Background Information of Richard the 2nd Play.

The events of the play revolve around the reign of King Richard the 2nd
of England during his reign in 1377-1399 in Medieval England.

The Play was Written during Shakespeare's sometime in the 1590's

during the Renaissance during the time of Queen Elizabeth.

100 Year War

Richard is the grandson of King Edward the 3rd (1327-1377), who ruled
before him. All the British Kings were all related to French Kings
because as you know in your history and textbooks the Norman-French
invaded England in 1066 by William the Conqueror(the brother of the
French King at the time). The original English King line was cut off, and
in its place would come the French family-line which would come to be
known as the Plantagenet bloodline. Several generations later after
William the Conqueror would come his descendant, Edward the 2nd
(the son of Edward the First, the King in Braveheart film

), in Edward's mind, the British Kings are just as much apart of the
French Royal Blood as the French Kings (his wife, Isabella, was the
French Princess after-all), so he declared that he had rights to both the
French and English thrown, through his bloodline and through his
marriage with the French Princess. This started the a war with France
between England known as the 100 years war. Can you imagine
growing up in a country at a time where your country had been at war
for 100 years with another country! The same war you are fighting in is
also the same war that your Father and Grandfather fought in when
they were younger! It would be like imagining that WW1 was still going
on today. Thus it was with England and France at this time. Edward the
2nd was unsuccessful to conquer France in his life time, but his son,
Edward the 3rd not only inherited his fathers crown, but he also
inherited his father's war. By this time the 100 year war had been
going on for half a Century! And at the time there was no clear winner.
France and England were at a Standstill. The people on both sides were
beginning to get tired of this meaningless war. So how could Edward
the 3rd rejuvenate his soldiers and people to justify this war and keep
fighting on?

One answer to this problem came through Edward's first born son,

Edward the Black Prince, the Prince of Wales.

Edward the Black Prince was Handsome, he was valiant fighter, in the
eyes of the people he held all the virtues that Knight should like. It was
as if a modern day King Arthur was before their eyes. Back home
Edward the Black Prince could hold Jousting Tournaments and Pageants
bolstering crowd support and entertainment. And on the Battlefield
Edward the Black Prince could spark the confidence in the soldiers that
they could win if the Black Prince was on their side. What is more, the
French soldiers were afraid of him. Before their very eyes a living
legend was among them, promising to "make England great again",
and to return England to a golden time, a Comalot time. With this new
spirit and support for the war, King Edward used the popularity of his
eldest son to gain favor in the people's eyes, and continued that
popularity by publicly declaring that although he has man sons,
Edward the Black Prince is his favorite and that when he is dead, the
Black Prince will become Edward the IV! This got lots of praise from the
people, for this meant that after they win the war, the Black Prince will
be their new King. Things were looking bright, and the war effort was
beginning to look like it was coming to a close, until during one battle
in Spain Edward contracted an illness, Dysentery. After the battle he
was rushed back to England to see what could be done, but he was
beyond their medical care, and Edward the Black Prince died not
heroically on the battlefield, but sick in bed with bleeding diarrhea. It
was a major blow to the movement of the war. France took this
advantage and pushed harder, forcing the English back. Soon, they
would win, and England would retreat and the 100 year war would end
with no clear victor, just 116 years of countless bloodshed of both
English and French over who should own which country and disputing
does France belong to England or England belong to France. Imagine
being alive at the time, the call of retreat is called, and in the end the
war was lost and all the people in your family had died for nothing.
Nothing was gained, but to you, everything would be lost.

