RICHARD. 



in the cabinet, as well as in the field. He was a pafiionate 

 lover of poetry : fome of his compolitions in that line are 

 faici to remain ; and he bears a rank among the Provencal 

 poets and Troubadours, who were the tirft of modern Euro- 

 peans that diftinguifhed themfelves by attempts of that 

 nature. 



Though the Englifh pleafed themfelves with the glory 

 which the king's martial genius procured them, his reign 

 was oppreffive and arbitrary, by the high taxes which he 

 levied on them, and frequently without confent of the ilates, 

 or great council. In the ninth year of his reign he levied 

 fire (hillings on each hyde of land ; and becaufe the clergy 

 refufed to contribute their fhare, he put them out of the pro- 

 tection of the law, and ordered the civil courts to give them 

 no fentence for any debts which they might claim. Twice 

 in his reign he ordered all his charters to be fealed anew, and 

 the parties to pay fees for the renewal. He eftablifhed by 

 law one weight and meafure throughout the kingdom, which 

 the mercenary difpofition and neceffities of his fucceiTor en- 

 gaged him to difpenfe with for money. 



Richard II., king of England, fon of Edward the 

 black prince, and graudfon of Edward III., was born in 

 1366, and, on the death of his grandfather in 1 377, he fuc- 

 ceeded to the throne in his eleventh year. The chief autho- 

 rity of the ftate, at this time, was in the hands of his three 

 uncles, viz, John, duke of Lancafter ; Edmund, earl of 

 Cambridge, afterwards duke of York ; and Thomas of 

 Woodltock, afterwards duke of Gloucelter. A council of 

 nine perfons was now nominated to condutt the adminiltra- 

 tion of government. The early part of the king's minority 

 pafled in wars with France and Scotland ; the confequence 

 of which was a formidable infurrcftion at home, produced 

 by the taxes neceflary for the public fervice. In 1 381, the 

 indecent conduct of a collector of the poll-tax at Deptford 

 having provoked one Walter, by trade a tyler, to break his 

 ikull with a hammer, a flame was initantly kindled, which 

 fprcad over Kent, and the neighbouring counties ; fo that, 

 ;-i :i fliort time, a body of 100,000 men was collected on 

 Blackheath. Their object was not merely to put an end to 

 n arbitrary tax, but to free the country from the perfonal 

 fervitude to which the lower dalles were, at that time, in a 

 great meafure fubjected. On their approach to London, 

 they fent a meffage to the king, requeuing a conference. 

 He met them on the bank of the Thames, but was unable 

 to fatisfy their demands. In the rage of difappointment, 

 they burft into London, committed great devaltation, and 

 excited univerfal confternation. At length ample charters 

 of freedom were granted to them, and a general pardon for 

 all pail offences. The infurgents now difperfed, but the 

 principal leader, Wat Tyler, at the head of the Kentifli 

 men, remained in London, and was unfatisficd with the 

 conceflions granted by the monarch. He met the king in 

 Smithlield, whom he addrcfl'cd with much infolence, and 

 making the molt extravagant demands, Walworth, lord 

 mayor of London, drew Ins fword and felled him to the 

 ground. While the rioters Hood altoniflied with the fall of 

 •.heir leader, the king, with great prcfence of mind, rode 

 up alone, and exclaiming that he would be their leader, 

 drew them off involuntarily into the neighbouring fields. 

 The monarch would willingly have pardoned the iulurgents, 

 and confirmed to them the charters which had been ex- 

 torted by force ; but other inlurreCtions being excited, his 

 -advifers caufed him to revoke aH the charters that had been 

 extorted from him, and to ifluc commillions for the trial of 

 the rioters, many of whom were executed. 



Richard, when he was fixtccn years old, cfpouled Anne, 

 -daughter of the late emperor Charles IV. ; after this he began 



to exercife a very tyrannical fpirit, not ttrithftanding the early 

 promife of his reign, and he took the great feal from Scroop', 

 who had refufed to fet it to certain extravagant grants of 

 lands made to courtiers. A war with France and Scot- 

 land, and the ambitious projects of the duke of Lancai- 

 ter, difquieted fome fucceeding years. In 1385 Richard 

 marched with a large army into Scotland, and ravaged the 

 country to Edinburgh and Perth, both which towns he 

 burnt ; in the mean time a Scotch army was making a de- 

 ftrudtivc inroad into England. The duke of Lancaller being 

 abfent, profecuting his claim to the crown of Caflile, the 

 king's younger uncle, the duke of Gloucelter, a man of 

 popular manners and dangerous ambition, became a leader 

 of the oppofition to the adminiflration of the kind's favour- 

 ites. By his influence an impeachment was fent up ta the 

 lords againft the chancellor ; and though the king withdrew, 

 with his court, to Eltham, he was intimidated into a dif- 

 mifiion of his minifter, who was afterwards flript of his eltates, 

 and committed to cultody. The parliament now felt them- 

 felves ilrong enough to proceed to active meafures, and they 

 went fo far as to diveit the king of all his authority, bv 

 obliging him to fign a commiffion, appointing a council of 

 regency, conlilting of fourteen perfons, to whom the fove- 

 reign power was transferred for a year. The king now, in 

 the twenty-firlt year of his age, was reduced to a ftate of 

 complete iniignificance, but he held frequent confutations 

 with his friends relative to the means of emancipating him- 

 felf ; and in the year 1387, making a progrefs to the north, 

 he fummoned a council of his friends at Nottingham, by 

 which queitions were propofed to the judges concerning 

 the legality of the commiffion which he had been compelLd 

 to fign. They unanimoufly declared it to be a violation of 

 the royal prerogative, and pronounced all who had joined 

 in the execution of it, as guilty of a capital offence. The 

 duke of Gloucefler and his party began now to make pre- 

 parations to maintain their caufe by force of arms. Being 

 by much the ftronger party, they obliged the king to accept 

 of terms, and at the enfuing meeting of parliament the five 

 principals in the king's council were impeached, and con- 

 demned to death. The judges, who had given their opinion in 

 favour of the king, were all found guilty of hightreafon, 

 but the punifhment of death was commuted for imprifonment 

 in Ireland during life. In 1389 Richard entered the council, 

 and, in a refolute tone, obferved, that he was of full age to 

 t.ik.- the government into his own hands: his enemies fub- 

 mttted, and he granted a general amnefty. 



Several years of tranquillity enfued, and the return of the 

 duke of Lancafter formed a counterbalance to the influence 

 of the duke of Gloucelter. In 1394 Richard vifited Ireland 

 at the head of an army, in order to fettle the affairs of that 

 ifland, which he accomplished, and then returned. Although 

 no acts of notorious mifgovernment had been committed by 

 the king for a conlidcrablc period, yet his private character 

 and mode of life tended to difgrace him in the eyes of hit 

 fubjefts. He was indolent and averfe from buunefs, and 

 fpent all his time in conviviality and amufement, admitting 

 jeltiTs and perfons of the meaneil rank and Ration to his in- 

 timacy, and laying afide ail the proper dignity of rank. He 

 was It ill governed by favourites, who were the real dis- 

 tributors of every grace from the crown, fo that the king 

 was little better than a cypher. By Gloucefler and his 

 party the moll criminal dciigns were imputed to Richard, 

 which led the king, by the advice and fohcitation of his 

 adherents, to apprehend the duke and his two accomplice":, 

 the carls of Arundel aud Warwick. This plan was executed 

 in 1397 ; the duke was fent over to Cilais in clofe cultudy, 

 while the earls were committed to prifon. A parliament 



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