Richard II: From Boy King To Brutal Tyrant | Britain's Bloodiest Dynasty | Chronicle

[Music] out of the chaos darkness and violence of the middle ages one family rose to seize control of england generation after generation they ruled the country for more than 300 years ruthlessly crushing all competition [Music] to become the greatest english dynasty of all time the planned targets what i love about the plantagenet story is that it's more shocking more brutal and more astonishing than anything you'll find in fiction i want to show you the plantagenets as i see them real living breathing people driven by ambition jealousy hatred and revenge these kings murdered betrayed and tyrannized their way to spectacular success for better and for worse the plantagenets forged england as a nation this time the golden boy who single-handedly ended the peasants revolt [Music] but richard ii became the most vicious plantagenet of them all and his reign of terror brought the whole plantagenet dynasty crashing down [Music] [Applause] june the 11th 1381 two 14 year old boys are taking refuge here at the tower of london as murderous rebels stalk the streets outside the first of the boys is the king himself richard ii eighth in the unbroken line of plantagenet kings the second is his cousin henry bollingbrook son and heir of the duke of lancaster they will change the face of england but first they have to survive this bloody crisis and that's not exactly guaranteed the only thing on the king's side is that it's not him the rebels are after richard ii has been king since he was 10. since then his realm has been ruled by councillors now in the eyes of the peasants these councillors are greedy and evil and how do you fix a problem like that well you kill them obviously [Applause] richard's counsellors are the most senior nobles in the land most of them have fled london the rest are hiding in the tower with the king as the situation deteriorates the most hated of richard's hatch a desperate plan they send the young king with an entourage out of the tower and through the streets to create a distraction they're hoping the mob will follow so they can make their escape but their cowardice very quickly comes back to haunt them [Music] [Applause] the rebels simply let richard pass he's not their target his evil counselors are unfortunately for young henry bollingbrook his dad john of gaunt the king's uncle is one of those evil counsellors which puts henry directly in the firing line and worse than that he stuck up in the tower with the two most hated men in england the king's chancellor and his treasurer and the rebels massed outside these walls can smell blood it was probably only the king's presence that was holding them back but he's gone now the mob storms the gates the rebels tear through the tower going from room to room looking for the men they hate they find the treasurer robert hales and then in this chapel they find the chancellor archbishop sudbury cowering in prayer in front of the altar but god's not going to save him both men are dragged out into the street kicking and screaming in terror while all this is going on henry's hiding in a cupboard and you can imagine him alone in the darkness barely daring to breathe waiting for the rebels to find him but they never do they have their victims sudbury and hails are beheaded in the street sudbury's head is stuck on a spike on london bridge his archbishop's mitre nailed to his head so there's no doubt about who they've killed england is on the brink of full-blown anarchy it's the greatest crisis the country has faced in more than a hundred years richard could lose his crown in desperation his ministers start issuing charters of freedom to the rebels but it doesn't work they just murdered two of his top ministers and got away with it a few bits of parchment i'm going to stop them now the 14 year old king has one last throw of the dice to ride out again through the blood frenzied mob and confront the rebel leaders for his whole life richard's been told that he alone can save england now he's about to find out if it's true the whole future of england is now in the hands of a 14 year old boy he meets the rebels outside the city walls at smithfield open countryside near where the meat market is today what tyler the fierce and rebel leader comes across to make his demands they are extraordinary [Music] what he's asking for is completely outrageous no more bishops no more nobles common ownership to all lands seven centuries later you'd call it communism in medieval england it's just bonkers and it leads to a standoff there are conflicting accounts about exactly what happens next what we do know is a scuffle breaks out between tyler and one of richard's men weapons are drawn in the struggle richard's man cuts the rebel leader hard across the face and neck with his sword tyler is mortally wounded when tyler's army of kentish rebels see what's happening they draw back their bows ready to fire and in that instant the whole future of the english monarchy hangs in the balance so [Music] [Applause] faced with certain death the king's terrified men turn to flee but richard doesn't [Music] instead the young king does something astonishing the 14 year old charges alone straight towards the rebel ranks he cries out in english that he is their leader their captain and their king he commands them to lower their weapons and incredibly they do it's always been seen as an astonishing act of bravery by the young king but i think there's more to it than that for