Page:EB1911 - Volume 23.djvu/313

 methods, and when the lords appellant had lost credit, asserted himself constitutionally by dismissing Gloucester's supporters from office and appointing in their place well-approved men like William of Wykeham. In the next parliament of 1390 the king showed himself ready to meet and conciliate his subjects. The simultaneous return of John of Gaunt from Spain put a check on Gloucester's ambition. For seven years Richard ruled constitutionally and on the whole well. The opposition was quiescent except for two outbreaks by Arundel: the first was a violent attack on John of Gaunt, which rather strengthened Richard's position; the second was a wanton insult to the king at the funeral of his queen.

In January 1383 Richard had married Anne of Bohemia (1366–1394), daughter of the emperor Charles IV. The marriage, though childless, was happy; had Anne lived or borne a son the course of events might have been different. Her death on the 7th of June 1394 was a great shock to Richard, and incidentally had important consequences. Richard sought distraction by an expedition to Ireland, the first visit of an English king for more than two centuries. In his policy there he showed a wise statesmanship. At the same time he was negotiating for a permanent peace with France, which was finally arranged in October 1396 to include his own marriage with Isabella, daughter of Charles VI., a child of seven. Gloucester criticized the peace openly, and there was some show of opposition in the parliament of February 1397. But there was nothing to foreshadow the sudden stroke by which in July Richard arrested Gloucester and his chief supporters, the earls of Arundel and Warwick. The others of the five lords appellant, Henry of Bolingbroke afterwards King Henry IV., and the earl of Nottingham, now supported the king. Richard's action was apparently in deliberate revenge for the events of 1387–88. Gloucester, after a forced confession, died in prison at Calais, smothered by his nephew's orders. Arundel in a packed parliament was condemned and executed; his brother Thomas archbishop of Canterbury was exiled. The king's friends, including Nottingham and Bolingbroke, made dukes of Norfolk and Hereford, were all promoted in title and estate. Richard himself was rewarded for ten years' patience by the possession of absolute power. He might perhaps have established it if he could have exercised it with moderation. But he declared that the laws of England were in his mouth, and supported his court in wanton luxury by arbitrary methods of taxation. By the exile of Norfolk and Hereford in September 1398 he seemed to have removed the last persons he need fear. He was so confident that in May 1399 he paid a second visit to Ireland, taking with him all his most trusted adherents. Thus when Henry landed at Ravenspur in July he found only half-hearted opposition, and when Richard himself returned it was too late. Ultimately Richard surrendered to Henry at Flint on the 19th of August, promising to abdicate if his life was spared. He was taken to London riding behind his rival with indignity. On the 30th of September he signed in the Tower a deed of abdication, wherein he owned himself insufficient and useless, reading it first aloud with a cheerful mien and ending with a request that his cousin would be good lord to him. The parliament ordered that Richard should be kept close prisoner, and he was sent secretly to Pontefract. There in February 1400 he died: no doubt of the rigour of his winter imprisonment, rather than by actual murder as alleged in the story adopted by Shakespeare. The mystery of Richard's death led to rumours that he had escaped, and an impostor pretending to be Richard lived during many years under the protection of the Scottish government. But no doubt it was the real Richard who was buried without state in 1400 at King's Langley, and honourably reinterred by Henry V. at Westminster in 1413.

Richard II. is a character of strange contradictions. It is difficult to reconcile the precocious boy of 1381 with the wayward and passionate youth of the next few years. Even if it be supposed that he dissembled his real opinions during the period of his constitutional rule, it is impossible to believe that the apparent indifference which he showed in his fall was the mere acting of a part. His violent outbursts of passion perhaps give the best clue to a mercurial and impulsive nature, easily elated and depressed. He had real ability, and in his Irish policy, and in the preference which he gave to it over continental adventure, showed a statesmanship in advance of his time. But this, in spite of his lofty theory of kingship, makes it all the more difficult to explain his extravagant bearing in his prosperity. His fall was due to the triumph of national right over absolute government, but it was his personal conduct which made it inevitable. In appearance Richard was tall and handsome, if effeminate. He had some literary tastes, which were shown in fitful patronage of Chaucer, Gower and Froissart. His fancy for splendid dress may have been due to an artistic sense, which found better expression in his great buildings of Westminster Hall and Abbey. Richard's second queen, Isabella (1389–1409), was born in Paris on the 9th of November 1389, and was married to the English king at Calais in October, or November, 1396, but on account of the bride's youth the marriage was never consummated. When Richard lost his crown in 1399 Isabella was captured by Henry IV.'s partisans and sent to Sonning, near Reading, while her father, Charles VI., asked in vain for the restoration of his daughter and of her dowry. In 1401 she was allowed to return to France; in 1406 she became the wife of the poet, Charles, duke of Orleans, and she died on the 13th of September 1409.

RICHARD III. (1452–1485), king of England, youngest son of Richard, duke of York, by Cicely Neville, was born at Fotheringhay on the 2nd of October 1452. After the second battle of St Albans in February 1461, his mother sent him with his brother George for safety to Utrecht. They returned in April, and at the coronation of Edward IV. Richard was created duke of Gloucester. As a mere child he had no importance till 1469–1470, when he supported his brother against Warwick, shared his exile and took part in his triumphant return. He distinguished himself at Barnet and Tewkesbury; according to the Lancastrian story, after the latter battle he murdered the young Edward of Wales in cold blood; this is discredited by the authority of Warkworth (Chronicle, p. 18); but Richard may have had a share in Edward’s death during the fighting. He cannot be so fully cleared of complicity in the murder of Henry VI., which probably took place at the Tower on the night of the 21–22 of May, when Richard was certainly present there. Richard shared to the full in his brother's prosperity. He had large grants of lands and office, and by marrying Anne (1456–1485), the younger daughter of Warwick, secured a share in the Neville inheritance. This was distasteful to George, duke of Clarence, who was already married to the elder sister, Isabel. The rivalry of the two brothers caused a quarrel which was never appeased. Richard does not, however, seem to have been directly responsible for the death of Clarence in 1478; Sir Thomas More, who is a hostile witness, says that he resisted it openly "howbeit somewhat (as men deemed) more faintly than he that were heartily minded to his wealth." Richard's share of the Neville inheritance was chiefly in the north, and he resided usually at Middleham in Yorkshire. In May 1480 he was made the king's lieutenant-general in the north, and in 1482 commanded a successful invasion of Scotland. His administration was good, and brought him well-deserved popularity. On Edward's death he was kept informed of events in London by William, Lord Hastings, who shared his dislike of the Woodville influence.