to George, duke of See also:Clarence, was sent secretly to See also:Pontefract. There in February 1400 he who was already married to the See also:elder See also:sister, See also:Isabel. The rivalry died: no doubt of the rigour of his See also:winter imprisonment, of the two See also:brothers caused a See also:quarrel which was never appeased. rather than by actual murder as alleged in the story adopted Richard does not, however, seem to have been directly re-by See also:Shakespeare. The See also:mystery of Richard's death led to sponsible for the death of Clarence in 1478; See also:Sir Thomas More, rumours that he had escaped, and an impostor pretending to who is a hostile See also:witness, says that he resisted it openly " how be Richard lived during many years under the See also:protection of See also:beit somewhat (as men deemed) more faintly than he that were the Scottish government. But no doubt it was the real Richard heartily minded to his See also:wealth." Richard's share of the Neville who was buried without See also:state in 1400 at King's See also:Langley, and inheritance was chiefly in the See also:north, and he resided usually at honourably reinterred by Henry V. at Westminster in 1413. Middleham in See also:Yorkshire..

In May 1480 he was made the king's Richard II. is a See also:

character of See also:strange contradictions. It is See also:lieutenant-See also:general in the north, and in 1482 commanded a difficult to reconcile the precocious boy of 1381 with the way- successful invasion of See also:Scotland. His See also:administration was good, See also:ward and passionate youth of the next few years. Even if it and brought him well-deserved popularity. On Edward's be supposed that he dissembled his real opinions during the death he was kept informed of events in London by William, See also:period of his constitutional See also:rule, it is impossible to believe that Lord See also:Hastings, who shared his dislike of the Woodville See also:influence. On the 29th of April 1483, supported by the duke of Bucking-See also:ham, he intercepted his nephew at Stony See also:Stratford and arrested Lord See also:Rivers and Richard See also:Grey, the little king's half-brother. It was in Richard's See also:charge that Edward was brought to London on the 4th of May. Richard was recognized as See also:protector, the Woodville See also:faction was overthrown, and the queen with her younger See also:children took See also:sanctuary at Westminster. For the time the government was carried on in Edward's name, and the 22nd of June was appointed for his coronation. Richard was nevertheless gathering forces and concerting with his friends. In the council there was a party, of whom Hastings and See also:Bishop See also:Morton were the chief, which was loyal to the boy-king. On the 13th of June came the famous See also:scene when Richard appeared suddenly in the council See also:baring his withered See also:arm and accusing Jane See also:Shore and the queen of sorcery; Hastings, Morton and See also:Stanley were arrested and the first-named at once beheaded.

A few days later, probably on the 25th of June, Rivers and Grey were executed at Pontefract. On the 22nd of June Dr See also:

Shaw was put up to preach at See also:Paul's See also:Cross against the See also:legitimacy of the children of Edward IV. On the 25th a sort of parliament was convened at which Edward's marriage was declared invalid on the ground of his precontract with Eleanor See also:Talbot, and Richard rightful king. Richard, who was not present, accepted the crown with feigned reluctance, and from the following day began his formal reign. On the 6th of July Richard was crowned at Westminster, and immediately afterwards made a royal progress through the Midlands, on which he was well received. But in spite of its apparent success the usurpation was not popular. Richard's position could not be secure whilst his nephews lived. There seems to be no reasonable doubt that See also:early in August Edward V. and his brother Richard (whom See also:Elizabeth Woodville had been forced to surrender) were murdered by their See also:uncle's orders in the Tower. Attempts have been made to clear Richard's memory. But the See also:report of the princes' death was believed in England at the time, " for which cause king Richard lost the See also:hearts of the See also:people " (See also:Chronicles of London, 191), and it was referred to as a definite fact before the French states-general in January 1484. The general, if vague, dissatisfaction found its expression in See also:Buckingham's See also:rebellion. Richard, however, was fortunate, and the See also:movement collapsed.

He met his only parliament in January 1484 with some show of triumph, and deserves credit for the wise See also:

intent of its legislation. He could not, however, stay the undercurrent of disaffection, and his ministers, See also:Lovell and See also:Catesby, were unpopular. His position was weakened by the death of his only legitimate son in April 1484. His queen died also a year later (See also:March 16, 1485), and public opinion was scandalized by the rumour that Richard intended to marry his own niece, Elizabeth of York. Thus the feeling in favour of his rival Henry Tudor strengthened. Henry landed at See also:Milford Haven on the 7th of August 1485, and it was with dark forebodings that Richard met him at See also:Bosworth on the 22nd. The defection of the Stanleys decided the day. Richard was killed fighting, courageous at all events. After the battle his See also:body was carried to See also:Leicester, trussed across a See also:horse's back, and buried without honour in the See also:church of the Greyfriars. Richard was not the villain that his enemies depicted. He had good qualities, both as a See also:man and a ruler, and showed a See also:sound See also:judgment of political needs. Still it is impossible to acquit him of the See also:crime, the popular belief in which was the chief cause of his ruin.

He was not a See also:

monster; but a typical man in an See also:age of strange contradictions of character, of culture combined with See also:cruelty, and of an emotional temper that was capable of high ends, though unscrupulous of means. Tradition represents Richard as deformed. It seems clear that he had some See also:physical defect, though not so great as has been alleged. John See also:Stow told See also:Buck that old men who remembered Richard described him as in bodily See also:form comely enough. Extant portraits show an intellectual See also:face characteristic of the early See also:Renaissance, but do not indicate any deformity.

End of Article: RICHARD II

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