| 1376 |
Jun |
Death of the Black Prince
| Age: 9 |
| | |
Heir to the English throne, the Black Prince died. His son Richard would become the next king of England as Richard II. |
| 1377 |
Jun 21 |
Edward III Dies
| Age: 10 |
| | |
Edward III, the King of England died in June 1377. One year earlier Edward's eldest son and heir to the throne, Edward the Black Prince died. Richard, the son of the Black Prince, was proclaimed heir to the throne. King Edward was ill for some time before his death, and John of Gaunt another of Edward's sons took the affairs of the nation under his control.1 |
| |
Jun 23 |
Richard II becomes king
|
| | |
Richard, the son of Edward the Black Prince, and grandson of Edward III, became king. |
| |
Jul 16 |
Richard II is crowned
|
| | |
The 10 year old Richard II was crowned king of England. Ceremonies were overseen by his uncle John of Gaunt. Henry Percy was created Earl of Northumberland at the ceremony in recognition for his services as a soldier leading troops against the French. |
| 1378 |
Oct |
Parliament at Gloucester
| Age: 11 |
| | |
Richard II held a parliament at Gloucester from October to December in this year putting much strain on the abbey due to the size of the crowds. 2 |
| 1380 |
|
Richard takes control
| Age: 13 |
| | |
Since coming to the throne in 1377, Richard had been too young to rule. This ended when the last of the 'continual councils' was dismissed.3 |
| 1381 |
Jun 14 |
Richard meets the rebels
| Age: 14 |
| | |
Richard II negotiated with the rebel peasants at Mile End, London. At the same time a group of rebels entered the Tower and Archbishop Simon of Sudbury, Sir Robert Hales and other officials were killed. Disturbances also started in St.Albans.
4 |
| |
Jun 15 |
Watt Tyler killed
|
| | |
Richard II again met the rebels, at Smithfield; they demanded the confiscation of church land; Watt Tyler was killed and the rebels dispersed; the Prior of Bury St.Edmunds was executed by the townspeople; University property was attacked in Cambridge (-17.6).
4 |
| 1382 |
Jan 14 |
Richard marries
| Age: 15 |
| | |
Richard II married Anne, the sister of Wenceslas of Bohemia. This was a diplomatic move over the French as the king of France Charles V wanted Anne his marry his own son. The marriage was not popular as a large loan had to be paid to Wenceslas for the privilege. |
| 1384 |
Apr |
Criticism of Richard
| Age: 17 |
| | |
At a session of Parliament held this year both John of Gaunt and Thomas of Woodstock argued with Richard about the way in which the country was being run, his finances and the influences of his advisors. |
| 1385 |
|
Richard leads army to North
| Age: 18 |
| | |
Differences between Richard and his uncles were temporarily suspended when an army from France landed in Scotland to help the Scots attack the North of England. Richard took an army to deal with the threat. No battles took place and the English spent most of their time burning the area in front of the Scots to prevent them advancing. In the destruction Melrose and Dryburgh abbeys were damaged. |
| |
|
Richard make his uncles Dukes
|
| | |
Richard gave his uncles Edmund of Langley and Thomas of Woodstock new titles. He made Edmund the Duke of York and made Thomas the Duke of Gloucester. |
| 1386 |
|
Richard makes de Vere more powerful
| Age: 19 |
| | |
Robert gave the title of Marquis of Dublin to his favourite Robert de Vere. This gave de Vere power over all royal lands in Ireland and made him almost as powerful as Richard's uncles. |
| |
Spring |
Gaunt and the Castilian throne
|
| | |
With the defeat of the Castilians by the king of Portugal, James of Aviz, John of Gaunt saw his chance of taking the Castilian throne by right of his wife. He asked Richard for a loan to be repaid once he had the throne. Richard was pleased to pay the loan and get rid of Gaunt, as Gaunt was criticising Richard's handling of finances and his choice of advisors.3 |
| |
Summer |
French fleet mass at Sluys
|
| | |
