Editing Richard II of England (section)

== Early life ==
[[File:Edward III Black Prince 14thc.jpg|thumb|upright|Edward, Prince of Wales, kneeling before his father, King Edward III]]

Richard of Bordeaux was the younger son of [[Edward the Black Prince|Edward, Prince of Wales]], and [[Joan, Countess of Kent]]. Edward, eldest son of [[Edward III]] and [[heir apparent]] to the throne of England, had distinguished himself as a military commander in the early phases of the [[Hundred Years' War]], particularly in the [[Battle of Poitiers]] in 1356. After further military adventures, however, he contracted [[dysentery]] in Spain in 1370. He never fully recovered and had to return to England the next year.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Edward, prince of Wales and of Aquitaine (1330–1376) |encyclopedia=[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=Oxford |last=Barber |first=Richard |date=2004 |author-link=Richard Barber |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/8523}}</ref>

Richard was born at the Archbishop's Palace of Bordeaux, in the English principality of [[Duchy of Aquitaine#Hundred Years' War|Aquitaine]], on 6 January 1367. According to contemporary sources, three kings, "the [[King of Castile]], the [[King of Navarre]] and the [[King of Portugal]]", were present at his birth.<ref name="Tuck">{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Richard II (1367–1400) |encyclopedia=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |publisher=Oxford University Press |last=Tuck |first=Anthony |date=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/23499 |author-link=Anthony Tuck}}.</ref> This anecdote, and the fact that his birth fell on the feast of [[Epiphany (holiday)|Epiphany]], was later used in the religious imagery of the [[Wilton Diptych]], where Richard is one of three kings paying homage to the [[Virgin and Child]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Gillespie |title=Richard II, The Art of Kingship |last2=Goodman |date=1998 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=nLbAoxCCt8YC&pg=PA266 266]}}</ref>

Richard's elder brother, [[Edward of Angoulême]], died near his sixth birthday in 1370.<ref>Saul (1997), p.&nbsp;12.</ref> The Prince of Wales finally succumbed to his long illness in June 1376. The [[House of Commons of England|Commons]] in the [[English Parliament]] genuinely feared that Richard's uncle, [[John of Gaunt]], would [[usurp]] the throne.{{Efn|John of Gaunt's brother [[Edmund of Langley]] was only one year younger, but it has been suggested that this prince was of "limited ability", and he took less part in government than Gaunt did.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Edmund, first duke of York (1341–1402) |encyclopedia=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |last=Tuck |first=Anthony |date=2004 |author-link=Anthony Tuck |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/16023}}</ref>}} For this reason, Richard was quickly invested with the [[princedom of Wales]] and his father's other titles.<ref>Saul (1997), p.&nbsp;17.</ref>

[[File:Coronation Richard2 England 01.jpg|thumb|left|Coronation of Richard II aged ten in 1377, from the ''Recueil des croniques'' of [[Jean de Wavrin]]. [[British Library]], London.]]
On 21 June 1377, King Edward III, who was for some years frail and decrepit, died after a 50-year reign. This resulted in the 10-year-old Richard succeeding to the throne. He was [[Coronation of the British monarch|crowned]] on 16 July at [[Westminster Abbey]].<ref>Saul (1997), p.&nbsp;24.</ref> Again, fears of John of Gaunt's ambitions influenced political decisions, and a regency led by the King's uncles was avoided.<ref>McKisack (1959), pp.&nbsp;399–400.</ref> Instead, the King was nominally to exercise kingship with the help of a series of "continual councils", from which Gaunt was excluded.<ref name="Tuck"/>

Gaunt, together with his younger brother [[Thomas of Woodstock, Earl of Buckingham]], still held great informal influence over the business of government, but the King's councillors and friends, particularly Sir [[Simon de Burley]] and [[Robert de Vere, 9th Earl of Oxford]], increasingly gained control of royal affairs.

In a matter of three years, these councillors earned the mistrust of the Commons to the point that the councils were discontinued in 1380.<ref name="Tuck"/> Contributing to discontent was an increasingly heavy burden of [[Taxation in medieval England|taxation]] levied through three [[poll tax]]es between 1377 and 1381 that were spent on unsuccessful military expeditions on the continent.<ref>Harriss (2005), pp.&nbsp;445–446.</ref> By 1381, there was a deep-felt resentment against the governing classes in the lower levels of English society.<ref>Harriss (2005), pp.&nbsp;229–230.</ref>