A Decision that All of History would forever be changed with

France was too weak to attack England, at the time being they were
content with staying in their country and building up their power for a
future time when they could claim England as their own. Back on the
thrown, Old Edward the 3rd had lost many things. He had inherited a
100 year war from his father that he fought his whole life, to which he
lost. But more tragically, it had cost him his precious son's life, Edward.
He experienced what no father must, burying their own son. Now lay
the question, if Prince Edward is dead, who should be King? Edward
was the oldest, so should the Crown go to the next oldest in line, Prince
Lionel? Or what about third oldest, John, or the fourth oldest, Edmund,
or what about the fifth in line, Thomas? When their brother was alive,
Edward was their father's clear favorite. But now that Edward is dead
and their father's health is ailing (maybe dying from a broken heart?),
who would become his new "favorite". But the King their father kept his
lips sealed. Thus it was a time when Lionel, John, Edmund, and Thomas
all had to show they "loved" their father, and "cared about his health",
while at the same time hiding behind their smiles of compassion hid
their own ambitions. Finally the day came, King Edward was dying. His
sons gathered around their father waiting to hear who he would
declare the next king. Many are present and waiting for the King to
utter his last decree. Finally, gaining his strength together, Edward lifts
up his finger, the four brothers lean in, "Yes father, what is it?", and
pointing beyond, Edwards last words are, "Richard". His hand
collapses, dead. The four brothers turn around and stare at 10 year old,
Richard, the son of the Black Prince, the Grandson of Edward the 3d. It
seems that Edward wanted to honor his choice for appointing his son
the Black Prince as the next king, and so instead of choosing the next
in line from his own sons, Edward chose to put the Black Son's son on
the thrown, perhaps hoping that the English crown would forever pass
through the bloodline of the Noble Black Prince, and perhaps hoping
that his Richard would be like his father, and grow up to be the King
that everyone wanted the Black Prince to be. Many people were
present to hear this last request. There was no mistake, a 10 year old
would be the new King. The four brothers, his Uncles, had nothing left
to do but to get on their knees before their Nephew and bow, "Your
Majesty".

...Do as the Romans Do

Let's go back a little bit to the Dark Ages, when Europe Kingdoms were
just beginning to emerge and Rome was still in power.

Something that's really important to understand in this time period of

England is the Religious and Political aspect of Europe during the
Medieval times. At this time France and Britain were vying for which
country was the most powerful Empire that would shape the future of
the West, but it wasn't that long ago that the most powerful Empire
was the Roman Empire. In the wake of the Roman Empire's fall, before
the time of William the Conqueror, it saw that's power and might over
the world was losing. The Roman Kings saw that two new powers were
coming in to take over Rome's place, one Europe, it was clear that new
empires were beginning in Europe and that one of these emerging
countries would one day be the world's power, which one, that was the
big question. And two, a new Religion called Christianity. Surprisingly
enough to the Power of Rome, it was the teachings of a Jewish
Carpenter named Jesus about Love and Peace that was having more of
an impact on Roman Provinces than Rome itself was, the Government.
For about 500 years Rome had tried to suppress Christianity and choke
this religion to death by executing many of the followers of Jesus, and
had decreed and forbidden Bibles, that they would be burned, and that
anyone with one could be put into prison. But after a 500 years of
ruthless persecution, the Romans could not stop the religion they had
made "illegal". What is more, Europe was beginning to grow in power
and Rome's impact on the West was diminishing, what to do? If you
can't beat them, Join them!

One of the Roman Emperors named Constantine decided why not make
Christianity the national religion of the Roman empire? Instead of
trying to suppress its influence, we'll embrace it, and in that way we
can "control it". Instead of forbidding the Bible, we'll publish it, but
we'll publish it in our own Latin Language, and make a law that only
Latin Roman Bibles can exist, and only Roman Priests can read the
Bible really says,not the public. Another thing that thing that this
Roman version of Christianity added was the idea of a "Pope", for they
thought, if a country can have a "King", why shouldn't a Church and
Faith have a "King" as well. Thus what was beginning to take place was
the emergence of Roman Catholicism, the Roman Catholic Church. A
government controlled form of Christianity, where the Roman
Government could decide and make up all the rules to the faith, even if
their rules and ideas contradicted the teachings of Jesus and the Bible,
for the idea of a Pope certainly contradicted Christianity. But if the
Roman government controlled the faith, then no one would know this.

