Back to the Plantagenets Again calendar
And now we finish this period with even more confusion about who is King. By 1390 Richard was completely ignoring many of
his nobles. One of these was Henry Bolinbroke, who was the son of John of Gaunt, remember him. He was Richard’s uncle and the third son of Edward III. In
1398 Richard banished Henry for saying something nasty about him and then, when in 1399 John of Gaunt died, Richard refused to let Herny Bolinbroke have the
estates and lands that were due to him.
Next Richard popped off to deal with Ireland and Henry Bolingbroke popped back, had a quick meeting with parliament, pointed out that he was in
direct succession to the throne through his father, and seized power with the agreement of other nobles, Not unnaturally considering his name, and the fact
he could count, he became Henry IV. Richard came back and resigned and was then imprisoned but unfortunately they accidently forgot to feed him so he died of
starvation in February 1400 bringing this period of history to an appropriate conclusion with all of us feeling a bit peckish.
The Plantagenet dynasty was over. However, as we head off to the next period it is important that you know that John of Gaunt, Henry IV’s father,
was also the Duke of Lancaster. This was because John’s first wife was Blanche of Lancaster. He owned at least 30 castles and estates in England and France and
land in almost every county in England. He was wealthy. So you can see why Henry had been a bit cross when Richard wouldn’t let him inherit these.
Forward to 1400AD
