Richard II - the death of his beloved wife (1394) and the period of tyranny that followed

Richard II’s wife Anne of Bohemia, with whom, he had ‘actually fell in love’ (ibid) and married in 1382, died in 1394. On one hand, her death contributed Richard to go for another foreign involvement in Ireland, on the other hand, it also helped Richard to secure ‘A 28 year truce with France in 1396, sealed with Richard’s betrothal to a French princess’ (ibid) Isabella, daughter of King Charles VI. Unlike Shakespeare’s adult character in his play Richard II, when the marriage took place in 1396, Princess Isabella was ‘not quite seven years old’ (http://www.history.ac.uk/richardII/isabelle.html). Regarding this marriage, it would be worth to mention that Duke of Gloucester, who dies in the following year, rather ‘disliked the peace with France and Richard’s second marriage with Isabella’ (http://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/thomaswoodstock.htm).

Anne of Bohemia

Furthermore, it is argued that the loss of his beloved queen, who ‘may have provided a restraining influence’ (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/middle_ages/richardii_reign_01.shtml) could explain Richard’s reign in the following years, which ‘are traditionally described as a period of tyranny with the government levying forced loans, carrying out arbitrary arrests and murdering the king’s rivals’ (ibid). As for the latter, the king always had ‘resentment against the Appellants’ (ibid) and when he arrested three senior Appellants, in 1397, Gloucester was one of them along with Earl of Arundel and Earl of Warwick. Despite evidence of a plot against the king was ‘unclear’ (ibid), Warwick ‘was sent to prison’ (ibid) while ‘Arundel was executed’ (ibid). As for Gloucester, it is said that he ‘was probably murdered by Nottingham’s men in Calais’ (ibid). As a result of these brutal revenges, Richard ‘now handed out a slew of titles and land making, amongst others, Nottingham [Thomas Mowbray] the Duke of Norfolk and Derby [Henry Bolingbroke] the Duke of Hereford’ (ibid). In addition, the former also ‘received most of Arundel’s lands in Surrey and Sussex’ (http://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/thomasmowbray.htm).

For reading the text in full: https://wrex2009.wordpress.com/2015/05/25/richard-ii-the-play-and-the-history/