![]() Reigned: 1377-1399 1367-1400 (Murdered)
Richard asserted royal authority during an era of royal restrictions. Economic hardship followed the Black Death, as wages and prices rapidly increased. Parliament exacerbated the problem by passing legislation limiting wages but failing to also regulate prices. In 1381, Wat Tyler led the Peasants' Revolt against the oppressive government policies of John of Gaunt. Richard's unwise generosity to his favorites -- Michael de la Pole, Robert de Vere and others -- led Thomas, Duke of Gloucester and four other magnates to form the Lords Appellant. The five Lords Appellant tried and convicted five of Richard's closest advisors for treason. In 1397, Richard arrested three of the five Lords, coerced Parliament to sentence them to death and banished the other two. One of the exiles was Henry Bolingbroke, the future Henry IV. Richard travelled to Ireland in 1399 to quell warring chieftains, allowing Bolingbroke to return to England and be elected king by Parliament. Richard lacked support and was quickly captured by Henry IV. Deposed in 1399, Richard was murdered while in prison, the first casualty of the Wars of the Roses between the Houses of Lancaster and York. BIO Facts: Richard II (Reigned: 1377-1399 AD) Born: 6 January 1367 at Bordeaux, Gascony Murdered: 14 February 1400 at Pontefract Castle, Yorkshire Buried: Westminster Abbey, Middlesex Parents: Edward, Prince of Wales - "the Black Prince" - and Joan, the "Fair Maid of Kent" Siblings: Edward of Angouleme Crowned: 16 July 1377 at Westminster Abbey, Middlesex Abdicated: 29 September 1399
Married: (1st) 14 January 1382 at St. Stephen's Chapel in the Palace of Westminster, Middlesex
Spouse: (1st) Anne daughter of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor & King of Bohemia; Offspring: None Named Heir: His cousin, Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March
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