Richard II 9/17/10

• The Boy King
• Richard II was king only by name, but his uncle John had actual power. 
• He was too young to really rule the kingdom. 
• He was only 10. 
• Peasants Revolt
• The people who started it weren't really peasants at all.  They were actually the village elite. 
• They were the ones who had something to lose. 
• Peasants were going to create an army in order to gain higher wages.  
• It was a class war. 
• There was a huge rebellion. 
• They marched. 
• On June 12, 1381, an army of 10,000 strong was camped on a hill that overlooked the city of London. 
• They were going to destroy anything of the rich and wealthy. 
• Prisons were broken open, churches looted, and palaces destroyed. 
• They decapitated people on the streets. 
• On the 13 of June the young king looked out at London from a tower. He saw the city of London being destroyed. 
• Richard was very brave. 
• Before meeting with the rebels, he prayed at the shrine of Edward. 
• He went to Smith Field to meet with the rebels. 
• The rebels wanted a new Magna Carta. 
• A young man in Richards army called Tyler a theif.  
• A fight broke out.  
• They killed Tyler, but they made sure that the rebel camp could not see what was going on.  
• Richard rode to the rebels saying, "You shall have no captain, but me."
• To the rebels, the words meant that Richard was now their leader, which was what they always wanted.  That is not necessarily what it meant. 
• A week after this, another group of rebels met with Richard. They found a very different king. He told them that they did not deserve to be equal to lords and that they would now be treated worse.  They had to decide to either fight or agree.  They decided to surrender to the king.
• Richard was subject to mood swings at time of crisis.
• He was 6' tall with long flowing blonde hair.  Instead of cheating on his wife, he remained loyal to him.  Richard did not build fortresses or fight bloody battles. He was very different from the other Plantagenet kings before him.
• Richard made it know that he liked to be addressed as "Majesty" and "Highness." 
• He was more refined and he liked being at a level far above everyone else. 
• The Barrons saw that Richard had lost touch with what the country wanted and was only thinking of himself. 
• He held his peace for nearly 10 years, but when his queen died he decided to get revenge.  He brutally disposed of the ringleaders of the parliament. 
• Richard even had his own uncle murdered. 
• Richard discovered that people were frightened of him and he liked it. 
• He would dispose of anyone that he thought was not loyal to him. 
• He remained very insecure though. 
• When John of Gordon finally died, Richard increased a duke's punishment to banishment for life. 
• Richard went on to try to take Ireland.  He did not leave enough troops at home there. 
• Bollingbrook brought an army to England and some of Richard's most trusted supporters switched to the other side. 
• It took a month of painful negotiations to get Richard, who was now a prisoner, to finally give up the throne. 
• Henry Bollingbrook became King Henry IV.