richard's whole life he's been told that he's the man to save england from terminal decline all he's ever known is adulation you are god's anointed king your people adore you you will be mighty after a while that sort of thing can go to a kid's head so when richard rides out to meet the rebels that's what's going through his mind my people love me god will protect me and when the rebels kneel before him it just confirms everything he's ever believed about himself from this moment on nothing will ever shake richard's belief that god is on his side he is the king he is right and he is invincible when richard orders the peasants home they go happily clutching their charters of freedom safe in the knowledge that richard is their man their captain their king [Applause] [Music] they are wrong the following week richard meets the rebels again they've come to seal the deal with their new champion [Music] but richard's got a new deal in mind a first-hand account of the meeting still exists here in the british library this is the chronicle of thomas woolsingham who was an eyewitness to many of the events that peasants revolt and he records richard's reaction but it's not what the peasants were expecting at all it's in latin richard says peasants you are and peasants you'll remain in permanent bondage not as you were before but in an incomparably harsher state then richard goes on to say he's going to devote the rest of his life to tormenting the rebels so much that no one in england will ever dare to rise up again so much for being a captain and their leader richard's going to be their hangman [Music] in the months that follow hundreds possibly thousands of peasants are strung up by the king's men his people never dare rise up against him again richard's terrifying ordeal at the hands of the rebels has taught him a lesson the king doesn't need to be loved he needs to be feared by 1385 even the country's senior nobles are starting to become nervous [Music] it's four years since richard crushed the peasants revolt and he's no longer a child he's 19 he's married to anna bohemia daughter of the holy roman emperor and he's fed up with people telling him what to do he decides to take the lead and from this point on richard's reign will be dominated by his struggle to do things his way [Music] richard and anne are a great match and the queen is clearly a good influence on him a young court of noble springs up around them led by the king's favorite robert de vere like the king his young court have little time for the old guard men like his uncle gloucester and the archbishop of canterbury the richard's under 21 so they can legitimately control his council the equivalent of cabinet they still think of him as a child but he's not when the archbishop criticizes richard for keeping bad company the king makes it crystal clear that he's not interested in his opinion anymore [Laughter] he's only stopped from doing serious harm by the intervention of his uncle gloucester this time richard clines down but egged on by de vere and the others the split between the king and his old councillors is only going to get worse one important young nobles missing from the king's new entourage his cousin henry bollingbrook so far best known for hiding in a cupboard because while richard's swanning about at court with his new powers henry's off fighting in tournaments and learning the business of war and bollingbroke stands to inherit the most powerful duchy in richard's kingdom so despite his absence henry will have far more influence on the king's reign than any of his new friends [Applause] but while bowling brooks away richard's new pals are still making all the running the king's wrestling control away from the old guard by replacing them on his council with his new friends like devere but a crisis in the never-ending war with france is about to undo all richard's plans by the autumn of 1386 the french are poised to launch an invasion de vere and the others do nothing to prevent it the old guard have had enough they go to parliament and get them on side against the king and his young allies the king's uncle is the man charged with telling richard to get rid of them or the old guard will gloucester delivers the ultimatum to richard here at elton palace and given the king's tendency to blow his top and even the slightest attempt to curb his behavior gloucester must have realized his nephew was never going to take this well all the same richard's reaction absolutely flaws him he accuses his counsel and parliament of treason and threatens to seek help from the french if the old guard don't yield he'll invite in the country's deadliest enemy to destroy them gloucester doesn't rise to the bait he simply asks richard to think about his great-grandfather edward ii it's an explicit threat gloucester is called the king's bluff in a bloodless coup all richard's ministers are removed gloucester and the old guard retake control of the council and the country but if they think they've got richard under control they're dead wrong because the king is more devious more cunning and more ruthless than anyone has dared to imagine [Music] richard and devere organize a secret meeting of judges the king sees the actions of the old guard as treason unfortunately that's not what the law says richard has a simple solution to that change the law no sane judge would ever agree but then it all depends on how you ask them the judge's rule that any opposition to the king is equivalent to treason it's basically a tyrant's charter do what i