The Real History

by Fiona B.

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       King Edward III ruled England for fifty years, from 1327 to 1357. He inherited the throne at age fourteen when his father abdicated the throne. For two hundred years before this, the English throne had passed without much issue from one king to the next. Most kings inherited the throne through primogeniture, the process of the throne being inherited by the oldest living son, but some inherited the throne because the previous king had specified who they wanted the heir to be in their will. In England, in the Middle Ages, both of these were viable and legal ways to inherit the crown. During his rule, Edward III and his wife Philippa of Hainault had nine children that survived infancy, the oldest of which he also named Edward, and both Edward III’s will and the process of primogeniture declared Edward, who became known as Edward the Black Prince, the heir to the English throne. Edward the Black Prince married Joan of Kent and had two sons: Edward of Angouleme and Richard. Edward of Angloueme died of the Black Death at age five in the year 1370. Six years later his father Edward the Black Prince died at forty-five of dysentery. At this point, King Edward III wanted to ensure that his grandson Richard would inherit the throne and created his entail to the crown in 1376 that named Richard as first in line to the throne, followed by Edward’s third oldest but now oldest surviving son: John of Gaunt. Edward III died a year later in 1376 and ten-year-old Richard was crowned King of England. 

         Previously, when a boy under the age of eighteen had inherited the throne a regency had been established, and a regent put into place to govern in the young king's place. With the reign of Richard II parliament wanted to avoid a regency as they worried that John of Gaunt, who would have been Richard’s regent, would attempt to usurp the throne from young Richard and instead a continual council was established that left out John of Gaunt. Richard II had to deal with an immense number of conflicts during his reign. The peasant's revolt occurred in 1381 when Richard was just fourteen and the nation was still governed by a continual council. The Poll Tax of 1381 was the final straw for the citizens of England; the revolt was ultimately a result of growing tensions caused by frequent outbreaks of the Black Death and the fact that landowners refused to pay peasants more despite the fact that it was harder to find peasants to work the fields because so many were dying of the Black Death, something Richard could not control.

         Similarly, Richard had to deal with the Hundred Years War, a conflict started by his grandfather. He was very strategic in dealing with war through marrying Anne of Bohemia, a marriage that would ally Bohemia with English against France. Despite this, he was not very successful in military operations which led to further conflict with his uncle John of Gaunt as well as many other English citizens. This unsuccessfulness led to the Lords Appellant, a group of five nobles including Richard’s uncle, Thomas of Woodstock (Edward III’s youngest son), and his cousin, Henry Bollingbroke (John of Gaunt’s oldest son), rebelling against the King in 1388 in attempts to impeach some of the king's closest allies in parliament. The rebels ultimately succeeded but instead of admitting defeat, Richard went on a tour around England gaining support for his military. In 1397, the conflict that caused Richard to exile Henry Bolingbroke occurred. Bolingbroke got into an argument with Thomas Mobray, another member of the former Lords Appellant, who claimed that Bolingbroke and his father, John of Gaunt, would be next in line for the English throne, a claim that was considered treasonous at the time and challenged him to a duel. For this reason, Richard decided to banish both Bolingbroke and Mobray whom he had previously forgiven for rebelling against his government by granting them additional titles, to avoid these two young rebels from dueling and causing any more trouble. 

        Bolingbroke’s exile was approved by his father John of Gaunt, who died in the year 1399 while his son was still abroad in France. When John of Gaunt died, instead of letting his immense fortune and titles pass directly on to his rebel son, Richard decreed that Bolingbroke must first meet with him before he could get his titles back. Instead of simply meeting with his cousin, Bolingbroke began a military campaign with fellow exiled rebels and returned from his exile before his sentence was through. He claimed his campaign was only to reclaim his title and money but as he gained the support of the citizens of England he quickly changed his motive to wanting the throne of England as well. In order to gain further support, he attempted to prove that not only did he have a claim to the throne through his grandfather but that he also had a claim to the throne through his great-great-great grandfather Henry III. In his will, Henry III bequeathed his throne to his eldest son and upon his death, the throne passed into the hands of his son who became Edward II, however, Bolingbroke claimed that Henry III had another older son who would have been his rightful heir. Although this claim seems quite outlandish, it is undeniable that with the lack of consistent birth records such a problem could have occurred but would have been unusual. Using the combined power from his claim as the primary heir through Edward III’s male descendants (Richard’s heirs were descended through Edward’s Granddaughter) and his mothers claim to the throne Bolingbroke used his support to depose Richard, claim the throne and throw his cousin in jail, where he later died.