Lord's Appellant
The Lords Appellant were a group of lords who came together in the 1380s to wrest political power from King Richard II and rule in his place.
The name derives from their claim to “ appeal to the king to make good politics” (especially against a peace with France and thus an end to the Hundred Years War ).
During the absence of Richard's uncle and supporter, John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster , the relationship between Richard II and the Lords suddenly deteriorated. Richard had entrusted personal favorites with high state offices and preferred them to the high nobility. Then there was the threat of a French invasion fleet that was gathering in Flanders. During the negotiations of the "Wonderful Parliament" in autumn 1386, the Chancellor Michael de la Pole , who came from a merchant family and had been sent by Richard to the highest office of the state, demanded unusually high cash benefits for national defense. The Lords and Commons refused indignantly and forced the dismissal of de la Poles and the treasurer John Fordham. In addition, the parliament, which itself only met sporadically, ensured that the king should be provided with a permanent supervisory body. The Lords Appellant were led by Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester , the youngest son of King Edward III. and Uncle Richards. The other members were Richard FitzAlan, 11th Earl of Arundel , Thomas de Beauchamp, 12th Earl of Warwick , Thomas Mowbray, 3rd Earl of Norfolk , and Richard's cousin Heinrich Bolingbroke , who would later rule England as King Henry IV.
The king went on a tour of England in February 1387 in order to gain support against Parliament. First he formed a college of judges, which declared the resolutions of the “Wonderful Parliament” to be invalid and prepared high treason proceedings against the opposition leaders. The Lords Appellant reacted promptly and gathered troops who captured Richard II in London. A loyal relief army, under Robert de Vere, Duke of Ireland , was broken up in December 1387 at the Battle of Radcot Bridge in Oxfordshire. Richard stayed in office, but was a puppet on the lords' appellant's leash. Most of his court, however, was charged with abuse of office and jailed, evicted, or executed.
When Richard's uncle John of Gaunt returned from his unsuccessful Castile campaign, Richard managed to strengthen his power again. In 1397 he began his revenge on all members of the Lords Appellant.
literature
- Dieter Berg: The Anjou Plantagenets: The English kings in Europe in the Middle Ages (1100–1500). Kohlhammer, 2003, ISBN 3-17-014488-X , pp. 264-266