Richard II of England

Richard II (January 6, 1367 – c. February 14, 1400), also known as Richard of Bordeaux, is King of England from 1377 until he is deposed on September 30, 1399.

Richard, a son of Edward, the Black Prince, was born during the reign of his grandfather, Edward III.

Richard is the younger brother of Edward of Angoulême; upon the death of this elder brother, Richard—at four years of age—becomes second in line to the throne after his father.

Upon the death of Richard's father prior to the death of Edward III, Richard, by primogeniture, becomes the first in line for the throne.

With Edward III's death the following year, Richard succeeds to the throne at the age of ten.

During Richard's first years as king, government is in the hands of a series of councils.

Most of the aristocracy prefers this to a regency led by the king's uncle, John of Gaunt, yet Gaunt remains highly influential.

The first major challenge of the reign is the Peasants' Revolt in 1381.

The young king plays a major part in the successful suppression of this crisis.

In the following years, however, the king's dependence on a small number of courtiers causes discontent among the influential, and in 1387 control of government is taken over by a group of aristocrats known as the Lords Appellant.

By 1389 Richard has regained control, and for the next eight years governs in relative harmony with his former opponents.

In 1397, Richard takes his revenge on the appellants, many of whom are executed or exiled.

The next two years have been described by historians as Richard's "tyranny".

In 1399, after John of Gaunt dies, the king disinherits Gaunt's son, Henry of Bolingbroke, who had previously been exiled.

Henry invades England in June 1399 with a small force that quickly grows in numbers.

Claiming initially that his goal is only to reclaim his patrimony, it soon becomes clear that he intends to claim the throne for himself.

Meeting little resistance, Bolingbroke deposes Richard and has himself crowned as King Henry IV.

Richard dies in captivity in February 1400; he is thought to have been starved to death, though questions remain regarding his final fate.

Richard is said to have been tall, good-looking and intelligent.

Though probably not insane, as earlier historians used to believe, he may have had what modern psychologists would call a "personality disorder" towards the end of his reign.

Less warlike than either his father or grandfather, he sought to bring an end to the Hundred Years' War that Edward III had started.

He was a firm believer in the royal prerogative, something which led him to restrain the power of the aristocracy, and to rely on a private retinue for military protection instead; in contrast to the fraternal, martial court of his grandfather, he cultivated a refined atmosphere at his court, in which the king was an elevated figure, with art and culture at the center.

Richard's posthumous reputation has to a large extent been shaped by Shakespeare, whose play Richard II portrayed Richard's misrule and his deposition by Bolingbroke as responsible for the fifteenth century Wars of the Roses.

Modern historians do not accept this interpretation, while not exonerating Richard from responsibility for his own deposition.

Most authorities agree that, even though his policies were not unprecedented or entirely unrealistic, the way in which he carried them out was unacceptable to the political establishment, and this led to his downfall.

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