Ten Minute English and British History #14 - Richard II, The Black Death and the Peasants' Revolt

13:15 and things are not going too well for edward ii his nobles despised him his court favor had just been murdered he suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the scottish and to make matters worse due to terrible weather the harvests had just failed the population of england at this point had been growing steadily over the century since the conquest in agriculture could only provide enough for subsistence plus a little bit extra for lords and kings when the harvest failed it wasn't the Lords of their retainers who went hungry it was the peasants the famine which brought with it a huge rise in civil disturbance did eventually subside but Edwards reign did not get any easier his reign was punctuated with more conflict with his nobles further failings in Scotland to put the icing on the cake his wife Queen Isabella betrayed him she did this when she went to Paris in 1325 to negotiate peace between England and France this latest war came as a result of Gascony being whittled away by the French king who consistently sided with French Lords in minor territory disputes against Edward Edward was unhappy with this territory slowly being stripped away and so war which the French won again Isabella and Edward had a poor relationship at this point due to wet wood seizing all of her lands because she was French whilst in Paris Isabella met Roger Mortimer who soon afterwards became her lover Isabella at this point was clearly plotting against her husband Edward became increasingly worried of an impending invasion by Mortimer and Isabella which he had good reason to since in 1326 it happened the invasion wasn't particularly bloody though and Edward was captured by the end of the year the next year Edward was forced to abdicate the first English monarch to do so on behalf of his son who was crowned at with the third Edward the second was imprisoned at Berkeley castle where he died in mysterious probably murder related circumstances so Edward the third early reign was dominated by Mortimer and Isabella due to him being 15 and not able to rule on his own in 1328 the King of France died without an heir and Edward was the nearest relative his relation was through his mother though so the French considered it invalid which Edward didn't mind for now by 1330 Edward was getting pretty sick of Mortimer and Isabella telling him what to do he had Mortimer arrested and hanged in the same year and after that he ruled in his own name so with Edward now in charge he did the only thing fitting an English king invade Scotland Edward did this by helping Edward Bailey or the son of the exiled and now quite dead King John Bailey Oh Bailey War fealty in return for the English giving help retaking the throne Edward the third invaded with the large army in the Scottish leadership fled to France in the end Edwards army was unable to decisively defeat the Scots in their guerrilla tactics cost the English dearly just like last time in 1337 the Scots were able to catch their breath due to events on the continent Philippe the six of France the first of the Royal House of Valois had ascended the throne in 1328 it was a close ally of the Scottish Edward the third with the Duke of Gascony and thus technically Philippe's battle meaning he wasn't supposed to disobey his Lord by conquering his Lord Scottish allies Philippe decided that Edward was not fit to be his vassal anymore so ordered the Gascony before fit Edward said no and instead made his claim to the throne of France and in 1340 began to formally style himself as Edward King of England and France and Lord of Ireland war would inevitably follow and this war would late to be known as the Hundred Years War so the merchants Lords and soldiers which traveled to and from mainland Europe during this period soon came into contact with disease in this case the Black Death and brought it back to England with them the first outbreak was in Weymouth followed by Bristol and soon after London the rest of the South was infected not long afterwards and by the end of 1349 all of England bore the plague in its devastating effects Scotland seeing the plague as God punishing the English started to raid the north pillaging the already desolated villages this course places like Durham significant hardship but importantly it brought the plague back to Scotland the plague returned many times over the period the most notable outbreaks being in 1360 1369 and 1375 overall the death toll of the plague is debated heavily but general estimates range from thirty to forty five percent of the population dying reducing the country from a population of roughly 4 million to 2.5 million the plague had major effects on the order of society since there were no longer enough peasants to work the landlord's had to begin negotiating with them and living standards for surviving peasants began to rise in the latter half of the 14th century Edward and his Lords attempted to regulate wages and try to force the peasantry to fulfill their duties but ultimately they failed so Edward the third died in 1377 and was succeeded by his grandson Richard the second Richard was only 10 at the time and so normally a regent would be appointed in this case the Regency would have gone to John of Gaunt Richard's uncle however John was a very ambitious man and the other nobles were worried he would usurp the throne too instead a Council of advisers was established to govern in Richards name so there were two major social problems that the newly crowned Richard had to do with the first was the writings of a man called John Wycliffe who wrote religious polemics on how the English church was too rich in that the bishop shouldn't be allowed to hold positions of power in government Wycliffe and his followers also broke sacred rules by translating the New Testament into English and criticized the Pope in the clergy heavily he had powerful back as those such as John of Gaunt who liked the idea of the church not having property because that meant more for the nobles the movement which Wycliffe had founded is known as Lalla Dean continued to gain popularity in the following decades Richards second issue was that his Council of Advisors introduced heavy taxes to fund the war and this upset the peasantry by 1380 this council was so hated by everyone that the King abolished it in 1381 the