3.3 Richard II's Usurpation

Background

Crowned King aged 10 July 1377

• The next day, the Bishop of Rochester preached to nobles on the importance of loyalty to a child-king

  → Evident anxiety

Governed by nobles

• Unusually high taxation to finance failing campaigns in France & Scotland

• 1377-81 saw numerous French raids on the South, increasing public hostility to councillors

• Growing class tension since Black Death 1374

  Killed 30-45% of pop causing a shortage of agricultural labour. Workers demanded higher wages

  Resisted by 1350 Statute of Labourers

  → Legally required wages to be limited to pre-Black Death levels, restricted mobility & time off

1381 tensions overflowed → Peasant’s Revolt

Peasant’s Revolt 1381

• Violent attacks on local and national leaders

• Targeted those blamed for new poll tax and lack of military success ex. John of Gaunt

• Protestors converged in London, demanding to speak directly to Richard, claiming evil councilors deceived him

• Aged 14, Richard met them & promised to grant charters of freedom & pardons

• But… within a fortnight, Richard witnesses executions of numerous rebels & formally revoked pardons

• Deeply frightening & may’ve contributed to Richard’s tyrannical end of reign

• Marked a coming-of-age - public demonstration of courage before his nobles

Marriage to Anne of Bohemia

• Sister of Wenceslas IV, King of Bohemia & Holy Roman Emperor

• Arranged by Michael de la Pole & Simon Burely

• Hope to gain the Empire’s support against the French

• Unfavourable conditions:

  • No dowry

  • Obliged England to loan 80,000 florins = £12,000 HUGE

• Political failure but a committed marriage

• Public were highly critical of the cost & extreme generosity towards Bohemian relations

• Military alliance failed to materialize

Failings as an Adult Monarch - Over-generosity

• Promoted favorites, overlooking senior nobles who felt excluded from patronage & trust

• William de la Pole

  • Made chancellor in 1383 & Earl of Suffolk in 1385

• De Vere (v. unpopular)

  • Rank of marquess was created for him

  • Made Duke of Ireland in 1386 = same rank as the King’s uncles

• Financial generosity was unsustainable → royal debt

  • Offended parliament who were asked to grant high taxation

Failings as an Adult Monarch - French Connections

• Didn’t seem personally committed to the war

• Known as Richard of Bordeaux before acending in 1377

• De la Pole advocated for peace negotiations which angered Richard’s uncles

• Hadn’t shown military capability or interest

  • First campaign 1385 to Scotland

    Richard refused to fight beyond Edinburgh

    Ended w/ a quarrel between Richard & John of Gaunt - serious breach

    → Left England in 1386

Wonderful Parliament 1386

• Parliament demanded removal of de la Pole before it granted taxation

  • Richard dismissed this threat

• Meeting at Eltham w/ noblemen

  Warned that if R didn’t attend parliament, it could dissolve itself in 40 days, stopping all taxation

  • Richard foolishly threatened to seek French help

• Thomas of Woodstock and Thomas Arundel reminded R that by common consent, nobles can depose a King

  Ex. Edward II

  • Richard met Parliament

    Watched de la Pole’s impeachment but refused to allow imprisonment

• Parliament demaned inquiry into royal finances → Commission appointed to control Exchequer, Great & Privy Seals for a year

  • Richard began to move around the country, to avoid the commission, test England’s loyalty & raise troops

  • Made de Vere Justice of Chester

Lords Appellant

• Led by Thomas of Woodstock & Henry Bolingbroke (only son of John of Gaunt)

• Clearly knew the danger of their position

• Appealed to Richard for 5 of his favourites to be tried for treason

• Lords Appellant were intercepted by Richard’s supporters at Radcot Bridge

  • De la Pole & de Vere defeated & fled

  • Ricahrd was forced to attend the Merciless Parliament of 1388

Merciless Parliament of 1388

• Richard’s favourites were put on trial for treason

  • De la Pole & de Vere were sentanced to death in their absence

  • Other supporters of Richard’s (ex. Simon Burley) were immediately executed

• Richard never forgave their deaths nor his humiliation and never forgave Bolingbroke for his involvement

• Short-term consequences limited by John of Gaunt’s return 1389

  • Brought political stability

  • Provided Bolingbroke w/ funds to travel

    • Gained a warrior’s reputation through tournaments

  • Returned in 1392

• Bolingbroke took positions at court, serving in the Lords & advising the King at Great Councils

Problems w/ Royal Succession

• Anne of Bohemia died in 1394, childless

  • Succession was uncertain

    Technically Roger Mortimer, earl of March

    Gaunt also had a strong claim

    → very wealthy & military strength

• Richard seemed unwilling to remarry

• The loss of Anne was a turning point to tyrrany

  • Ex. On learning her death, Richard ordered the palace where she died, Sheen, to be burned down.

• Combined with his increasingly pro-French leanings, Richard chose to marry 7 year-old Princess Isabella of France

  Controversial… There wouldn’t be a legitimate heir for at least 7 more years

  Seen as unpatriotic - accompanied by a 28-year truce

Tyrrany of Richard II 1397-99

• French marriage to Isabella

  • Freedom from taxation allowed Richard to avoid scrutiny of parliament

  • Included a promise of French assistance against his subjects should they rebel → Insecurity & suspicions

• July 1497 ordered arrests of Gloucester, Warwick & Arundel for treason

  • Proactive or revenge for Radcot Bridge

  • Gaunt presided over the trials & Bolingbroke gave evidence against Arundel → allied themselves w/ Richard

• Use of Private Retinue - 700 archers

  • 300 formed the King’s private retinue

  • Affiliation w/ Chester

  • Surrounded parliament in Sept 1397 to ensure the conviction of the Lords Appellants

• Bolingbroke became increasingly afraid, begging for pardon again for 1387

  • Richard promises not to seize Lanc. territories

  • Bolingbroke hosts entertainment for Richard at great expense

Taking Henry’s Inheritance

• 1397 Bolingbroke quarreled w/ Thomas Mowbray, duke of Norfolk.

  • Richard initially said it should be settled by combat

  • But in 1398, Richard exiled both

    • Bolingbroke for 10 years

    • Mowbray for life

• Initially, Richard was benevolent

  • Gave him 1,000 marks & letters granting him any inheritance while in exile

• John of Gaunt died 3 February 1399

  • 2 days after the funeral, Bolingbroke was disinherited

    MAJOR breach of custom

• By May, Henry allied w/ Louis, duke of Orleans and the brother of the French King

  • Richard was unconcerned due to the truce w/ France that should’ve prohibited any support for rebels

  • May 1399 - led an expedition to Ireland

Usurpation

• July 1399 Bolingbroke lands in Humbry estuary

  • Supported by Lancashire retainers, earls of Northumberland & Archbishop Arundel

  • Initially claimed he was regaining his inheritance w/ reasonable support

• Richard left Duke of York as Protector

  • BUT decided to support Bolingbroke

    • reflects Richard’s unpopularity

  • Most of Richard’s military support was in Ireland

• Richard also didn’t return immediately on hearing the news, but waits another fortnight

  • When he reaches Wales, troops begin to desert him on hearing news of Bolingbroke’s growing popularit

• Henry seized Richard’s treasure

• Richard sent duke of Exeter & earl of Surrey to reason w/ Henry but he arrested them

• Eventually the earl of Northumberland negotiated that Richard would meet Henry at Fint Castle

  • Richard remained a prisoner 777