In the Dark Ages leading up to the Medieval time, for Rome, it's power
and strength was decreasing, Europe was rising in power, but the
Roman Government thought, what if an "idea" is stronger than a
thousand soldiers(like the movie, Inception). What if we could use our
influence over who would be king in Europe? We could tell them we
could give them money and lend our support, all these barbarian kings
would need to do, is "convert" to Roman Catholicism, and plead
allegiance to the Pope. Then we would give them all the money they
would need to defeat their rivals. All they had to do was plant the idea
that "God"/"Heaven" had ordained, blessed, them to be the king of
their country. And if they accept the Popes offer, than the Pope would
lend his "Blessing" on them to be King, and then they would have
"God"/"Heaven" on their side, how could they lose? Eventually in
Europe it began to become essential for the European King's to do two
things, convert to Roman Catholicism's faith and version of
Christianity, and pay loyalty to the Pope, the man who they believed
had the power to speak directly to God on who should be King or not,
and the man who had the power to just say the word, and he could
sentence your soul in thousands of years in Purgatory (another
invention of the Roman Church that is not found neither in the
teachings of Jesus or the Bible, the Roman's invented the idea that
before one goes to Heaven you have to spend X amount of years being
tortured in a place called Purgatory before you are allowed to enter
Heaven, but if you pay the Roman church money, then their priests
could pray for you and take off maybe a 100 years out of your time in
Purgatory, again this is not an idea found at all in the Bible or in the
teaching of Jesus, but because the Roman Government forbid anyone
to read the Bible, Europeans didn't know this, so they believed the
Pope and were afraid about it). The point I am making is that it is
obvious that what was going on was not "faith" or "religion" but Politics
and powerful people using the name of Religion/Jesus/Bible to secretly
get what they really want, regardless what in fact the true religion
really taught. I'm sure if we were to study history we would find that
Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, all regions have been used by selfish
individuals who just used religion as a means to their own selfish goals,
and had nothing to do with the actual religion to begin with. This really
what we saw happening in Europe during the Dark and Middle Ages.
Rome was losing it's power and grip on the West, it saw that Europe
Kings were rising up in power, and that one of these new countries:
England, France, Germany, Spain, etc, would one day be the new world
power, the question for Rome was: how could they influence these
future powers? The answer lied in turning a religion about Love, Peace,
Freedom, Unity into a mask for Political control and a power grab. In
this way the Pope could influence all the kings of Europe, for now if you
wanted to be King of an European country, you "NEEDED" the Pope's
Blessing, otherwise you were "Damned" and "Heaven Himself" would
be against you. But if you had the Pope's blessing, then that was very
powerful, because not only politically were you the ruler of the country,
but there was a spiritual element as well, for now you not only had a
right to be king by blood, but you also had a Divine Right as well. This
type of mindset would be a very important tool in influencing your
people. All you had to say to your subjects was this, "I have the Pope's
blessing, which means that Heaven Himself has chosen me to be His
King over you, any insubordination to my laws or decrees, you not only
are going against me, but you're going against the Roman Catholic
Faith, your religion, the Pope, and God Himself." Those are very strong
ideas and with them would come to ability to control a lot of people.

