Shakespeare's immortal play King Richard-II,
is about the rule of this young king.
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The eldest son of Edward-III was 'Black Prince' ( also named Edward). He was a great prince of character and courage and of military valour and chivalry and loyalty
He covered himself with glory in his military exploits in French Territory. He captured the French King in war but treated the vanquished king with due respect and sent him to England. His father Edward-III also received the French King with affection and respect though he was held as a prisoner. A heavy ransom was claimed and when the French king offered to raise the ransom amount in person , he was sent back to France.
France was passing through very difficult time then and the French king could not raise the required amount.
What followed was totally incredible in those days of brutal warfare.
The French King voluntarily came back to England and took up prison life!
Such were the heroic and chivalrous pages of history.
Black prince fell ill and passed away even before his father Edward-III.
After the demise of Edward-III, in 1377, the legal heir was the only son of the Black Prince, Richard-II.
Richard-II was born in 1367. So he was just ten years old when he ascended the throne of England.
The nobles arranged for an advisory and administrative council for the young king Richard-II.
John of Gaunt, Edmund of York and Thomas of Gloucester were kept out of the governing council., though they had immense power and wealth and commanded much respect.
However, the youngest uncle, Thomas of Gloucester was intransigent and along with other members of the nobility organized a rebellion and forced the council to severely limit the power of the king citing his tender age.
Richard-II was hurt by this act of his youngest uncle Thomas.
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Thomas of Woodstock was born in 1355.
He was made Duke of Gloucester.in 1385.
He was the youngest uncle of King Richard-II
Richard-ii was born in 1367.
( son of Black Prince and grandson of Edward-iii). On the death of Edward-III, he became the King of England. in 1377. He was just 10 years old then.
Thus Thomas of Woodstock ( Duke of Glocester) was 12 years elder to Richard-II.
and had some experience in warfare in France.
However, he had three surviving elder brothers, namely
Lionel-Duke of Clarence
John of Gaunt ( Duke of Lancaster)
Edmund-(Duke of York)
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Thus there was never any breach of rules of royal ascension in the crowning of King Richard-II. -except that he was a mere boy then while all his uncles were much senior and had military prowess.
Lionel( Duke of Clarence) passed away in 1368. ( 1338-1368)
So, he died even before Edward-III.
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The next two uncles of Richard-II, were John of Gaunt ( Duke of Lancaster) and Edmund ( Duke of York).
These two uncles were very loyal to the memory of their father Edward-III and their illustrious brother the Black Prince.
Actually, they were the informal guardians of the boy Richard-II.
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Not so, the last son of Edward-III, the Duke of Gloucester. Perhaps, he thought that a senior brother had precedence over a very young grandson. ( like King John's claim over that of Arthur).
So, he conspired with some nobles to seize the crown for himself. To this scheme, neither John of Gaunt nor Duke of York were agreeable. They stood by the young boy king Richard-II.
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the Duke of Gloucester, was put at
the head of the council. Under him the Parliament put to death two of Richard's favourites, De Vere and Suffolk, and stripped the rest of their properties.
This incensed the young King, who waited his time, and at
twenty-two, declaring he would be in leading-strings no
Thomas of Woodstock was the leader of the Lords Appellant, a group of powerful nobles whose ambition to wrest power from Thomas's nephew, King Richard II of England, culminated in a successful rebellion in 1388 that significantly weakened the king's power. Richard II managed to dispose of the Lords Appellant in 1397, and Thomas was imprisoned in Calais to await trial for treason.
During that time he was murdered, probably by a group of men led by Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk, on behalf of Richard II.
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Wat Tyler's revolt.
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Shakespeare's play King Richard-II, begins sometime after Richard-II asserted his royal power.
When Richard -II was a mere adolescent boy, there were wars with all the neighbours, like Wales and Ireland in the West, Scotland in North and France in the East across the sea.
So, taxation was heavy and due to the Black death in the reign of Edward-III, there was terrible loss of life. A huge percent of England's population was wiped out. The peasants rose in revolt. It was famously known as Wyat's rebellion. The rebellious peasant 'army' with nothing except theire bows, spades and sickles, entered and plundered London. Their main target was the Law courts which they perceived as the hands of tyranny. They were not much against the monarch but agianst the ministers, clergy and officials. They were especially against John of Gaunt, the eldest surviving uncle of the young Richard. They set fire to his huge mansion and very nearly killed John's son, who narrowly escaped.
It was at this stage that the nobility requested the young boy-king Richard -I I to talk to the rioting peasantry whose leader wanted to talk to the King directly and present their charter of demands.
Richard-II knew that it was an adventure to face the crowd unarmed and may be the end of his life.
Nevertheless, he boldly rode out with just a few faithful guards and met the leader of the rebellion. He nnounced that all the demands of the peasant rebels will be conceded by a royal charter. But, the leader of the mob was terribly insolent and the guards could not tolerate the effrontery and chopped the leader Wyat to death.
This would have terribly incensed the armed crowd but Richard-II had the tremendous presence of mind to realizre that the rebels were without a leader and they were not against the King. He boldly rode out to the peasant army and told them that the demands have been met, that he is their King and asked them to follow him. He safely led the peasantry out of London to the rural area. Thus was the situation defused.
So, Richard-I was no puppet or coward. He was just waiting for his time to take revenge and asssert his authority over John of Gaunt and his ambitious son, who was nurturing secret plan to somehow dethrone Richard-I and usurp the throne for himself , illegally.
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--here are somiie fine video clips..better to view them after reading the play------------------------------
gaunt admo ishes richard
https://youtu.be/KuOvKOIGC0w
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gaunt speech ( black and white)
https://youtu.be/hQQyyMyTHa0
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richard returns from ireland
https://youtu.be/nl0YhGQ-22k
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video links
https://youtu.be/AXGkbBbXVSA
richard abdicates
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.Here comes a video wit the actual lines of the play
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part-1 of the video play - RIICHARD-II
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PART-2 OF THE VIDEO-PLAY - RICHARD-II