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History and Evolution:
By William E. Steinman:
Part 95, Richard II:
January 17, 2005:
When king Edward III died there was no heir apparent to the throne. His most worthy son, The Black Prince, had died before Edward. There were two remaining sons who were not likely successors. So Richard II (1367 - 1400), Edward's grandson and the son of the Black Prince ascended to the throne in 1377. Now this kid was only ten years old, so his uncle, John of Gaunt, was the real ruler of England. In fact, John had been the real ruler of England since Edward III lost interest. John was the fourth son of Edward III.
England was not in the best economic situation when John ran things. He did add to the whole problem with the introduction of a poll tax near the end of Edward III's reign. However, the crisis was not all his doing. In the earlier 14th century there had been excessive rains which caused a famine which causes disease and so on. Meanwhile, the ongoing war with France was soaking up cash causing a shortage of currency in the countryside. Now add to that the plague which hit England in 1348 and decimated the peasant population producing a severe labor shortage. With a labor shortage the peasants were demanding higher wages, but the prices of commodities were falling for lack of demand. Tenant farmers also demanded better conditions.
The lawmakers reacted typically by trying to freeze wages at pre-plague levels with laws which proved to be unenforceable. What they got instead was the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 lead by Wat Tyler. These guys were not fooling around. They marched on London where they butchered a bunch of Flemish merchants and razed John of Gaunt's palace. At that, Richard II, now of age, decided to negotiate. While the king was absent from London, the rebels in the city captured the infamous Tower of London. There they beheaded Archbishop Simon of Sudbury and the treasurer, Sir Robert Hales. Bad stuff!
The next day king Richard II met Tyler and his mob at Smithfield outside London. That did not go well for Tyler at all. It seems the mayor of London was a bit angry and without warning he murdered Tyler while Richard stood by helplessly. It was touch and go for a time, but Richard II appealed to the rebels as their sovereign. He also promised some reforms and the rebels were temporarily satisfied. Not so in the provinces where the riots and mayhem went on.
That finally ended in East Anglia when the Bishop of Norwich, Henry le Despenser decisively defeated the rebels. In the end, the rebellion was a flop. Richard promptly forgot about his promises of reform. Discontent continued, but did not break out into major disturbances again. The only real gain of the rebellion was the abolition of the poll tax.
About the poll tax, I must make the point that this poll tax in England was not about voting. Americans may confuse that point due to the history of the poll tax here. In England the poll tax was just a uniform tax levied on each person regardless of station. For sure, that was quite repressive for the poorer folk and no burden at all for the wealthy. In America the poll tax was introduced into the constitutions of several southern states making it a prerequisite for voting. This effectively shut out the poor blacks which was the intent of the laws. That practice did not end completely until the Supreme Court with its decision of 1966 finally decide to enforce the Fourteenth amendment. The Justices ruled that under the "equal protection" clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, states could not levy a poll tax as a prerequisite for voting in state and local elections.
Bach to Richard. He was still a bit of a kid and you got to know he suffered a swelled head after the revolt was put down. He started doing stupid things like bringing his favorite dandies into his court. This caused some organized opposition to his rule, but Gaunt was keeping the lid on. It could not last forever, because Richard II kept asserting himself. He got into a snorting contest with parliament who impeached his chancellor, outlawed and executed some of his dandies and put a five man commission, the ‘Lords Appellant' in charge of the king. Gaunt kept things under control, but while he appeared to be mellowing, Richard was smoldering and plotting.
He got along, but in the meantime he was putting together a loyalist party to support him. In 1397 he was ready. He arrested three of the Appellants, banishing one and executing two. He packed the House of Commons with his supporters whereupon he was granted revenues for life. He exiled his cousin, duke Bolingbroke, from the realm. He also transferred the powers of parliament to a committee and began to tax the life out of the countryside. It was indeed a tyranny worthy of an egomaniac. It could not last. There were too many factions and intrigues within the court he had assembled.
In 1399 Richard had to off to Ireland. That gave his opponents their chance. Bolingbroke returned and joined forces with the earl of Northumberland. With suitable forces they began a march across England gathering support as the traveled. By the time Richard returned, it was all over. There was no resistance to the rebellion. Richard had to surrender. He ended up in that good old Tower of London.
Bolingbroke called a Parliament and they appointed a committee
to draft articles of deposition for Richard. The king was convinced
to abdicate, and the Parliament gave its approval. They also passed
the articles of deposition and Richard got away with his head
still on. He was finally taken to Pontefract while Bolingbroke
became the king as Henry IV and the House of Lancaster was established.
Later a bunch of Richard II's allies tried to restore him to the
throne. That was quickly put down and Henry decided to put Richard
to death. So ended the tumultuous life of Richard II. The ongoing
war with France, however, did not end. It was simply on hold.
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