Page:The history of medieval Europe.djvu/575

 THE HUNDRED YEARS WAR 525 we have seen. Both kings then declared themselves of age and ruled well for a few years. In 1396 Richard married Charles's daughter and peace prevailed between the two realms. From 1392 Charles was insane most of the time, and some have thought that Richard's reason became affected also. At any rate, after eight years of constitutional govern- ment he suddenly in 1397 began to disregard Parliament and act as an absolute monarch and take vengeance on those who had opposed him during the period of his minority. Such conduct resulted in Richard's deposition in 1399 and in the throne being offered by Parliament to the son of John of Gaunt, who as Henry IV was the first king of The Lan- the House of Lancaster. Richard II had left no f£^ e ™ d children, but even after he had died or had been in England murdered in prison, there were alive other descendants of Edward III who had a better hereditary claim to the throne than the Lancastrians, for John of Gaunt was not the next oldest son after the Black Prince. The reign of Henry IV was filled with uprisings against the new king, whom many regarded as a usurper. Therefore Henry IV and his two successors Henries V and VI, were careful not to offend Parliament, which enlarged its powers during their reigns. They also favored the Church in order to secure its support. There had been considerable opposition to the clergy, as well as to the Papacy in England in the second half of the fourteenth century, as we shall see more fully in a later chapter. When Charles VI became insane, there ensued a struggle for the control of the central government between two parties, one led by his brother, Louis of Orleans, Burgundi- the other by the Du ke of Bur gundy. In thereigh odeanfsts of John II the olcTTeudal dynasty in that duchy in France had died out and the fief had escheated to the French Crown. But John had promptly granted it again to his younger son, Philip. This Philip presently married the daughter of the Count of Flanders, and when her father died in 1384 they inherited not only Flanders, but also the counties of Bur- gundy, Nevers, Rethel, and Artois, Philip had had less