A Ten Year Old King

Now imagine you are 10 years old, you have been told all of this, and
now you've been made King of your country. Heaven has chosen to be
King, and you are loved by all because of it. You will get to control the
fate and destiny of your kingdom, and you are Heaven's Favorite.
Imagine that 10 year old boy, and how he would take all of this in? Your
Great-grandfather and Grandfather have spent 100 years fighting a
war, your father, a national hero, died in that war, and all of that was
just so that one day you could be "King", Ordained by Heaven. And
now you are the fulfillment of Heaven's plan, you are the King of your
country, it is up to you to make your Country the "Greatest country on
earth", and make England the next big Empire after the Roman, and
enter your Kingdom into a Prosperous and Golden Age. Be the kind of
King that everyone wanted your father to be. And what is more,
"Everyone" loves you Richard. You are not just God's favorite, you're
everyone's favorite. For a 10 year old, psychologically, this is a lot to
take in and is a very manipulative ideology. A child will believe almost
anything, and someone made the highest power in your country, it is
very easy to believe a lot of things about yourself. The question is, if
Richard is "everyone's favorite", WHO was going to be "Richard's"? A
boy does not know how to rule a country, doesn't understand the
politics of it all. What is more, Edward the Third has left England
vulnerable. France has just kicked England out and is still ticked off
from the war, and although they are licking their wounds now, they will
grow in power and want to strike back in revenge. And Edward has left
England with a Boy-King who knows nothing about military strategy.
What if the French King takes advantage of Richard's innocence, and
invades England to take over its throne? Richard is going to need help
in ruling the country, he will need "advisers". Luckily he has four
guardians, his Uncles. Lionel, John, Edmund, and Thomas can help
Richard :)

You are such a lucky boy, you are the King of your country, everyone
loves you, and what's more, you have four Uncle's who really care
about you and just simply want you to be the best King that you can
possibly be. You're job is so simple! Just ask your Uncles what to do,
and just follow their advice. Who knew being King was so easy. The
question now would remain, which Uncle would be Richards "Best
Friend", his Favorite? Again the four brothers had to mask and hide
behind their benevolent smiles, when secretly everything the did or
said hid their true ambitions. If they could not be King in Title, perhaps
through their manipulation of the boy, they could rule England through
their Nephew. Quickly, two Uncles became Richard's favorites and who
he trusted the most, his Uncle John of Gaunt, now Duke of Lancaster

and Uncle Edmund, the duke of York

John/Lancaster and Edmund/York would take care of the Nations
concerns and Political Affairs and make sure the borders are safe,
young Richard can just stay at the Castle and play with his cousins,
Henry Bolingbroke and Edward Aumerle, John's and Edmund's sons,
who are the same age as the King, 10.

The Incident

But John doesn't just want to be in control of the affairs of the King, he
wants to profit from his high position. The people of England know that
he is the true power behind the now Teenage Richard. And so he is
feared throughout the land. One of the things that he wants is money,
so he taxes the peasants and farmers. If people don't pay, then he
sends his men after them and maybe "they're never heard from again".
John of Gaunt is a name to be feared. Just looking at him wrong could
result in punishment. But the economy at the time is really bad, and
the crop is not so good, but still, Sir John demands Taxes as if it was
bountiful harvest. Finally the people get sick of this, and secretly the
Farmers get together to revolt against Lancaster. One day in the
Palace, Richard accidentally hears about the rioting in the street.
Alarmed he looks up to his Uncles, "What's this, Uncle John, why is
there people rioting in the streets, do not the people love me?" "You're
majesty, it is nothing, just a little squabble, I am taking care of it. It is
nothing to worry you. You can get back to getting your portrait painting
of yourself and making the palace decorated." Normally Richard never
got involved with anything, personally, he just let his Uncles deal with
it. And in fact, for like the last 6 years Richard had just spent his life
inside the Palace and around the Palace Gardens making the Palace
look fabulous and glorious. But something about this Farmers Revolt
got the 16 year old Richard to want to leave his Glorious Palace and
enter into the world of common man and see why is loyal followers
would want to revolt. "I'm coming with you." The four brothers looked
at one another, the king had never really gone out to see the people,
and what's more, they were volatile, what if the King's life would be at
risk? Perhaps this wasn't such a bad thing for Uncle, Thomas
Woodstock, now Duke of Gloucester, for he didn't really didn't like
Richard. "You're Majesty should not put himself in danger, let your
Uncles take of this." "I am the King, Uncle John, the People love me do
they not?" "Of course, Sire, but...", "Then if the people Love me, then
when they see me, they will throw down their arms and ask for my
Mercy. Don't forget Uncle John, I am God's Favorite, it would go against
their Faith to rebel against me". "Of course, your Majesty."

