Richard of Bordeaux was born at the abbey of St. Andre in Bordeaux in France. His father was Edward, the Black Prince and his mother was Joan, the Fair Maid' of Kent. He was their second son after Edward of Angouleme. Edward died at an early age and so Richard became second in line to the English throne after his father.

Edward was the first son of the Black Prince, and Joan of Kent. Edward died at an early age of around seven years old. He was second in line to the English throne at the time, The date of his death may have been late in 1370.

Heir to the English throne, the Black Prince died. His son Richard would become the next king of England as Richard II.

King Edward III 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. Edward was buried in Westminster Abbey in a tomb designed by Henry Yevele. ^[1]

Richard, the son of Edward the Black Prince, and grandson of King Edward III, became king.

The ten-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.

King Richard II held a parliament at Gloucester Abbey from October to December. It put a large strain on the abbey due to the size of the crowds.  ^[2]

Since coming to the throne in 1377, Richard II had been too young to rule. This ended when the last of the 'continual councils' was dismissed. ^[3]

King Richard II negotiated with the rebel peasants at Mile End, London. At the same time a group of rebels entered the Tower of London and Archbishop Simon of Sudbury, Sir Robert Hales and other officials were killed. Disturbances also started in St.Albans. ^[4]

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. ^[4]

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. The coronation of Queen Anne took place a few days later at Westminster Abbey.

King Richard II granted a licence to crenellate to Sir John Cobham. Sir John may have remodelled the appartments, strengthened the outer walls and added gun-loops in keeping with military advancements of the time.

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.

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. Holyrood Abbey was also burnt down.

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.

King Richard II 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.

With the defeat of the Castilians by John of Aviz, the king of Portugal, John of Gaunt saw his chance of taking the Castilian throne by right of his wife. He asked King 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]

An invasion from France seemed to be imminent as the French fleet mass at Sluys.  ^[3]

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.

King Richard II did not always agree with the council that was running England on his behalf and his uncle John of Gaunt was one his main opponants. The potential conflict between them came to an end when John set sail from Plymouth to take the Castilian throne. But his departure led to a greater conflict between the king and Thomas Woodstock, the Duke of Gloucester. ^[3]

Parliament, led by the Duke of Gloucester, demanded that King Richard II cease the wasteful manner in which he and his supporters were spending funds that country did not have. Parliament wanted to raise money to protect the south coast of England from attack by the French who were threatening to invade. A request was made to provide Parliament with all of Richard's financial records. This conflict between the King and Gloucester would escalate in the following year.

Forces belonging to the Lords Appellant defeated forces led by Robert de Vere, the favourite of Richard II. The battle took place at Radcot Bridge, a bridge over the River Thames at Oxfordshire. Robert de Vere managed to escape by swimming across the Thames and then fleeing over seas. This led to King Richard temporarily being deposed.

Possibly in an attempt to get help from the French against the rebels, King Richard planned to sell Calais, Guines and Cherbourg. ^[5]

Richard announced that he intended to rule unaided. ^[4]

A matter of honour between the English Ambassador to Scotland, Lord Wells, and Sir David de Lindsay, a Scottish knight was settled by the two men taking part in a joust on London Bridge. As relations with Scotland were not good, a safe-conduct order was given so that the knight could travel down to London. The joust took part in front of Richard II himself. After the first two runs neither man had the advantage, but in the third Lord Wells fell from his horse and was injured. The Scottish knight jumped from his horse and tended to Wells much to the delight of the crowd. ^[6]

After the city of London refused to give King Richard a loan of 1,000 pounds its Charter was removed and given to York. Removal of the Charter was a serious punishment as the king's court would spend money providing much needed jobs.

Richard II's first wife Anne of Bohemia died. ^[4]

The rivals Henry Bolingbroke and King Richard both lost their wives in his month. Mary Bohun died in childbirth while Anne of Bohemia died from the plague.

In response to conflicts between the Irish chieftains the English King landed on Irish shores with a large army. Richard was able to get the submission of all of the Irish princes including Art MacMurrough, the king of Leinster who was the most feared prince of them all.

Henry Yevele designed a tomb for King Richard II and his first wife Anne of Bohemia at Westminster Abbey, ^[7]

After receiving the submission of the Irish princes, King Richard departed from Ireland. He left Roger Mortimer, his nephew, as Viceroy in control of the country. The peace that been obtained during Richard's visit would quickly break down.

King Richard II had a palace built at Portchester Castle. This included the improvement to two ranges of buildings within the inner bailey of the castle. Kitchens, a large hall and private appartments were added to the castle to provide royal accommodation for when the King stayed at the castle.

The marriage of King Richard II and the seven or eight year-old Isabella of Valois took place at Calais. Isabella was the daughter of Charles VI, King of France and Isabeau of Bavaria. Richard was near thirty years old but the marriage went ahead because it was part of a peace treaty between the English and French Kings. ^[4]

Shortly after becoming Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Arundel was exiled by Richard II because of his support for the lords appellant who had opposed the King's misrule of the country.

The children of John of Gaunt and Catherine Swynford born before their marriage were legitimated by an Act of Parliament put forward by King Richard II.

Thomas de Mowbray, the Duke of Norfolk, made a remark about King Richard II which Henry Bolingbroke took as treasonable. Henry informed the King and Mowbray was arrested. Richard had executed or exiled other members of the Lords Appellant the previous year and now Henry and Thomas were concerned that their turn was next. Mowbray had confided these concerns with Bolingbroke. Mowbray denied the accusations and that he ever talked to Bolingbroke. To bring the dispute to an end, a duel between the two was arranged. But before the duel took place Richard changed his mind and banished Bolingbroke for ten years and Mowbray for life. ^[8]

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.

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. ^[8]

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. ^[8]

Richard returned to England landing in Wales where he became a fugitive. He was captured at Conwy Castle and at a meeting with Bolingbroke at Flint Castle agreed to surrender himself and the throne of England. Richard was transferred to Pontefract Castle where he was imprisoned. ^[8]

Henry IV was crowned King of England after the abdication of King Richard II. Henry was crowned at Westminster Abbey.

King 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]

In an act of respect to Richard II, Henry had the dead king's body moved to its proper resting place in Westminster Abbey.