say or you'll be strung up richard thinks he's cracked it this judgment threatens everyone and to richard that's what being a king is all about intimidation the old guard have a stark choice they can let richard's treason laws stand in which case the king can kill them whenever he likes or they can raise an army against him unsurprisingly gloucester and his allies go for the second option in response de vere richard's best pal raises an army to defend the king with the situation escalating all the leading nobles have to choose a side and that brings a decisive new player into the game the king's cousin henry bollingbrook until now henry's been pretty loyal to richard even if the deal with the judges was quite hard to swallow but he can't stand de vere not only has de vere chucked his wife who's henry's cousin he's also been poaching henry's lands now henry knows de vere couldn't have done any of this without richard's approval and an attack on de vere is effectively an attack on the king but he's had enough and so as devere tries to cross radcop bridge here in oxfordshire henry bollingbrook is waiting for him henry is a battle-hardened veteran so when devere's army run into henry's troops they basically run for the hills de vere flees to france he never returns settling his score with de vere means that henry has now sided with the barons against the king and with de vere gone nothing stands between them and richard the king is forced to offer peace talks at the tower of london along with four other senior nobles gloucester arundel warwick and mowbray henry heads the tower where richard's waiting they take 500 soldiers with them just in case the king gets the mistaken idea that this is a friendly chat on top of twisting the trees and laws they've discovered that richard has been negotiating for peace with the french without parliament's knowledge they enter the tower to confront the king and lock the doors behind them for three days richard is locked up in the tower with his enemies and forced to watch as the five of them decide what to do with him deposing the king is undoubtedly on the table after all gloss has already threatened richard with it once when the doors finally open the king is sent to parliament to await his fate [Music] it's a packed house as the five lords returned from the tower to deliver their verdict everyone is expecting them to force richard to abdicate but they don't [Music] instead all five bow low and swear allegiance to the king despite everything he's done richard survives it's an astonishing turnaround no one knows exactly what happened in that tower but i think henry and the others were actually going to depose richard and in the end the only thing that stopped them was the fear of civil war [Music] the chaos and slaughter of the inevitable fight over who should be king instead would tear the country apart the reality is leaving richard in place is simply the least worst option [Music] so how does richard feel grateful lucky humbled no in richard's mind this is further proof that whatever he does god will protect him after the tower richard keeps a low profile but he's just biding his time he's now 21 theoretically he can take full control of the country any time he likes and then god help the men who stood against him [Music] with richard in charge the old guard probably fear the worst but getting the power he's always craved seems to calm him down astonishingly peace breaks out the king agrees a truce with france and in henry's absence he even makes up with gloucester and the others it looks like richard's grown out of his youthful malice but he hasn't while all this public peace and reconciliation is going on richard's quietly doing something that will completely alter the balance of power in the kingdom he's raising a private army in the north of england but this isn't an army paid for or approved by parliament it's a band of private mercenaries with no loyalty to anyone but richard himself the emblem he chooses for his soldiers is the white heart strange isn't it this is more like the behavior of a warlord than a king so what's he up to well incredibly more than six centuries on there is a way to peer inside the mind of richard ii and it's here at the national gallery this is the wilton diptych it's a portrait painted for richard at around this time and everything you see in it every aspect of the symbolism is here because richard wants it here but even though this was painted when he was a fully grown man he's presented here as though he was still 14 years old the age of his greatest triumph in the peasant travon behind him we have the saints and edmund edward the confessor john the baptist and here we have the virgin mary and the baby jesus both looking adoringly down at richard giving him their blessing but what's most interesting are these 11 angels all wearing the symbol of the white heart that's the symbol of richard's private army it's saying even the angels wear my badge god is on my side this is a painting of a man who truly believes he can do whatever the hell he wants [Music] three years after leaving england henry bollingbrook returns the kingdom has changed a lot richard may have brought peace to the country but the white heart symbol of his personal power is everywhere on flags buildings statues windows and of course on the king's private soldiers and they're everywhere too it seems threatening with good reason henry must have been sweating it the last time he saw his cousin he all but deposed him [Music] but richard