Richard II of England

Richard married Anne of Bohemia, daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor (King of Bohemia Charles IV) and his wife Elisabeth of Pomerania, in 1382. He deeply loved his wife and was devastated by her death in 1394. This marriage produced no children.

His second marriage was a political alliance, a part of the truce with France. In 1396, he married Isabella, daughter of Charles VI of France. The princess was just a child of six at the time of the marriage.

Richard was imprisoned in Pontefract Castle following his deposition and he died in captivity on 14 February 1400. Some sources suggest that he was starved to death though the cause of his death is not clear.

Richard of Bordeaux was born as the younger son of Edward, the Black Prince, and Joan of Kent on 6 January 1367 in Bordeaux, Duchy of Aquitaine. His father Edward was the heir to the throne of England and his grandfather Edward III was the reigning King of England at the time of his Richard’s birth.

Richard’s elder brother Edward of Angoulême died in 1371 and thus Richard became the second-in-line to the throne.

His father Edward, the Black Prince became, ill and died in 1376. Richard was just nine years old at that time and the parliament feared that Richard’s uncle, John of Gaunt, would usurp the throne. Thus Richard was quickly invested with the princedom of Wales and his father's other titles.

King Edward III died in June 1377, and Richard, aged just ten, was crowned the king on 16 July 1377. Again it was feared that John of Gaunt might try to take over the power and thus regency led by the young king's uncle was avoided. Even though the regency was avoided, the uncle still exercised considerable influence in the governance.

The king ruled with the help of a group of councilors, and two of them particularly, Sir Simon de Burley and Robert de Vere, Duke of Ireland, increasingly gained control of royal affairs.

The Hundred Years’ War between England and France was going on when Richard ascended to the throne. In order to fund the war, heavy poll taxes were levied on the citizens, thus leading to discontent among the common people.

The growing discontent sparked the Peasants’ Revolt in 1381 which was led by Wat Tyler, John Ball and Jack Straw. Many high officials were killed and the rebellion was moving out of control when Richard, just 14 years old at that time, decided to negotiate with the rebels.

The king met the rebel leaders and agreed to their demands, but the rebels continued their looting and killings. Thus the king decided to suppress the rebellion, and in a display of great valor and courage defeated the rebels and ended the revolt. The bravery and confidence displayed by Richard at such a young age earned him the respect of the citizens.