peasantry began to resist paying taxes violently in what is known as the peasants revolt these peasants led by a man called what Tyler marched on London where they met the king who chose to compromise most notably Richard promise to abolish surfed in which the peasants didn't believe because it was a lie so serfdom was an extremely complicated economic and social system of mutual rights and responsibilities between a lord and a peasant in return for land a home and access to justice a lords peasant the serf owed their Lord attacks which was to be paid with the food they grew with their labor there were many types of serfs sometimes categorizing to free and unfree but be aware unfree serfs were not slaves incidentally whilst the negotiations with the king were ongoing some other peasants murdered the Archbishop of Canterbury a couple of days later the King met Tyler again a scuffle broke out and Tyler was killed the revolt spread up and down the country but by November due to the help of Henry led the Spencer the Bishop of Norwich the revolt was crushed the war in France at this point was not going well and Richard favoured peace whereas John of Gaunt favored continuing the war the two fell out and gaunt left to pursue his claim to the throne of Castile the King had appointed two men into high positions Michel della pol who was Chancellor and Robert de verre who was given numerous important regional positions in 1386 a parliament later known as the wonderful Parliament was called and della Paul asked for more money in taxes Parliament said no and that furthermore della Paul had to go the King said no and Parliament responded by essentially saying that either he goes or you do in the end della Paul was removed becoming the first official ever to have been impeached by Parliament Richard was not happy with this and so put de verre in charge of building a base for royal support in case of civil war the Lords who stood in opposition to the king are known as the Lord's appellant the most notable were Robert Fitz Allen the Earl of arendelle and Henry Bolingbroke the Earl of Derby Richard under pressure from the lords conveyed a parliament called the merciless Parliament which condemned the Kings closest ally such as to Baron della pol to death in 1389 John of Gaunt returned to made up with the king shortly after this the truce was signed with France and in 1394 Richard invaded Ireland increasing the lands under English control from this to this in the same year Rich's wife Queen Anne died without the two having produced an heir without a son the person who was next in line to the throne was John of Gaunt who Richard now saw as an enemy by 1397 Rich's position was looking weak and so after waiting for many years he struck against the lords who had humiliated him this purge often called Richards tyranny saw Richard men round up and execute the leading Lords appellant excluding Henry Bolingbroke Henry had patched things up with a king but he was soon afterwards exiled the only real threat to Richard at this point was tonne of gone gone died in 1399 though and thus his son Henry would inherit his lands which would make him the second most powerful man in the kingdom henry also importantly inherited Gaunt's claim to the throne and richard did not like this one bit richard chose to seize all of the exiled henry's inheritance to make sure that this didn't happen this may seem like a good idea but arbitrarily taking your Lords lands and titles away concern the other lords if Richard could do it to one Lord he could do it to any soon after this Henry returned to England and the other Lords now very worried about it in ironical Richard flocked to his side in the end Richard surrendered and Henry amongst others put forward his claim to be King Richard was imprisoned Parliament declared interposed on Henry Bolingbroke was crowned King Henry the fourth the first King of the House of Lancaster the Plantagenet dynasty was now over and importantly this greatly weakened the monarchy as Henry had demonstrated anyone with a claim to the throne enough Noble support and a large enough army could be made King and this had huge implications for the following century Richard still being alive cause problems because some Nobles were still loyal to him these Lords attempted to assassinate Henry in what is known as the Epiphany rising but they failed tried to rebel failed again but was successful at being beheaded soon after this Richard died this is quite likely that Henry the fourth ordered Richard be allowed to die of thirst in his cell the Epiphany rising wouldn't be Henry's last rebellion in 1400 the glinda uprising broke out in which a man could away England or about against English rule and was proclaimed the Prince of Wales glyn door pride wales away from england's grasp for 15 years throughout his reign Henry had issues with raising money from his Parliament at first he was granted money he wanted but when these vast sums of revenue didn't turn into the victories in war that Henry had promised Parliament accused him of poor governance Henry did however manage to root out lollardy by authorizing the burning of heretics which did enough to dissuade people from heresy Henry OSA was the first English King since 1066 to have his mother tongue be English and encouraged his Nobles to speak and write in it his later reign wasn't much better Henry was plagued by ill health and we threw from governing the realm and thus factions developed the main disagreement was about how to pursue the war with France which was itself undergoing a civil war Thomas arendelle the Archbishop of Canterbury led one of these factions and was dominant between 1408 and 1411 Henry's health deteriorated and he died in 1413 and his son succeeded him as henry v one of the most notable warrior kings in english history I hope you enjoyed this episode and thank you for watching there are some books in the description if you'd like to learn more you

Channel: History Matters

Views: 782,997

Rating: 4.9437122 out of 5

Keywords: Ten, Minute, History, 10, English, British, Documentary, Animated, England, Black Death, Bubonic Plague, Plague, Edward II, Edward III, Richard II, Henry IV, Hundred Years War, 100 Years War, France, Parliament, Peasants Revolt, Rebellio, Owain Glyndwr, Peasants, Serfdom, Civil War

Id: Gvg9kBsESK8

Length: 9min 59sec (599 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 12 2018