graciously welcomes him back the nasty business in the tower of london seems forgotten he even makes henry a trusted counsellor and diplomat after all they are cousins [Music] despite richard's disturbing track record he's now ruled his country in his own right peacefully for more than five years but all that's about to change [Music] richard's queen anna bohemia dies suddenly at just 28. the king is utterly inconsolable and properly unhinged i think anne was some sort of stabilizing influence on him now she's gone there's nothing holding him back and that's apparent straight away when arendelle one of the five from the tower turns up late to her funeral [Music] the peace loving image the kings cultivated is ripped away [Music] here in westminster abbey there's direct evidence of the real richard that emerges this is an incredible piece of history it's the earliest surviving portrait of a british monarch to be taken from life and it was painted around the time of richard's wife's death and it shows you the king not only as he wanted to be seen but as his subjects really did see him because the riches that's shown here it's a seriously nasty piece of work he really did sit like this on a high throne above his court staring around sort of feels like his gaze is on me now and if he looked at you you were supposed to throw yourself to the ground or face his wrath this was a really dangerous atmosphere but i don't think this is a new personality richard's always had this in him think about his bloody crushing of the peasants revolt his attack on the archbishop his abuse of the treason laws his buildup of a private army i think richard's always been a tyrant [Music] backed by his private army the king reinstates his version of the treason law anybody who opposes him now faces death the monster has been unleashed [Music] ten years earlier in that tower over there five men humiliated the king and threatened to rip his crown away from him now one way or another richard's going to crush them this is a vendetta pure and simple richards tried being a nice guy he didn't like it as one chronicler of the time wrote this is the year that richard's tyranny began the earl of warwick was one of the five who humiliated richard in the tower he should probably have felt better of going back there for dinner with the king when the meal is finished so is warwick and richard's just warming up gloucester was the ringleader of the five who threatened him now richard rides through the night to return the favor the king greets him as fair uncle and has him arrested on the spot gloucester is packed off into the custody of thomas mowbray another of the five [Music] to atone for his sins he's now the king's hatchet man [Music] supernose the fourth man arundel is arrested and imprisoned as well [Music] he too is charged with treason gloucester warwick and arundel have their trials set for a parliament in westminster just like today westminster hall is under construction so parliament's held in a wooden hall next door it opens with a sermon from ezekiel there'll be one king over them all and indeed there is because towering above them on a specially built high throne is richard with 300 of his white heart archers at his back the message is simple you're either with the king or against him there is no politics now just life or death graphic proof of this comes when mowbray reports that unfortunately gloucester can't stand trial what about this uncounted being the gloucester luckily before he died he made a full confession admitting to all richard's charges in reality of course richard has had him tortured to death [Music] henry bollingbrook was the fifth man in the tower and not for the first time he has to choose a side join with the king or share gloucester's fate henry chooses life he makes a speech condemning his old ally arundel arundel is sentenced to death warwick banished for life of the five who stood against the king only henry and mowbray remain and they must know they're not safe the king has just murdered his own uncle a royal duke anybody could be next three months later as fear and paranoia stalk the land henry is called to a secret meeting against them mowbray may well be telling the truth but this could easily be a trap henry can't risk it he goes straight to the king and denounces mowbray but since it was a private conversation there are no witnesses to prove who is telling the truth this is perfect for the king he declares the case can't be proven and exiles them both henry for 10 years mowbray for life in one fell swoop the last two of the five from the tower are gone richard's revenge is complete he believes no one can challenge him but henry bollingbrook will now be watching the king's every move from exile in france richard should have killed him what happens next shows just what a ruthless tyrant richard's become with bollingbroke and mowbray out of the way richard sends his thugs round to the houses of all the other nobles he suspects and forces them to put their seals on pieces of blank parchment once he has those he can write on them pretty much anything he wants i'll give the king ten thousand pounds i'll leave the king my lands and all my castles i am a traitor if anyone puts a foot out of line or even if they don't richard can destroy them a year later richard's tyranny is in full swing when henry bollingbrook's father the duke of lancaster dies [Music] this is what remains of pontefract castle in yorkshire just one of more than 30 castles henry bollingbrook should now inherit