King Richard II (1377 - 1399)
Name: King Richard II
Born: January 6, 1367 at Bordeaux, France
Parents: Edward, the Black Prince, and Joan of Kent
Relation to Charles III: 17th great-granduncle
House of: Plantagenet
Ascended to the throne: June 22, 1377 aged 10 years
Crowned: July 16, 1377 at Westminster Abbey
Married: (1) Anne of Bohemia, (2) Isabella, nine year old daughter of Charles VI of France
Children: None
Died: February 14, 1400 at Pontefract Castle, Yorkshire (starved to death), aged 33 years, 1 month, and 8 days
Buried at: Langley reburied Westminster
Reigned for: 22 years, 7 months, 23 days
Succeeded by: his cousin Henry IV
King of England from 1377, effectively from 1389, son of Edward the Black Prince. He reigned in conflict with Parliament; they executed some of his associates in 1388, and he executed some of the opposing barons in 1397, whereupon he made himself absolute. Two years later, forced to abdicate in favour of Henry IV, he was jailed and died.
In 1381 Richard was faced with the Peasants' Revolt, a result of the imposition of the Poll Tax in 1380. The leader of the Revolt, Watt Tyler, was stabbed and killed at Smithfield by the Lord Mayor of London, fearing for the safety of the king. Richard's apparent courage in facing the mobs gathered at Mile End and Smithfield also contributed to the failure of the uprising.
Richard was born in Bordeaux. He succeeded his grandfather Edward III when only ten, the government being in the hands of a council of regency. His fondness for favourites resulted in conflicts with Parliament, and in 1388 the baronial party, headed by the Duke of Gloucester, had many of his friends executed. Richard recovered control in 1389, and ruled moderately until 1397, when he had Gloucester murdered and his other leading opponents executed or banished, and assumed absolute power. In 1399 his cousin Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Hereford (later Henry IV), returned from exile to lead a revolt; Richard II was deposed by Parliament and imprisoned in Pontefract Castle, where he died of starvation.
King Richard II's Signature
Timeline for King Richard II
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1377 | Ten year old Richard II succeeds his grandfather, Edward III; the kingdom is ruled at first by the King’s uncles, John of Gaunt and Thomas of Gloucester. |
| 1380 | John Wycliffe begins to translate the New Testament from Latin into English . |
| 1380 | A Poll Tax is levied, a shilling a head for the entire male population |
| 1381 | Poll Tax leads to the Peasants’ Revolt. Watt Tyler and John Ball march on London. |
| 1382 | Richard promises that the taxes will be repealed, but as the rebels return they are hunted and executed. |
| 1382 | William of Wykeham founds Winchester College |
| 1387 | Led by the Duke of Gloucester, the Lords Appellant control the government |
| 1388 | Scots defeat Henry Hotspur at the Battle of Otterburn |
| 1389 | Richard takes control of the government; William of Wykeham is Lord Chancellor |
| 1394 | Richard leads English army to reconquer west of Ireland. |
| 1396 | Richard marries Isabella daughter of the King of France and signs a 28 year truce with France. |
| 1397 | Richard takes revenge against Lords Appellant and exiles Henry Bolingbroke |
| 1398 | Richard (Dick) Whittington becomes Lord Mayor of London |
| 1399 | Bolingbroke becomes Duke of Lancaster on the death of John of Gaunt, but Richard seizes his possessions. Bolingbroke returns from exile to claim his inheritance and seizes the throne. |
| 1399 | Richard, who is away fighting at Leinster in Ireland, returns, but is deposed and imprisoned in Pontefract Castle, where he dies in 1400 |