To what extent were Richard II and Henry IV responsible for the problems that occurred in their reigns?

This question could connect to the second year A-Level course; Medieval History.

Both Richard II and Henry IV had many problems during their reigns. Richards’s issues were the continuing influence of his uncles, the power of the nobles, his religious enthusiasm, wanting to extend royal authority all over England and the conflict in Ireland, Scotland and France.  The problems Henry faced in his reign after Richard were that he was considered a usurper, he had unsupportive magnates, the Welsh rebellion and the French.

Richard, who came to the throne at a young age, only truly took control of England in 1389, when Richard declared himself of full age and free to exercise his kingly rights without restraint, the restraint mentioned here is that of Richard’s advisers. On the death of the senile king Edward III, Richard inherited the throne at the age of ten. This meant he was not old enough to rule on his own and needed people to advise him. These people were John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster, a man with vast wealth and power in various parts of England. Also there was Edmund of Langley, Duke of York, and Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester. They did not help Richard to become an effective king, after a number of ineffective campaigns in France and Scotland, Richard himself was being blamed. This was a big problem for Richard as he needed support from the parliament and the people of England as he was the new king. Richard was not responsible for this problem though. John of Gaunt, Edmund and Thomas were to blame. Richard dealt with this issue by replacing his ‘uncles’ assembling his own choice of court party around him.

Another problem Richard had during his reign was the power of the nobles and his parliament. Richard had made the mistake of only rewarding his favourites like his teacher Robert de Vere, who he gave offices and land in Kent. Because only the favourites of Richard were rewarded this meant the other nobles were jealous and angry. Richards’s relationships with the powerful men in England were bad because of this and it meant he was a very unpopular king. John of Gaunt was in spite of this was extremely loyal to the king, his experience and wealth meant he remained the kings trusted ‘right arm’ though they had little affection for each other.

Richard had great faith throughout his reign. His belief grew in the 1390s, Richard showed this new faith by giving many gifts to the shrine of St. Edward the Confessor at Westminster, some of which survive until this day.  Also his investment in Westminster Abbey and York Minster, yet he passed no new statutes. Richards own faith meant he didn’t pay much attention to the significant impact of John Wyclif and his Lollard followers.  Which was a problem as some of the most important Lollards that followed John Wyclif formed part of the king's court as knights. These included Sir William Neville, Sir John Montague and Sir William Beachamp. Richard was responsible for this as he being king should have paid more attention to the movements of the English society.

Scotland and France allied together in 1385. This auld alliance put Richard on the defensive as now he could be attacked from both sides. France sent a force of men to the aid of the scots, with Scotland attacking on the border and France attacking the coast Richard led an army of 14,000 men in an invasion of Scotland. Unable to draw the scots into battle Richard left without prevailing. The king’s government was making lots of mistakes and parliament was angry about the lack of reforms and the expensive war. Also the added fact that Richard wanted to continue planning an invasion of Ireland even with all the trouble and debt he was already in. Richard is partly to blame for this problem, if he had been able to make more reforms or an alliance with France as Henry later does the parliament wouldn’t have undermined the king’s authority or sacked chancellor de la Pole.

Richard’s reign had a bad beginning with him being crowned so young, the guidance of the duke of Lancaster and others, the ambitions of the powerful nobles and the parliament and the conflicts with France and Scotland. These problems were not Richards fault. But Richard must take some blame for other problems such as him only rewarding his favourites and for his ignorance over the religious change of some of his court and the Lollard leader Wyclif.

Richard lost the throne when he took Henry’s Lancastrian estates. Henry came back to England to reclaim his land from the king, along the way to London Henry gained the support of powerful magnates concerned that their own land could be taken as Henry’s had been. By the time Richard got back to London he had lost all the little support he had and parliament subsequently declared Henry king. Even though parliament had made Henry king and he had the support of the common people he was still considered a usurper and his reign was full of conflict and rebellion. Henry was not responsible for being considered a usurper and the rebellions, but being that he took the throne from a king who was still alive it is to be expected.

Henry also had the problem of unsupportive magnates. The same magnates who had previously supported Henry in taking the throne from Richard were now against him, as they were more interested in building their own power bases and not supporting the crown. This was a big problem for Henry as he wanted the support of the powerful magnates being the new king, but he was not completely responsible for the problem.

Owen Glyndwr began a rebellion against English rule in wales. The rebellion which began in the autumn of 1400 and Glyndwr took on the title of Prince of Wales. The rebellion was hugely successful, with English control in wales being removed or reduced to the holding of a castle. Henry tried to put down the rebellion but failed. Glyndwr also allied with the powerful Percy family, gaining more English resistance to the cause. The rebellion was not Henry’s fault but because he didn’t stop Glyndwr the rebellion had wider implications with wales gaining the support of the French in 1404.

Henry’s reign over England was full of conflict and rebellion, the rebellion came from him being a usurper, which you can’t consider him being responsible for unless you believe he planned to take the throne the entire time and not just his own lands back. The conflict from France was going on during Richard's reign also so you can’t hold Henry responsible for that either.