Richard II and the Revolution of 1399

by Michael Bennett

This is the first full-length study of the last years of Richard II's reign and the circumstances of his overthrow by Henry of Bolingbroke in 1399. It reviews Richard's early experiences, from his accession, aged only ten, through the troubled politics of the 1380s, placing new emphasis on his own insecurities and the vexed issue of the succession. It offers a detailed examination of Richard's attempts to reassert his royal authority in the 1390s, including his so-called 'tyranny' from 1397 to 1399, and sets them in the context of his personal anxieties and broader ambitions. It shows Richard, all too conscious of his mortality and lack of issue, and all too aware of the vicissitudes of European politics - lashing out at all who had opposed him ten years earlier and crashing through the constraints imposed on his regality in order to prepare himself for some higher destiny in Christendom. This important new book - the fruit of over ten years research - deserves a place on the bookshelves of every historian and student of English history. Covering an episode which has stirred the imagination since Shakespeare first put Richard II on the stage, it will be enjoyed by anyone fascinated by the personalities and the high political drama of the Middle Ages.

Genres: History, Medieval, British Literature, Medieval History, Biography, Nonfiction, Historical

248 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Librarian note: There are multiple authors with this name in this data base. This one is Michael^^^^^Bennett.

Reviews

[Mercedes Rochelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

After two years of intense research about Richard II, I was amazed to discover a book that shed even more light on his last years. Michael Bennett has done some amazing research , even to the point that we practically follow Richard’s activities from day to day for the last several months leading up to the usurpation. It’s an extraordinary piece of work, written in a carefully nonjudgmental manner. We get all points of view, even concerning the process of abdication and deposition. Details are relayed in this book that I often saw referred to elsewhere, but only in passing. For instance, I found this passage to be one of the most revealing concerning Richard’s motivation at the end:

“It was at Lichfield, either at Christmas 1398 or earlier in the year, that Richard had a remarkable conversation with Sir William Bagot. According to Bagot, the king told him that he desired ‘to live long enough to see the crown held in such high respect, and obeyed with such lowly humility by all his lieges, as had been the case under previous kings, for he considered that he had been humiliated and disobeyed by both his lords and his commons, so that it might be chronicled forever that with skill and with strength he had recovered his royal dignity and his honourable estate; and should he achieve this, he would renounce his crown on the following day.’”

The early part of Richard’s reign is not ignored, nor is the aftermath. The first four chapters give us background leading up to 1397, when events take on a life of their own. The summary is not as thorough as you’ll find in other histories; but since the book is about the Revolution of 1399, that makes sense. After the deposition, we read a summary of Henry IV’s reign, which puts things into perspective: “Though his accession had been generally supported, Henry found it hard to make the transition from factional leader to king.” He was dogged by increasing dissatisfaction of his subjects and faced with assassination attempts and a major uprising in 1403. “Henry had wholly lost the serenity and good humour which carried him through 1399.” By all indications, he was cursed by the usurpation throughout his short reign and his bad health was blamed on a guilty conscience.

After reading this book I feel a little closer to understanding Richard’s “tyranny” phase—if that’s even possible. The author’s notes are extensive and there are lots of opportunities for further reading. I highly recommend this to any student of the period.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a compelling and fairly readable account of the events of Richard II’s reign that led to his removal and deposition in 1399. I can’t say there is anything particularly ground-breaking in Michael Bennett’s study, but that may be because my previous reading tended towards more recently published work. I did, however, enjoy having a book dedicated entirely to the revolution, helping the reader to understand what led to it and its aftermath on English rule.

I appreciated how well the text was broken up and that Bennett seemed to deal with all participants fairly – there was more of a sense that he was trying to lay events out than rehabilitate Henry IV or Richard II. Of particular delight was his discussion of Henry IV as a ruler, which allowed me to feel more for him than I had previously.

The age of the book is something for the reader to be aware of – this was first published in 1999 and lacks some of the developments that recent scholarship has uncovered. For example, Henry IV’s birthdate is given as 1366, while it is now accepted he was born in 1367. There are also some small inaccuracies (e.g. Henry of Monmouth (the future Henry V) is implied to have been with Richard II on his return from Ireland, but he was left behind in Ireland).

All the same, I very much enjoyed reading this.

[Bill38silver · Rating 4 out of 5]

This hard-back version is beautifully produced on glossy paper with plenty of pictures accompanying the text. However, for the amateur historian, unfamiliar with events in the late 14th century, such as myself, it was not a comfortable read.

Undoubtedly, the extensive research behind the text is worthy of praise, but the excessive use of notes I found rather awkward. Chapters 6 ( 205 notes over 27 pages ) and Chapter 7 (241 notes over 34 pages) are examples where you are faced with a choice of breaking off the flow to flip to each note, or reading the notes after each chapter. When the source is accompanied with written further notes this was (for me) a distraction from the flow of the story.

Whilst the scholarly approach to detail is praise-worthy, there are sections where this is over-done. I did not find much of interest to be told that, on a progress through the country, the king in the month of May "may have been in the Midlands", or who was present at a meal or which church service he attended. I also did not learn much about the personalities of many magnates, except they were part of the governance structure and were prone to buy their way into positions and buy pardons to keep on the right side of the king.

In summary, I am glad I read this book. But it does not encourage me to read more on what seems to me to be a rather uninteresting king.

[Doris Raines · Rating 2 out of 5]

NICE BOOK.