870 



RICHARD f. RICHARD II. 



arms in England, in concert with the king of | 

 France. Richard lx>re his misfortunes with courage, 

 mi when the i-inperor charged him, before the diet 

 ol Worms with various imaginary offences, he re- 

 futed these accusations with so much spirit, that 

 tii,- a-.semhly loudly exclaimed against his deten- 

 tion. At length a treaty was concluded for his 

 liberation, on the payment of a ransom of 150,000 

 mark>. which IKMIIJJ raised in England, Richard 

 obtained his liberty. Richard embarked at the 

 month of the Scheldt, and safely reached England 

 in March, 11'.) 4, to the great joy of his subjects. 

 After being re-crowned in England, he landed in 

 France in May, 1194, where he was met by his 

 brother John, who threw himself at his feet, and, 

 iiinler the mediation of his mother, entreated for- 

 giveness. " I forgive him," said Richard, " and I 

 hope I shall as easily forget his injuries as he will 

 my pardon." In the ensuing war with Philip, 

 Richard gained some advantages ; but a truce soon 

 suspended their hostilities. Leopold, having re- 

 ceived an accidental hurt which proved mortal, 

 expressed remorse for his treatment of Richard, 

 mid pave up all claim to the remainder of his 

 ransom. The emperor also offered to remit the 

 remainder of his debt, provided he would join him 

 in an offensive, alliance against France, which was 

 readily agreed to. England, during this period of 

 useless contention, partly through the rapacity of 

 government, and partly through unpropitious sea- 

 sons, productive of famine and pestilence, was in a 

 state of great depression. A lasting accommoda- 

 tion with France was in agitation, preparatory to 

 another crusade, when the life and reign of Richard 

 were suddenly brought to a close. A considerable 

 treasure having been found in the land of the vis- 

 count of Limoges, he sent part of it to Richard as his 

 feudal sovereign. The latter, however, demanded 

 the whole ; which being refused, he invested the 

 castle of Chains, where the treasure was concealed, 

 and, having refused terms of surrender to the gar- 

 rison, in theopenly expressed determination of hang- 

 ing the whole of them, was wounded by a shot 

 from the cross-bow of one Bertrand de Gourdon. 

 The assault was, however, successfully made, and 

 all the garrison hanged with the exception of Gour- 

 don, who was reserved for a more cruel death. 

 Richard, apprized that his wound was mortal, asked 

 him what had induced him to attempt his life. The 

 man replied, " You killed my father and my brother 

 with your own hand, and designed to put me to an 

 ignominious death." The prospect of death had 

 inspired Richard with sentiments of moderation and 

 justice, and he ordered Gourdon to be set at liberty, 

 and allowed a sum of money ; but the savage Mar- 

 cadee, who commanded the Brabangons, which the 

 king had hired for the expedition, caused the un- 

 happy man to be flayed alive. Richard died of his 

 wound on the 6th of April, 1199, in the forty-second 

 year of his age, and tenth of his reign, leaving no 

 issue. The character of this king was strongly 

 marked, lie was the bravest among the brave, often 

 frank and liberal, and not devoid of generosity. At 

 the same time, he was haughty, violent, unjusf, rapa- 

 rioiis, Hud sanguinary; and, to use the expression 

 of (iibbon, united the ferocity of a gladiator to the 

 cruelty of a tyrant. H is talents were considerable, 

 both in the cabinet and in the field, and he was 

 shrewd in observation, eloquent, and very happy at 

 sarcasm. He was also a poet; and some of his 

 reputed compositions are preserved among those of 

 the Troubadours. On the whole, a sort of romantic 

 interest is attached to the character and exploits of 

 this prince, which in the eye of reason, they little 

 merit, as the career of llichard produced calamities 



poorly atoned for by the military reputation which 

 alone attended it. 



RICHARD II., king of England, son of Edward 

 the Black Prince, and grandson of Edward III., 

 was born in 1366. He succeeded the latter in 1377, 

 in his eleventh year, the chief authority of the state 

 being in the hands of his three uncles, John of Gaunt, 

 duke of Lancaster, Edmund, earl of Cambridge, 

 afterwards duke of York, and Thomas of Wood- 

 stock, subsequently duke of Gloucester. The earlier 

 years of the king's minority passed in wars with 

 France and Scotfand, the expense of which led to 

 exactions that produced the insurrection headed by 

 Wat Tyler. Its termination in the death of its chief 

 leader in Smithfield, by the hand of the lord mayor 

 of London, in the presence of the young king, 

 afforded the latter an opportunity to exhibit a 

 degree of address and presence of mind, which, in 

 a youth of fifteen, was very remarkable. Whilst 

 the rioters stood astonished at the fall of their leader, 

 the young king calmly rode up to them, and, declar- 

 ing that he would be their leader, drew them off 

 almost involuntarily, into the neighbouring fields. 

 In the mean time, an armed force was collected by 

 the lord mayor and others, at the sight of which the 

 rioters fell down on their knees and demanded par- 

 don, which was granted them on the condition of their 

 immediate dispersion. Similar insurrections took 

 place in various parts of the kingdom, all of which 

 were, however, put down, and Richard, now master 

 of an army of 40,000 men, collected by a general 

 summons to all the retainers of the crown, found 

 himself strong enough to punish the ringleaders 

 with great severity, and to revoke all the charters 

 and manumissions which he had granted, as extorted 

 and illegal. The promise of conduct and capacity 

 which he displayed on this emergency was but ill 

 answered in the sequel ; and he very early showed 

 a predilection for weak and dissolute company, 

 and the vicious indulgences so common to youthful 

 royalty. In his sixteenth year, he married Anne, 

 daughter of the emperor Charles IV., and, soon 

 after, was so injudicious as to take the great seal 

 from Scroop, or refusing to sanction certain extra- 

 vagant grants of land to his courtiers. Wars with 

 France and Scotland, and the ambitious intrigues of 

 the duke of Lancaster, disquieted some succeeding 

 years. The favourites of Richard were Michael de 

 la Pole, earl of Suffolk and chancellor, and Robert 

 de Vere, earl of Oxford, the latter of whom he 

 created duke of Ireland, with entire sovereignty in 

 that island for life. The duke of Lancaster, being 

 then absent, prosecuting his claim to the crown of 

 Castile, the king's younger uncle, the duke of 

 Gloucester, a prince of popular manners, and un- 

 principled ambition, became the leader of a formid- 

 able opposition, which procured an impeachment of 

 the chancellor, and influenced the parliament so fiir 

 that it proceeded to strip the king of all authority, 

 and obliged him to sign a commission appointing a 

 council of regency for a year. Being now in his 

 twenty-first year, this measure was very galling to 

 Richard, who, in concert with the duke of Ireland, 

 found means to assemble a council of his friends at 

 Nottingham, where the judges unanimously declared 

 against the legality of the extorted commission. 

 Gloucester, at these proceedings, mustered an army 

 in the vicinity of London, which being ineffectually 

 opposed by a body of forces under the duke of Ire- 

 land, several of the king's friends were executed, 

 and the judges who had given their opinion in his 

 favour, were all found guilty of high treason, and 

 sentenced to imprisonment for life in Ireland. A 

 re-action was soon produced by the tyranny of the as- 

 cendant party ; so that, in 13S9, Richard was encou- 