An invasion from France seemed to be imminent as the French fleet mass at Sluys. 3 |
| |
Summer |
Commission appointed
|
| | |
With the French threatening to invade, Richard's continued disregard of his uncles' requests to remove his Chancellor and Treasurer from office, a delegation met Richard at Eltham. His uncle, Duke of Gloucester acted as spokesman for Parliament. He reminded Richard of his duties and demanded that his advisors be removed. He reminded Richard that if he didn't comply he could be removed from his position as King. Richard had little choice and a commission was set up to oversee the king's affairs. |
| 1387 |
Dec 19 |
Battle of Radcot Bridge
| Age: 20 |
| | |
Forces belonging to the Lords Appellant defeated forces led by Robert de Vere, the favourite of Richard II. |
| 1389 |
May |
Richard II declared his intention to rule freely
| Age: 22 |
| | |
Richard announced that he intended to rule unaided.4 |
| 1394 |
|
Queen Anne dies
| Age: 27 |
| | |
Richard II's first wife Anne of Bohemia died.4 |
| 1396 |
|
Richard II marries Isabella
| Age: 29 |
| | |
The marriage of Richard II and the seven or eight year-old daughter of Charles VI, King of France was arranged.4 |
| 1397 |
|
Thomas Arundel exiled
| Age: 30 |
| | |
Shortly after becoming Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Arundel was exiled by Richard II because of his support for the lords appellant who opposed the King's misrule of the country. |
| 1398 |
Sep 16 |
Bolingbroke exiled
| Age: 31 |
| | |
Richard II had executed or exiled other members of the Lords Appellant the previous year and now Bolingbroke and Thomas Mowbray were concerned that their turn was next. Mowbray confided these concerns with Bolingbroke. Bolingbroke informed the King of Mowbray's treasonable words and Mowbray was arrested. Mowbray denied the accusations and that he ever talked to Bolingbroke. To bring the dispute to an end, a duel between Bolingbroke and Mowbray was arranged. But before the duel took place Richard changed his mind and banished Bolingbroke for ten years and Mowbray for life.5 |
| 1399 |
|
Treasure found at Beeston Castle
| Age: 32 |
| | |
In this year Beeson Castle, which had belonged to Richard II, was handed over to Henry IV. In the castle a hoard of Richard's treasure was found. |
| |
Mar |
Bolingbroke's land confiscated
|
| | |
Bolingbroke should have inherited the lands from his father, John of Gaunt, but Richard had other ideas. The king confiscated Bolingbroke's inheritance and increased his term of exile to life.5 |
| |
Summer |
Richard goes to Ireland
|
| | |
Richard sailed to Ireland to suppress a rebellion. He took almost all of his closest supporters with him, leaving an inexperienced Edmund of York in command.5 |
| |
Aug |
Richard is captured
|
| | |
Richard returned to England landing in Wales. Richard was captured at Conway Castle and was moved to Pontefract Castle where he was imprisoned.5 |
| |
Oct 13 |
Henry IV becomes king
|
| | |
Henry IV is crowned king of England after the abdication of Richard II. |
| 1400 |
Feb |
Death of Richard II
| Age: 33 |
| | |
Richard II died some time between the 9th and 17th of February 1400 while being imprisoned at Pontefract Castle. The cause of his death is not known. He died at the age of 33.1 |
| 1413 |
Dec |
Richard II's body moved
| |
| | |
In an act of respect to Richard II, Henry had the dead king's body moved to its proper resting place in Westminster Abbey. |
ichard became King of England in 1377 when his grandfather, Edward III, died. Richard's father, the Black Prince, had died in 1376 and this had left Richard heir to the English throne. As he was only 10 years old at the time and too young to rule unaided his eldest uncle, John of Gaunt, became protector of both England and Richard. After his father's death Richard had been brought up by his mother Joan. Joan had previously been married to the Earl of Kent and had other sons by this marriage as well. 
RICHARD (II, King of England 1377-1399) (b.1367 - d.1400)
StumbleUpon