So there is the Farmers Revolt, a battle fought in farm fields. John's

men are killing the Farmers and Peasants, and then the unexpected
happens, 16 year old Richard, the King rides in. No one has ever really
seen the King up-close. The King never touched the affairs of his
people. And here he was, wearing his royal armor, with a crown on his
head. A young spitting image of his father, The Black Prince. The Bright
Noon Sun gleamed off his shiny armor. The battle stops. Richard
speaks. What is the cause of this revolting? We're over taxed, Lord. We
barely have food and money to feed our children. "Fine I will make a
deal with you. Throw down your arms, show your loyalty to me, your
Sovereign. I promise you, tomorrow morning if your "leaders" of this
revolt come forward and present your complaints formally tomorrow in
the Square, I will hear them and we will peacefully come to an
arrangement. But you must throw down your arms now, and stop this
revolt. I am your King." And then before Richard he saw something he
had never really seen before: The people stopped fighting, they got
down on their knees, and hailed him as King,"God Save the King."
Amazing, just his presence and word was all it took to stop the
rebellion. See, the people did love him. Because he was King, Heaven's
chosen. The next day, Richard ordered his Uncle John that when these
leaders of the rebellion came out to the square, they were to be
captured and hung before everyone. And this clear message was to
instilled in all the people, King Richard was the King, and his will was
final and that he would not allow any insubordination to his rule. It was
a strong message that the people would not dare to go against.
Therefore, Richard's rule was established more strongly, and John was
allowed to continue with his high taxes. .

Someone Dies

Next to being crowned at 10 years old, this event marked the next
biggest event in Richard's life. It was a sort of Rebirth, the innocent 10
year old King who stayed in his palace and knew nothing about being
King "died" as it were, and this new "Richard" was born, a Richard who
fully bought into the idea that Heaven Himself Ordained his reign and
rule, and that he had a big destiny, to Make England Great. One thing
that England lacked was Arts. Italy and France had already had huge
Literary and Art achievements, but England had nothing, he wanted to
England to be where the Renascence would take birth. This is the Time
Chaucer, when the first Middle English Poem is written down, an
example of the literary and artistic achievements Richard wanted
England to achieve. Once England had had its own Art and Literature
Revolution, he would then pick up where his great great Grandfather,
Edward the First, left off, and he would conquer Scotland and Ireland.
Richard thought, with Scotland and Ireland under his rule, then he
could take the Welsh, British, Scots, and Irish to France and take over
France. Destiny had been orchestrated so that he could achieve all of
this, he thought. And he wholly believed that no matter what he
decided to do, Heaven was on his side, no matter what that was. But
not everyone "liked" this new Richard, a confident one, one with
ambitions. Lancaster and York may have been able to play political
favorites, but Uncle Thomas Woodstock never believed that Richard
should have been king. It should have been him. If something were to
happen to poor Richard, perhaps Woodstock could use his political
influences from those who also hate Richard to usurp the throne.
Secretly, a plot to assassinate the King was underway. Who you trusted
became a game of literally life and death. For Thomas to be successful
he'd have to go through his own brothers, John and Edmund, the
Favorites. Would he try to win their loyalty, or would this turn into a
feud between brother against brother?

