King Richard

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There have been three King Richards in the history of the UK. All were rulers of England and Wales, claiming overlordship of Ireland. Scotland has had no King Richard. The adjective ricardian has been used to label periods, followers, policies, castles etc of all three.

Richard I

Born 1157; succeeded his father Henry II 1189; married (1191) Berengaria (of Navarre) (c.1165-1230) - the marriage was childless; died 1199; succeeded by his brother King John.

Richard Plantagenet, nicknamed in French Coeur de Lion, or its English equivalent Richard the Lionheart, was one of the greatest warriors of his generation. He showed this early, in suppressing various revolts against his father's rule (although he began in one such), and later in his struggles with his elder brother, Henry (the young King) until the latter's death in 1183. Before his father's death, he had 'taken the Cross' (vowed to go on Crusade to the Holy Land of Palestine). His lasting reputation as great warrior and chivalrous hero was fostered among others by Scott in Ivanhoe (1820) and The Talisman (1825). He is portrayed as the Christian equivalent of the great Muslim leader Saladin, whom he defeated at Acre, Arsuf and Jaffa, although Saladin remained in possession of the Holy Land. Richard was captured in Germany on his return and held to ransom, Later historians accused Richard of neglecting England (he hardly spoke English); but, at the time, his Christian duty, and the fact that he was also Duke of both Normandy and Aquitaine and Count of Anjou (effectively ruling half of modern France) excused him: his popularity meant that the country was willing to pay the taxes for his ransom. The article at Blondel tells the legend of his release, and that at Robin Hood retells some of Scott's fictions.
Richard II

Born 1367 (son of the Black Prince (1330-1376)); succeeded his grandfather Edward III 1377; married first (1382) Anne of Bohemia (1366-1394), second (1396) Isabella (1389-1409), aet. 7, of France; deposed by his cousin Henry IV 1399; murdered (or starved himself to death) 1400.

Richard 'of Bordeaux' was the last undisputed Angevin king. He inherited as a child, from his grandfather, by right of his father being Prince of Wales; he first presided over Parliament when he was 10 years old, in the illness of his grandfather. In 1381, he took an important part in suppressing the Peasants' Revolt, showing personal bravery, and later an insistence on punishing disobedience. This was part of an increasingly autocratic character, which, allied with his patronage of favourites, made him more and more unpopular. In 1386, the 'Wonderful Parliament' took much power, and impeached some of the favourites; in 1388, the 'Merciless Parliament' sentenced many to death. Richard reigned as largely titular monarch, until in 1397, he turned the tables and began his final period of 'tyranny'. When his uncle, John of Gaunt died in 1399, Richard attempted to dispossess the heir, Henry 'of Bolingbroke'. Henry returned from his exile, ostensibly to claim his own; but within three months Richard had been deposed, and by mid-February 1400 he was dead - perhaps starved, possibly by his own will.
Shakespeare's The Tragedie of King Richard the Second (the Quarto edition title; the folio is The life and death of King Richard the second) is about the unjust banishment of Bolingbroke, and the subsequent deposition and murder of Richard. It shows a weak king harmed by his overweening pride, which leads him to injustice. It is the first play in Shakespeare's second tetralogy of history plays, its sequels being the two parts of Henry IV, and Henry V. 'Gordon Daviot' (pseudonym of Elizabeth MacKintosh (1896-1952)) also wrote a highly successful play Richard of Bordeaux, which ran for a year, directed by and starring John Gielgud in 1932. Anthony Minghella (1954-2008) wrote a play called Two Planks and a Passion (1984), about a production of the York Mystery plays during a visit to the city by Richard and Queen Anne.
Richard III

Born 1452 (son of Richard, 3rd duke of York (1411-1460)); succeeded Edward V, the uncrowned 13 year old son of his brother Edward IV 1483, by usurpation; married (c. 1472) Anne (1456-1485) (née Neville, daughter of the 'Kingmaker' and widow of Edward of Westminster, son of Henry VI); killed at the battle of Bosworth (1485) by the troops of Henry VII, who succeeded him. A body discovered in Leicester in 2012 was declared to be his "beyond reasonable doubt" in 2013.

Richard, created Duke of Gloucester at the age of 9, was involved in the Wars of the Roses all his life: his father died at the battle of Wakefield (1460), leaving Henry VI in power - till the following year, when Richard's brother Edward (IV) was crowned. During Edward's reign, Richard was a successful magnate, the most powerful noble in England, particularly the north, where he was popular. (He captured Berwick-upon-Tweed in 1482, since when it has remained English.) Edward held the throne till 1470, when Henry returned for a year. Edward then ruled till his death in April 1483, to be succeeded by his son, Edward V, who was never crowned, and disappeared with his brother Richard (1473-1483), as the 'Princes in the Tower', some time in the summer of 1483, after Gloucester's coronation in July as Richard III. He probably took the throne not only for personal ambition, but also for the sake of good government and stability: a child king would have protracted the Civil Wars. The Lancastrian dynasty had died out with Henry VI; its claim had passed to Henry Tudor, who was married to the Yorkist heiress Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville. In 1485, Henry invaded, and destroyed the royal forces, killing the king, at the Battle of Bosworth on 22nd August. This ended the Wars of the Roses, inaugurating the Tudor dynasty, and is a convenient date to signal the end of the Middle Ages, and, in language, the beginning of Early Modern English. Richard has a very varied reputation, vilified by Tudor historians, but much loved in the North of England. He was a brave and successful soldier and a good judge; but he was involved in many deaths, by murder and execution.
Like Richard II, Richard III has inspired several literary works: Shakespeare's Richard III is the climax of his first tetralogy of history plays, being preceded by the three parts of Henry VI. Here Richard, portrayed as 'Crookback', begins "determined to prove a villain": and proceeds well, committing many murders. Shakespeare largely based his account on the unfinished History of King Richard III by Thomas More, which is agreed to be at least partly propaganda for the Tudors who had overthrown Richard. By a coincidence, Elizabeth MacKintosh (1896-1952), who wrote about Richard II as 'Gordon Daviot', wrote about Richard III with another pseudonym, Josephine Tey, in The Daughter of Time (1951), a detective story that has her hero Inspector Grant hospitalized and examining the case against Richard as murderer of the Princes in the Tower - and finding it wanting.