Richard's Role in Conflict
Julia Snider
One of the largest revolts in England during the Middle Ages took place in 1381.. The king was only 14 years old at the time, yet he displayed exceptional bravery.
The Peasants' Revolt was sparked by dissatisfaction in the commons over a poll tax that would cripple them economically, but the underlying issue was the peasants' desire to have serfdom abolished. This is the first of many problems over taxation that would arise during Richard's reign.
The rebellion was led by Wat Tyler, a peasant man who was acting under the name Jack Straw. Two groups of rebels, one from Essex and the other from Kent, gathered in London. Though they both engaged in pillaging and violence, the rebels from Kent sought out John of Gaunt and burned down his house. According to Holinshed, the rebels had then gathered in large numbers a Mile End in east London, where they demanded their grievances be heard by the king. Against the urging of his advisors to stay behind, Richard lead several others to Mile End to meet with the rebels. They greeted him courteously and reverently because it was not he who they were rebelling against, but his close advisors.
While this is happening, the other group of rebels broke into the Tower of London and murdered both the Archbishop of Canterbury and the treasurer Robert Hales. The day following, Richard rode to Smithfield where the mass of rebels were gathered and addressed them. Wat Tyler, the leader of the Kent rebels stepped forth and said his grievances. The mayor of London, William Walworth, was offended by Tyler’s tone and rode up to him and killed him straightaway. With their leader murdered and beheaded before them, a large brawl broke out among the rebels. According to Holinshed, the young Richard rode toward them and said, "I am your leader: follow me" and he successfully leads them away from the fight (Holinshed, 325).
Richard displayed a similar level of bravery during his two expeditions to Ireland. The first was in 1394, when he took to Ireland the largest army that island had ever seen. His second expedition is covered in the play: in 1398, soon after learning of the murder of Lieutenant in Ireland by the Irish, Richard was advised to set forth to Ireland to help quiet the rebellion there. According to the account in Holinshed, Richard is told that the wild Irish are destroying towns and murdering English soldiers, and he soon sets off.
In Holinshed’s Chronicles, Richard’s decision to stop the duel between Henry Bolingbroke and Thomas de Mowbray seems like a necessary decision to end the quarrel without bloodshed. However, in the play Richard says this about Bolingbroke after he banishes him:
The Peasants' Revolt was sparked by dissatisfaction in the commons over a poll tax that would cripple them economically, but the underlying issue was the peasants' desire to have serfdom abolished. This is the first of many problems over taxation that would arise during Richard's reign.
The rebellion was led by Wat Tyler, a peasant man who was acting under the name Jack Straw. Two groups of rebels, one from Essex and the other from Kent, gathered in London. Though they both engaged in pillaging and violence, the rebels from Kent sought out John of Gaunt and burned down his house. According to Holinshed, the rebels had then gathered in large numbers a Mile End in east London, where they demanded their grievances be heard by the king. Against the urging of his advisors to stay behind, Richard lead several others to Mile End to meet with the rebels. They greeted him courteously and reverently because it was not he who they were rebelling against, but his close advisors.
While this is happening, the other group of rebels broke into the Tower of London and murdered both the Archbishop of Canterbury and the treasurer Robert Hales. The day following, Richard rode to Smithfield where the mass of rebels were gathered and addressed them. Wat Tyler, the leader of the Kent rebels stepped forth and said his grievances. The mayor of London, William Walworth, was offended by Tyler’s tone and rode up to him and killed him straightaway. With their leader murdered and beheaded before them, a large brawl broke out among the rebels. According to Holinshed, the young Richard rode toward them and said, "I am your leader: follow me" and he successfully leads them away from the fight (Holinshed, 325).
Richard displayed a similar level of bravery during his two expeditions to Ireland. The first was in 1394, when he took to Ireland the largest army that island had ever seen. His second expedition is covered in the play: in 1398, soon after learning of the murder of Lieutenant in Ireland by the Irish, Richard was advised to set forth to Ireland to help quiet the rebellion there. According to the account in Holinshed, Richard is told that the wild Irish are destroying towns and murdering English soldiers, and he soon sets off.
In Holinshed’s Chronicles, Richard’s decision to stop the duel between Henry Bolingbroke and Thomas de Mowbray seems like a necessary decision to end the quarrel without bloodshed. However, in the play Richard says this about Bolingbroke after he banishes him:
He is our cousin, cousin; but ‘tis doubt,
When time shall call him home from banishment,
Whether our kinsman come to see his friends.
Ourself and Bushy here, Bagot and Green,
Observ’d his courtship to the common people -
How he did seem to dive into their hearts
With humble and familiar courtesy; . . .
As were our England in reversion his,
And he our subjects’ next degree in hope. (I.iv.21-37)
This passage makes it seem as though he banished them because he was jealous of how both the nobles and commoners loved Bolingbroke, or at the very least that he was happy to have banished him. Because of the heavy taxation imposed by Richard, he had indeed lost favor with both the nobles and the peasantry. However, W.G. Boswell-Stone points out that this mention of Bolingbroke’s "courtship to the common people," (I.iv.25) is not present in Holinshed’s Chronicles (Boswell-Stone, 89). This small change in intention by Shakespeare is significant and serves to alter the character of Richard by making him seem as though he is ruled by his own feelings and desires, and therefore rules his realm in the same way.