as part of the largest duchy in the kingdom it will make henry the most powerful noble in england but given the history between the king and his cousin there's no way richard can allow that to happen so with henry still banished richard just takes the lot for himself but in doing so he undermines the whole basis of law and order in england the right to property and inheritance and he's given henry bollingbrook the excuse he's been waiting for to take the king down [Music] [Music] [Music] may 1399 richard is in wales he's got exactly what he always wanted everyone in his kingdom fears him but even that's not enough so richard is heading for ireland to extend his tyranny there it's a massive miscalculation there's a fundamental flaw in richard's whole idea of kingship he doesn't understand that the strongest kings have always governed by consent iron fisted consent maybe but consent all the same if you rule by fear like richard the moment you leave the country what is there for your enemies to be afraid of what's there to stop them moving against you as soon as richard's gone henry bollingbrook seizes his moment he races back across the channel with one thing on his mind regime change by stealing his inheritance richard has created an enemy with nothing to lose and alienated every single landholder in the kingdom the nobles of england flock to henry's side richard's white heart army is no match for the combined might of the enraged english barons by the time richard makes it back from ireland his army is gone he's friendless and exposed [Music] if you're expecting a war forget it it's over before has even begun and richard has lost the king is forced to surrender to his cousin henry takes him to london bangs him up in the tower [Music] twelve years before henry bollingbrook was one of the five nobles who backed away from deposing richard he won't make the same mistake again this time he's going to take the throne according to one chronicler the king was so enraged that he could hardly speak and when he did it was to make a threat this is pretty funny really if there's one thing richard isn't it's physically brave and even if he were henry's been a crusader a tournament champ he'd toast richard on his own all richard knows is fear but without the men or the authority to back him up he's nothing he's reduced to shouting he's a temper tantrum [Music] the next day in parliament 250 years after the first plantagenet king claimed and won the english crown henry bollingbrook formally claims his cousin's throne hi henry of lancaster challenged this realm of england and the crown with all the members and the impertinencies that i am descended by the right line of blood coming from the good lord king henry iii by claiming the throne not in latin or french but in english the first king to do so since the norman conquest henry's sending a very clear message i am not like richard his tyranny is over there's just one problem richard is still alive and as long as he is he remains a dangerous threat no one knows for sure how richard ii died but what we do know is that he was being held in a room in this tower on january 6 1400 when the last plot to spring him was foiled by february 17th he's already dead given the stakes involved i think it's safe to assume that henry is behind it what he needs is plausible deniability it can't look like he's murdered the ex-king so knowing just how fast richard dies i think it's pretty obvious what really happens [Music] richard ii the boy king who crushed the peasants revolt was simply left in a room with no food and no water and allowed to die of thirst it's a grim way to die as his kidneys shut down his blood thickens and ear splitting headaches set setting richard would have had plenty of time to think about his mistakes [Music] the king dies without a mark on him so technically no one especially not the new king has blood on their hands richard ii is dead it's the end of one of the greatest periods in british history [Music] the crown of england had passed down legitimately through eight generations since henry ii established the plantagenet dynasty two and a half centuries earlier henry iv's coronation ends that from now on anyone with a drop of royal blood can theoretically claim the throne and that possibility will plunge england into the wars of the roses and half a century of civil war

Channel: Chronicle - Medieval History Documentaries

Views: 39,409

Rating: 4.9250002 out of 5

Keywords: history documentary, medieval history documentary, middle ages, medieval history, the middle ages, richard ii, richard ii documentary, plantagenet, plantagenet dynasty, plantagenet history, plantagenet family tree, plantagenet documentary timeline, the real game of thrones documentary, dan jones documentary, dan jones plantagenets documentary

Id: c3GiFmSMaXE

Length: 44min 47sec (2687 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 24 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/thelodzermensch]

I'm tired of these one-sided documentaries portraying Richard II as an evil tyrant and Henry IV as some sort of saviour. Henry was a power hungry douche and really poor and unpopular monarch.

[u/shadyultima]

This episode isn't particularly new. I have the DVDs of this entire series as well as a related one called Britain's Bloody Crown.

Having said that, it's an incredibly enjoyable docu-series. And as the previous commentor mentioned, Dan Jones is great.

I highly recommend watching the full series. I know I have found it on YouTube in the past.