ichard II (1367-1400), king of England, was the son of the Black Prince, and ascended the throne (1377). In 1381 Wat Tyler’s rebellion took place, and Richard showed great presence of mind when he met the rebels. Thomas of Gloucester, the king’s uncle, took the lead in attacking the king; and when Richard asserted his rights, he and others seized London, and overthrew the king’s friends. In 1389, however, Richard resumed government. At Shrewsbury, in 1398, Parliament handed over its authority to a standing committee. In February, 1399, Richard seized the estates of John of Gaunt, who had just died, and in May he sailed to Ireland. During his absence, Bolingbroke returned, and capturing Richard at Flint, deposed him, and became king. It is supposed that Richard was murdered in Pontefract Castle. [The Home University Encyclopedia, 1946]

Richard had no issue by either marriage. He was deposed on 30 Sep 1399 and murdered on 14 Feb 1310 at Pontefract Castle. The crown was usurped by his cousin, Henry, 2nd Duke of Lancaster. {Burke’s Peerage} [GADD.GED]

Richard II (1367-1400), king of England (1377-99), whose reign was marked by national disunity and civil strife.

A younger son of Edward, Prince of Wales (the Black Prince), and Joan, called the Fair Maid of Kent, Richard was born January 6, 1367, in Bordeaux, France. He was created Prince of Wales in 1376, the year of his father's death, and was placed in the care of his uncle John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster. In 1377, on the death of his grandfather, King Edward III, Richard became ruler of England, then a country devastated by plague and oppressed by heavy taxes, the result of a war with France. Parliament, which had obtained greater power in the last years of Edward III's reign, now sought to secure control of the government, but was opposed by John of Gaunt and his followers. The speedy suppression of Tyler's Rebellion in 1381 was largely the result of Richard's courage and daring. A year later, at the age of 15, Richard married Anne of Bohemia, daughter of the Holy Roman emperor Charles IV, and began to seek the downfall of the great nobles who controlled Parliament and prevented him from acting independently. Led by Richard's uncle Thomas of Woodstock, duke of Gloucester, in 1388 a coterie of noblemen known in history as the lords appellant "appealed" or accused Richard's adherents of treason, banishing some and having others executed. The following year Richard, with the help of John of Gaunt, succeeded in asserting his authority.

Trying to reestablish English authority in Ireland, Richard led an expedition to the country in 1394; that same year his queen died. In 1396 a marriage treaty was concluded between Richard and a French princess, Isabella. In 1397 Richard had Gloucester arrested and imprisoned at Calais, where he died, perhaps murdered. He also exiled John of Gaunt's son, Henry Bolingbroke, duke of Hereford, who later became Richard's successor as Henry IV, and executed or banished others of the lords appellant. On his return from a second military expedition to Ireland in 1399 Richard found that Bolingbroke had returned from exile and placed himself at the head of a formidable army. Richard was captured by Bolingbroke in Wales and brought captive to London, where on September 30, 1399, he formally resigned his crown. On the following day his abdication was ratified by Parliament, which then confirmed Bolingbroke as King Henry IV. Richard was secretly confined in Pontefract Castle, where he either died of starvation or was murdered in February 1400. [Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia]

Additional information: Britannia.com

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