Richard II
Richard II was deposed by his own cousin and died in captivity. Born at Bordeaux in 1367, the son of the Black Prince, he became heir when his father died in 1376 and king at ten in 1377. His character showed early. In June 1381, aged fourteen, he rode out to meet the Peasants' Revolt at Smithfield; when the mayor killed Wat Tyler in front of the crowd, Richard rode forward alone and told them he would be their leader. The rising dispersed, and the concessions were revoked within weeks. He believed in royal authority as an absolute, personal thing, insisted on elaborate court ceremony, required to be addressed as majesty, and promoted favourites — Robert de Vere and Michael de la Pole — over the established nobility. The Lords Appellant, a group of magnates including his uncle Thomas of Woodstock and his cousin Henry Bolingbroke, took control in 1387-88 and had his friends executed or exiled in the Merciless Parliament. He resumed power in 1389 and behaved moderately for eight years. Then in 1397 he moved: Woodstock was murdered at Calais, others were executed or banished, a packed parliament granted him revenue for life, and he ruled through a private army of Cheshire archers and forced loans. He exiled Bolingbroke in 1398 and, when John of Gaunt died the following year, confiscated the Lancaster inheritance outright. Bolingbroke landed while Richard was in Ireland, and the country did not resist him. Richard abdicated in September 1399 and died at Pontefract early in 1400, probably starved.
- Lived: 1367 CE – 1400 CE
- Nationality: English
- Roles: king, head_of_state
