Strange Stories from History for Young PeopleEggleston, George Cary
History
Strange Stories from History for Young People
Eggleston, George Cary
World history -- Juvenile literature
But if he had known what this crowning was to lead to, young Richard
might have been very glad to change places with any baker's or butcher's
boy in London. The boy king had some uncles and cousins who were very
great people, and who gave him no little trouble after a while. He had
wars on his hands, too, and needed a great deal more money than the
people were willing to give him; and so, when he grew older and took the
government into his own hands, he found troubles all around him. The
Irish people rebelled frequently; the Scotch were hostile; there was
trouble with Spain because Richard's uncle wanted to become king of that
country, and there was a standing war with France.
But this was not all. In order to carry on these wars the king was
obliged to have money; and when he ordered taxes to be collected the
common people, led by Wat Tyler, rose in rebellion. They marched into
London, seized the Tower, and put to death the treasurer of the kingdom,
the Archbishop of Canterbury, and many other persons high in the
government. Tyler was so insolent one day that the Lord Mayor of London
killed him; but the boy king, who was only sixteen years old, seeing
that the rebels were too strong for him, put himself at their head, and
marched with them out of the city; and so the king, against whom the
rebellion was made, became the leader of the rebels. As soon as matters
grew quiet, however, he broke all the promises he had made, and punished
the chief rebels very harshly.
Not long after this one of the king's uncles made himself master of the
kingdom by force, and it was several years before Richard could put him
out of power.
But the greatest of all Richard's troubles were yet to come. His cousin,
Henry Bolingbroke, the son of old John of Gaunt, had misbehaved, and
Richard had sent him out of England, not to return for ten years. But
while Richard was in Ireland putting down a rebellion there, Henry came
back to England, raised an army, and was joined by many of the most
powerful men in the kingdom. When Richard came back from Ireland Henry
made him a prisoner, and not long afterwards the great men made up their
minds to set up Henry as the king instead of Richard. They made Richard
sign a paper giving up his right to the crown, and then, to make the
matter sure, Parliament passed a law that Richard should be king no
longer.
Richard was only thirty-three years old when all this was done, but
after so many troubles he might well have been glad to give up his
kingship, if that had been the end of the matter. But a king who has
been set aside is always a dangerous man to have in the kingdom, and it
would not do to let Richard go free. He might gather his friends around
him and give trouble. So it was decided that the unfortunate man should
be shut up in a prison for the rest of his life.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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