101 Amazing Facts about The Plantagenets by Jack Goldstein

Author:Jack Goldstein
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Plantagenets, Angevins, York, Lancaster, Richard III, Edward I, Edward II, Henry III, Henry IV, Henry V, Richard II, Richard the Lionheart, King John, Magna Carta, Crusades, Kingmaker, Neville, Tudor, Revolt, Wat Tyler
ISBN: 9781785381812
Publisher: Andrews UK Limited 2015
Published: 2015-04-01T00:00:00+00:00

Edward III

Richard II

Richard was the second son of Edward, the Black Prince. Born on the 6 th of January 1367 at the Archbishop’s Palace in Bordeaux, he was the younger brother (by two years) of Edward of Angouleme. Tragically, young Edward died when he was just five years old, leaving Richard second in line to the throne, after his father.

The Black Prince died of Dysentery in 1376 before his own father died, and thus Richard became first in line to the throne whilst he was still a young boy. The members of parliament were concerned that if there was any question at all as to the succession of the crown, Richard’s uncle (brother of the Black Prince) John of Gaunt may try to seize the English throne. They therefore invested Richard with the Princedom of Wales, along with his father’s other titles in the hope this would secure the line of succession.

At the age of ten, Richard II’s grandfather Edward III died, and he succeeded to the throne, crowned king on the 16 th of July 1377. Still concerned about John of Gaunt (who as an ‘advisor’ to Richard would anyway still hold a great deal of power), parliament chose for the young king to rule with the assistance of various councils - this seemed preferable to a ‘regency rule’ where Gaunt would have held almost ultimate power over the country.

Despite acting with the country’s best intentions in mind, the councils did not do a particularly good job. Choosing to venture on a number of military campaigns on the continent, they were required to raise money to fund the activity. They chose to do this through not just one but three poll taxes over a four year period. A poll tax is essentially a tax that does not take income into consideration, and is levied purely on a ‘per head’ basis. Traditionally unpopular with the poorer elements of society, the effects of the taxes were felt even worse due to the Black Death and subsequent outbreaks of the plague that had recently affected the economy.

Things came to a head in 1381 in what today we call the Peasants’ Revolt. Huge swathes of the lower class took to the streets in protests against the landowners, and things quickly escalated to riots and violence. Both the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Lord High Treasurer were captured and killed, and the rebels demanded the complete abolition of serfdom. Rather than respond by force, the fourteen-year-old King Richard II decided to negotiate. He met with the rebels, and promised their leader, Wat Tyler, the he would meet their demands. However, this did not stop the peasants’ looting and violence, and on meeting Tyler again, things turned ugly. After an irate discussion, Tyler moved as if to attack a member of the king’s party, and was immediately killed by a royal soldier. Richard somehow calmed the rebels down, and with their leader dead, they returned to their homes. Once the rest of the violence was

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