A Child on the Throne
Richard II was born in 1367 at Bordeaux, the younger son of Edward of Woodstock, the Black Prince. His elder brother died in childhood, and when his father died in 1376, Richard became heir to Edward III. He succeeded in June 1377 at the age of ten.
Because a child could not govern, the kingdom was run by councils and the king’s uncles, chiefly John of Gaunt, the duke of Lancaster. Gaunt was the most powerful man in England, which made him a target for suspicion. Throughout the early years of the reign, the real decisions were made by others, and the cost of the war with France continued to rise.
The Rising of 1381
The financial strain led to a series of poll taxes. The third poll tax, in 1380-81, charged a flat sum per adult at a higher level than before, and it was widely evaded. When commissioners were sent to check the returns, tempers flared. In late May and June 1381 revolts broke out in Essex and Kent and spread into other counties. The rebels were not all poor peasants; many were relatively prosperous villagers, artisans and local officials, with grievances about taxation, labor laws that tried to hold wages down after the plague had caused a labor shortage, and the demands of landlords.
A fuller account of the rising, its leaders such as Wat Tyler, and the rebels’ demands belongs to the separate article on the revolt. What matters here is the king’s part. The rebels marched on London and entered the city with help from some of its inhabitants. They burned the Savoy palace, Gaunt’s London home, and seized the Tower, where they killed the Archbishop of Canterbury, Simon Sudbury, and the treasurer, Robert Hales.
Richard, aged fourteen, met the rebels at Mile End on 14 June and agreed to their demands, including the end of serfdom, according to the chroniclers. The next day he met Tyler’s group at Smithfield. During the talks, a scuffle broke out and Tyler was struck down by the Lord Mayor of London, William Walworth, and others. Chroniclers say Richard rode forward to the crowd and offered to be their leader. The rebels dispersed, partly because of this and partly because the authorities were gathering forces. These accounts come from writers hostile to the rebels, so details may be shaped by their viewpoint.
Afterward, the government revoked the promises, saying they had been given under duress, and executed many leaders in the weeks that followed. Parliament refused to abolish serfdom. Historians debate how much credit Richard deserves for his behavior: he was surely coached by advisers, but his composure in front of the crowd left him with a strong sense of royal authority that shaped his later rule.
A Strong Idea of Kingship
As Richard grew up, he insisted on his royal dignity. His court became known for ceremony and display, and he had a taste for art and learning. The Wilton Diptych, a painted panel showing a kneeling king presented to the Virgin and Child, is often linked to him, though dates and meaning are debated. Poets such as Geoffrey Chaucer and John Gower were connected to his court in various ways.
He also believed that the king’s prerogative should not be limited by nobles. That belief brought him into conflict with several powerful lords, who were angry about his favorites, such as Robert de Vere, and about his cautious peace policy toward France.
The Lords Appellant
In 1387 a group of lords, known as the Lords Appellant, took action against the king’s circle. They defeated de Vere in a short armed clash, and the so-called Merciless Parliament of 1388 condemned several of Richard’s supporters. For a while the king was under tight control.
He regained authority in 1389. For several years he ruled with moderation, made a truce with France, and married a French princess, Isabella of Valois, in 1396. Then in 1397, he turned on the former Appellants, arresting some and executing or exiling others. The new Parliament was packed with his allies. By now his rule seemed arbitrary to many. He demanded oaths, took large loans from his subjects and used a private force of Cheshire archers as a guard.
Deposition
In 1398 Richard exiled his cousin Henry Bolingbroke, Gaunt’s son, and in 1399 he seized the Lancaster inheritance when Gaunt died. While Richard was in Ireland, Henry returned. Richard’s support evaporated, and he was captured and forced to give up the crown. Parliament then accepted Henry as king, an event that would shape the next century. The way Henry gained his place is covered in a separate account of Henry IV and the Lancastrian usurpation.
Richard died in custody around February 1400, probably at Pontefract. The cause is uncertain; starvation, whether forced or voluntary, is the most commonly given account, but it was never proven.
Assessment
Richard’s reign has been judged in very different ways. Some portray him as a tyrant with an unstable temper, while others emphasize that he had a coherent idea of royal power and that his enemies were not guiltless. Most agree he lacked the political skill of his grandfather Edward III. The central lesson of his reign is how difficult it was for a medieval king to rule without the cooperation of the greater nobles, and how thin the protection offered by the aura of kingship could be.