On this day, 20 December 1387

the Battle of Radcot Bridge was fought between the Lords Appellant and Richard II’s Loyalists.

Dec 21, 2024

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The Lords Appellant before King Richard II

Doyle, James William Edmund (1864) "Richard II" in A Chronicle of England: B.C. 55 – A.D. 1485

The king’s counselors were deeply jealous of the power and prestige of the king’s uncle, John of Gaunt, the duke of Lancaster. Their repeated criticism of the duke and their involvement in an attempt on his life led to an atmosphere of rancour and suspicion at court. By 1385 Richard’s relations with the higher nobility were quickly deteriorating. He no longer included them in decisions of court and did not show them the favor they expected due to their rank.

In October 1386 there was a major crisis in Parliament. The Duke of Lancaster had departed for Spain in July with a large English fleet to pursue his claim to the Castilian throne. The French took advantage of weakened England and planned an invasion. De la Pole, as chancellor, hastily organized the coastal defences. To fund it, he sought a huge grant of taxation from Parliament. Richard II also requested more funds to invade France. The massive scale of their demands provoked resistance, and the House of Commons called for de la Pole’s resignation. Richard II was offended that the Commons would not only say no to the funding but call for his friend’s resignation. He famously retorted that he would not dismiss as much as a scullion from his kitchen at Parliament's request.

Richard II of England

Westminster Abbey collection

Then, Parliament sought to secure promises of reform from the king, and voiced that his favorites were unpopular. Both houses of Parliament united against the king’s prerogative and his favorites; in response, Richard II attempted to dissolve Parliament, only to face threats of disposition. He was forced to back down, and de la Pole was impeached by this so-called “Wonderful Parliament” for embezzlement and negligence. The king was also faced with more restrictions on his power to appoint any further positions, such as he did with appointing de la Pole as Chancellor. However, de la Pole remained earl of Suffolk and in Richard II’s favor.

Richard II reacted to this assault by Parliament by retreating to the Midlands and rallying his supporters. At Shrewsbury and Nottingham in August 1387 he received vigorous reaffirmation of his rights from the royal courts. News of these judges’ opinions frightened the king’s chief critics, namely the Lords Appellant, who reacted by bringing formal accusations of treason against the king’s favorites.

Robert de Vere fleeing Radcot Bridge after the 1387 battle; taken from the Gruthuse manuscript of Froissart's Chroniques (ca. 1475)

The Lords Appellant mobilized their retinues in order to act in self-defense of the king’s gathering host. Richard II called on his friend Robert de Vere, 9th Earl of Oxford, to organize troops in the northwest of the country and bring them south to London. However, de Vere’s Loyalist troops mostly deserted when faced with Henry Bolingbroke’s pikes when they met at the Thames at the Berkshire-Oxfordshire border. Then, downriver, the rest were routed by Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, at Radcot Bridge in Berkshire, on this day, December 20 1387. De Vere and de la Pole fled to France after the battle of Radcot Bridge, before the Lords Appellant and so-called “Merciless Parliament” saw the trial and execution of many of the king’s favorites.

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