Just as Fate was beginning to cast its dice on this assassination plot,
Uncle Thomas' plot became exposed, and Richard had become
betrayed to someone who said they loved him, his Uncle. There was a
long held tradition and rule in England, the Royal blood would not be
killed by one another, they must be sent to prison in the Tower of
London and spend their days locked up. Thomas of Woodstock was
tried in court and found guilty of the most heinous of crimes, High
Treason. He was sentenced, as was tradition, to spend the last of his
life's breath in the Tower of London, praying that God would forgive him
of his betrayal. Thomas is to be taken at night to the Tower, where he
will spend the rest of his years locked up and alone. As the yellow
torches of the soldiers burned through the stone streets of London, as
Thomas' prison cart was being pulled by horses. A sound is heard in
the night. A whizzing sound. FFFfffT! The sound came from up there!
On that building! Look a man is crawling off the roof and getting away.
And there on the cart is Uncle Thomas, slouched over, dead, with a an
arrow sticking out of him. He never even made it to the prison. It was
night, so of course the Clocked mysterious assassin is never caught.
But the question is, who ordered the Hit on Thomas' life?

Suspicions Grow

Richard is now 29 and there is lots of talk in the court. Who was the
assassin and who wanted Thomas dead? This especially was the
Question of Henry Bolingbroke.

Remember that cousin that Richard has, his age, the son of Uncle John
Gaunt. Henry had grown up to be a Knight, and was the Duke of
Hereford. Like his deceased uncle, Edward the Black Prince, he was
well respected by the People of England and viewed as a National Hero
who embodied, like the Black Prince, all the ideals and Virtues that a
True Knight should have, just like in King Arthur Legend. What is more,
he had grown to become not only a best friend to his cousin, his King,
Richard, but Richard could not find an even more loyal solider or Knight
in his army than Henry Bolingbroke. But Henry also loved his family,
and although his Uncle Thomas was a traitor, he still loved him, and he
did not deserve to be assassinated in the streets. An attack on a
Plantagenet, was an attack on Plantagenet. Someone must avenge is
poor Uncle's death. To Henry, who ever was killer would have needed
to be payed a large sum of money. They also would need to be able to
have the influence of not being able to get got or seen by the people to
be able to pull off such a kill. Henry suspected someone close to the
thrown, perhaps a fellow Duke. Enter Thomas Mowbray, Duke of
Norfolk.

Henry notices that recently Mowbray has come into a large sum of
money. What is more, he believes that Mowbray is the type of man
with low moral convictions that he would kill Woodstock and take the
money no matter who it was, even if it was French money. Therefore,
Henry of Hereford, the son of Uncle John and beloved cousin of the
King, publicly accuses Thomas Mowbray for the death of Thomas
Woodstock, the son of King Edward. On his honor, Norfolk can not let
his name and reputation be tarnished by Bolingbrokes misguided
accusations, of him being a murderer and traitor to his people. He
announces that if Sir Henry does not take back his accusation, then he
challenges him to a duel.

What do Historians Think?

Actually we don't know who killed Thomas Woodstock, but Historians

widely believe that that Mowbray was in fact the cloaked the assassin,
but that Henry was wrong, he didn't kill Thomas out of disloyalty to
England and for money, in fact Historians suspect that Richard was in
fact the one put to the hit on his Uncle Woodstock, and that he trusted
his knight Thomas Mowbray with this mission as he knew that Mowbray
wouldn't miss and that Mowbray was loyal to Richard and would keep
his secret. But what does Shakespeare think? Does Shakespeare think
that Mowbray is the assassin, what's more, does Shakespeare think
that Richard have anything to do with teh assassination? These are the
questions we must examine and look for in the very first scene of
Richard the 2nd. The scene opens with Courtroom. King Richard
Has ordered his Knights Henry and Mowbray to come forward and
make peace and to call off their accusations and duels. What will
happen next? If Richard was behind the plot, will Mowbray spill the
secret to keep his honor pure? If Henry finds out his cousin, his KIng,
who he very much is loyal to, had anything to do with his Uncle's
death, what would be his view of Richard? Will he target his revenge at
his cousin, his King instead of Mowbray. Will the men obey the king,
and let the matter go? Or will this be first time since Richard was 16
that someone disobeyed his command?

The Stage is Set... Worlds will turn on what happens next...