Richard II's Tyranny (1397-1399)

During the last two years of his reign Richard II severely violated his rights as King. He terrorized the country with a private army; he enforced the law without trials, and taxes without parliament's consent; he deprived people of their property and inheritance and drove them into exile; he condemned his enemies as traitors without judicial authority.

When in 1397 there were rumours of a plot, the King had Gloucester, Arundel and Warwick, the lords appellant of 1388, arrested and killed or exiled. There were strives in the country between the lords, and after the death of John of Gaunt in 1399 his son Henry who had been deprived of his inheritance and had spent the last years in exile in France came back to England. He found much support in the north and marched to the West where he hoped to meet Richard who had been on a campaign to Ireland. Richard, whom former friends had deserted, was arrested and imprisoned in the Tower where he died under obscure circumstances.