Quote Originally Posted by WiccanLiberal View Post
Yes but history is written by the victors. Much of what we have on Richard is filtered through the lens of the Tudor monarchs who succeeded him. From a more balanced point of view, he seems little different from a great many medieval rulers and may have been a bit better than some. He was responsible for some fairly progressive reforms, including the use of bail, the establishment of a poor man's court system, eliminating restrictions on printing books, and translating many laws from French into English. Not as bad a record as you might think.

It is unlikely the monarch himself came up with any of that; his lawyers and chancellors working through three monarchies were making improvements.

The people hated him. Nobody lost sight of the fact that his nephews had mysteriously disappeared in the Tower and he wasn't talking about them, though Edward V was supposed to be crowned; that is why he had travelled to London. Richard II only reigned 26 months; he was deeply unpopular, for excellent reasons; he was the Usurper.

Richard II stole the crown via murder, threatened to marry his niece after his own older wife died in VERY mysterious circumstances, and she herself is known to have feared he meant to kill her, and his brother's widow took sanctuary in a church for months trying to save the lives of her children and herself. Richard II was easily defeated by Henry Tudor because a lot of the nobles went over to Henry's side, though he had almost no blood claim whatsoever. But Richard II was a butcher, constantly killing the nobility and threatening their children. He took the eldest son of one of them hostage and said his head would be struck off if the noble didn't fight on his side with all his affinity; this man said stiffly, "I have more sons." In the end the men charged with killing the heir decided to wait as things were not looking good for Richard's side, so the young man survived.

I think Henry VIII was worse, but Richard II was an evil king.



The Uncrowned Edward V (Right) and the Duke of York in the Tower