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The deposition of Richard II
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1389-99: The growth of royal
power
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Until May 1389, the Lords Appellant effectively
ruled England; then Richard II (aged 22) proclaimed himself of age.
Richard avoided alienating moderate opinion by making no attempt to
restore his exiled favorites. |
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In November 1389, John of Gaunt returned from
Spain and Richard II cooperated with a moderate administration led by
him, Edmund Duke of York, and Thomas Duke of Gloucester. |
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Richard also began to gain the support of able
administrators of less than noble rank:
in particular, Sir John Bussy, Sir
William Bagot, and Sir Henry Green. These men had supported the
Appellant actions of 1387-89, but were now willing to make friends
with Richard.
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| Temporary peaces were concluded with Scotland and France.
A further twenty-eight year truce was agreed with France in 1396, and
Richard married the seven-year-old French Princess Isabelle. |
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| Richard decided to take
advantage of the comparative peace abroad to try and assert English
authority in Ireland.
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English power in Ireland had become largely confined
to a small area around Dublin called "The Pale." Beyond here,
both native Gaelic and Anglo-Irish Lords virtually ignored the
authority of the crown. In October 1394, Richard II landed
at Waterford with a large army, and demanded the submission of
all the Irish lords. |
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Faced with such force, the
Irish flocked to do homage. By the time Richard departed in May 1395,
virtually all Ireland had submitted to his rule. In fact, Richard's
rapid departure left most of the crown's problems unsolved, but the
campaign was regarded as successful by the English, and it also gave
Richard a small army to call upon. |
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Even during this honeymoon
period, there was conflict between Richard and his Parliaments, and
between him and the City of London. |
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By 1397, Richard II felt
increasingly secure. His relations with John of Gaunt, Duke of
Lancaster, and Edmund, Duke of York and his son Richard, were good. In
summer 1397, he decided to move against Thomas, Duke of Gloucester and
Richard Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel and Thomas de
Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick.
Richard moved on Thomas of Woodstock in his
stronghold of Pleshey Castle and arrested him and sent him to
Calais, where he died - probably assassinated.
The Earl of Arundel was beheaded 21 September 1397, and his
brother, Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury sentenced to
perpetual banishment. Warwick too was banished.
Even those associates of the Appellants who were pardoned had
to pay for the privilege. |
The remains of Pleshey Castle and its
earthworks
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Richard lavished titles, as well as lands
(confiscated from his defeated enemies) on his friends. The
ex-Appellant Lords Henry Earl of Derby and Thomas Mowbray, Earl of
Nottingham were made Dukes of Hereford and Norfolk respectively. |
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Overawed by Richard's tough stance, and
competently managed by Sir John Bussy, Parliament acquiesced in
Richard's reprisals, and even voted him customs' duties for his
lifetime. |
1399: Crisis, deposition
and death
| Richard's arrogant seizure of John of Gaunt's estates struck
fear into the hearts of all England's landowners: if Richard
could act against one of England's most powerful noble families in
this way, no one's property was safe. |
| Foolishly, immediately after this provocative act (June 1399)
Richard decided to mount a punitive expedition to Ireland, where
rebellion had broken out again. |
| Richard had no sooner left than Henry of Bolingbroke, Duke of
Hereford landed in Yorkshire with a small force and marched to Pontefract Castle. |
| Supporters streamed to join him, including Henry Percy, Earl of
Northumberland and Ralph Neville, Earl
of Westmorland (husband of Henry's half-sister, Joan Beaufort) - the
two most powerful northern earls.
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Warkworth Castle
home of Harry Hotspur |
Northumberland's son Henry, known as "Harry Hotspur,"
also joined Henry of Bolingbroke. Hotspur was a local hero for his part in the Battle of the Otterburn (1388,)
where the Scots leader William Douglas was killed.
Hotspur was the son of Mary Plantagenet, the granddaughter of Edward I's
brother Edmund Crouchback, and so he was related to both Richard II and
Henry. |
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Richard II's uncle, Edmund Duke of
York, had been left in charge as keeper of the realm while Richard was in Ireland.
He soon submitted to Henry, and even ordered Bristol, where Bussy and
Green had taken refuge, to surrender. |
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Richard landed with some
troops from Ireland at Haverford West, but found no supporters in
England. He took refuge in Conway Castle, and then surrendered to Henry
(August 1399) believing he could organize his revenge later. |
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A Parliament was summoned, which heard a
"voluntary" abdication extracted from Richard, and a list of Richard's
"many crimes and failings." It voted to depose Richard. |
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The proclamation of Henry as king soon followed
(30 September 1399).
[Henry's accession was to create problems in the future, for he was
not the heir presumptive to the crown. The best theoretical claim was
that of Edmund, Earl of March, (great-grandson of Lionel, Duke of Clarence)
although as a child of eight he was in no position to assert it.] |
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Richard II was imprisoned in Pontefract Castle
and died there in 1400 - very probably murdered on Henry IV's orders. |
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