Richard 2nd 1377-99 (10 when crowned)

England needed a strong, charismatic, just military leader at this time because it would have been a good time to regain French territory as the French leadership was weak. Also Edward 3rd had sired four strong sons and when the eldest, the Black Prince died before his aged father it was inevitable that the next in line would be a minor. Richard was he and his pathetic reign was largely the cause of internal strife in England for the next 100 years culminating with the final loss of French territories and the end of the Plantagenet dynasty with the Wars of the Roses.

In the first part of his reign, because he was so young the country was ruled by his uncle, John of Gaunt whose son Bolingbroke eventually murdered Richard and became king as Henry 4th.  

Richard 2nd at 15 married 16 year old Anne of Prague, Bohemia (now Czech republic) daughter of Charles 4thth the King of France who was only 7! What was going on? Some historians say he was homosexual or perhaps even a paedophile. What ever he was he clearly was not going to produce any children this way. But also see below- truce with France. Holy Roman Emperor. They had no children. She died of the Plague in 1394. In 1396 the King at 29 married again in an effort to produce an heir and he choose the daughter of Charles 6

In 1399 Richard was finally forced to abdicate on the grounds of tyranny and misgovernment and his cousin the eldest son of John of Gaunt was declared King as Henry 4th. Henry who had been born in the same year as Richard had been previously known as Bolingbroke (from the castle where he was born in 1367) also Hereford and Lancaster from his dukedoms. Henry is accredited with finally murdering Richard and being an equally useless King.

Perhaps Richard was not all bad. When he was 14 he rode, possibly alone to quell a riot led by Wat Tyler supported by some 10,000 men. He had sufficient confidence and presence to succeed.

Further in 1396 he negotiated a 30 year truce with the King of France and married his 7 year old daughter to seal it.

Richard also was successful in bringing calm to that troublesome part of his realm Ireland. 

A quick look at England and the rest of Europe in 1400 as the Middle Ages draw to a violent closure including the Black Death, its consequences and parallel forces, including;

The Plague or Black Death 1348-51, 1360-62, 1375-1429. English population has fallen from 7million to 2.5 million.

Wycliffe-John 1329-1384 and the Lollards

The Peasants revolt and Wat Tyler 1381

Wool production from a sheep population of 18 million.

Merchant Guilds

Muslim Ottomans conquer south eastern Europe.1360-1400.

Renaissance art-portraiture.

Henry the Navigator 1394-1460 

All the above events were material in pulling England out of the Middle Ages, raising hope and human rights and putting England on a path of World supremacy. 

Parliamentary Democracy

In England more than in any other country the King was controlled by a Parliament which was slowly increasing the power relationship between Parliament, King and Church. Nearly every King over the previous 100 years had put through parliament a new bill curtailing the obsessive power of the Church.

Religious hocus pocus

By 1400 Oxford University had 8 collages starting with the fist in 1249 University Collage. Universities encourage freedom of thought and a good example is Oxford’s John Wycliffe who read and lectured in philosophy which caused him to criticise some of the churches dogma. For example the concept that during mass the wine and bread actually physically changes into the blood and body of Jesus. (Transubstantiation) Wycliffe also oversaw the first translation of the Bible from Latin into English. Thus giving all people an incentive to learn how to read. It is generally the case that during the time of any great catastrophe (Black Death/ Holocaust) that men and women question the fundamentals of their faith. Wycliffe was a forerunner of Luther/Calvin  and the independent Church of England. His followers at the time were the Lollards.

The Peasants Revolt

The shortage of labour caused by the Black Death gave the land workers (peasants) the muscle they needed to start a revolution. Suddenly land owners had to increase wages to attract workers onto their farms. Although this swing to the side of the worker was reduced by the land owners preference to change from arable farming to sheep rearing as England’s wool was the best in Europe and was in high demand from garment manufacturers in places like Gent and Florence. The actual catalyst for the revolution was the introduction of and rapid increases of a Poll Tax (Tax per head) raised by Edward 3rd to finance his wars  against France. The whole of south and east of England (from Winchester to the Wash) was involved led by the two charismatic leaders Wat Tyler in Kent and John Ball in East Anglia. At least 10,000 men marched on London from the East where they were joined by carpenters, wheelwrights, stone masons and some of the clergy. So huge was the crowed that they managed to occupy the Tower of London causing the 14 year old King to ride out and speak to them. Wat Tyler was stabbed to death and the Kings words subdued the rioters who dispersed. Afterwards the Richard organised a merciless mass execution of huge numbers of these innocents who actually achieved nothing. But it was the first mass demonstration of ordinary oppressed people which came near to success in the whole of Europe. 

Merchant and Craft Guilds

Circa 1400 saw the rise of importance of Guilds in England. A guild is an organisation which looks after a particular trade and  the people who work in it. For example a guild might set the quality and price for work done by craftsmen or traders. The huge rise in the volume export of wool and woollens from England at this time saw a corresponding increase in wealth of its associated guild. Supporting trades and their guilds increased in wealth in parallel. The elaborate London Guild Halls started in this period as did early unemployment benefit financed by these guilds for their worker members. Guild apprentice (training) schemes were already the norm. Academic training was to follow with Guild financed (private) schools such as Merchant Tailors and Haberdashers and the less obvious but equally famous Oundle supported by the Grocers Company. 

Stone masons had long had a recognized club with “lodges” to house the naturally itinerant masons. For some time after William the Conqueror they were the elite of artisan society not only because of their skills in stone work but also as architects, that is those who could design things like stone arches which did not fall down. Further these men would have close association with the rich and the powerful which in those days were barons and bishops. To this day Free Masons retain a closed club known for having contacts in high places and medieval rituals which the modern world thinks bizarre.   

Muslims advance into Europe

By 1400 the  Ottoman Muslim Turks under a new leader the Sultan Bayezit had advanced west, not only to rule the whole of Anatolia (Turkey east of the Bosporus) but also were now entrenched in the Balkans in south eastern Europe. Christian Europe which had long lost Christian (and Jewish) Jerusalem was under threat as far west as Hungary. In 1395 this spurred the King of Hungary to persuade  the Pope to call for a Crusade to remove the fearsome Islamic menace and France joined Hungary for this purpose. The Christians in France and Hungary were organisationally disorganised and no match for the well organised Islamic Ottomans.

Christian Europe had also lost the battle for the Mediterranean which had become an Ottoman lake and Christian Portugal took up the task of tentatively exploring sea routes round Africa as another trade route to the Spice Islands for pepper and China for silk. The Christian attitudes to the advancing Muslims 600 years ago were much the same as the daily reported Islamic menace of today. Then it spawned the commencement of world exploration by Christian Europeans. 

Henry the Navigator of Portugal 

This man was the organiser of the nautical school in the Algarve (southern Portugal) which commenced sailing south into uncharted, rough Atlantic African waters. Henry the Navigator was the grandson of John of Gaunt and his wife Blanche via their eldest child Philippa who was married to John 1st King of Portugal. Henry’s well documented missions were described as a Crusade for seeking places on the earth where Christians could fine other Christians (as opposed to Muslims) with which to do business. Eventually they did, Copts in Ethiopia.