Unit 30 - Lancastrians, Yorkists and Henry VII, 1399-1509
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War of roses 3.3 the crises of 1399-1405 essay plans
‘Richard II lost his throne because of his pro-French sentiments, whereas Henry IV
maintained his government mainly because of his hostility towards France’
Introduction
- I only partially agree with the statement . Although Richard’s pro-french sentiments were
certainly a factor in his loss of the throne, he mainly lost his throne due to a lack of mercy and
tyranny against the nobles, which positioned them against him and gave validity to Henry IV’s
cause
- Henry IV maintained his government through violent squashing of rebels and diplomacy, rather
then hostility towards France
- Therefore I mostly disagree with this statement
Paragraph 1
- it could be argued Richard iii lost his throne because of his pro-French sentiments
- His marriage to Isabella, a French princess was viewed as a sign if pro-french leanings
- Was regarded with suspicion as he did not seem su ciently dedicated to the war in France -
he had spent much of his childhood there
- Him and his advisors (especially de la Pole) took a diplomatic position with France. That and
the fact that Richard was losing the war in France only enhanced suspicion and made him
look weak
- Therefore it could be argued that this was a reason behind the wonderful parliament of 1389
and the lords appellant which started the fall of Richard
- However, this was only a small factor in the fall of Richard III
Paragraph 2
- a stronger argument for the reason of the fall of Richard Is the reason that he was regarded as
tyrannical by the nobles. This is more convincing as the nobles were sick of high taxation and
promotion of favourites, as well as being alarmed by his private retune and so seemed to
oppose him, through the merciless parliament, wonderful parliament and then by backing
Henry
- Richard was disliked for his favouritism - for example towards de la Pole and de Vere. He was
overly nancially generous to them, leading to debt - especially when the country was in
nancial di culties due to the funding of the war in France.
- This led to the ‘wonderful parliament’ of 1386 - parliament e ectively forced Richard 5o
impeach his favourites, and then the ‘lords appellant’ who forced the king to attend the
‘merciless parliament’ of 1388, where his favourites were put on trial for treason and executed
- In addition to his favouritism and nancial irresponsibility, Richard iii lost the throne due to
tyranny - he had a private retinue of 700 Cheshire men and the execution of Gloucester,
Warwick and Arundel, as well as his later seizing of Bolingbroke’s inheritance from his father
- This combined tyranny is a more convincing reason for Richard III’s loss of the throne as it was
based on solid proof rather then suspicions of pro-french sympathies and led directly to the
events in parliament that led to the fall of the Richard
Paragraph 3
- furthermore I disagree with the statement that Henry IV maintained the throne due to hostility
towards France
- There was tensions in Aquitaine, with the French being supported by the Scottish. There were
pirates at the channel which interrupted trade as well as costing a huge amount to defend the
region and there were two French naval attacks on England.
- However, Henry did not have continued hostility towards the French - he molli ed dukes so that
Gascony remained loyal to the English, and formed diplomatic ties through marriage - eg by
marrying his daughter to a noble in France and married the widow of the duke of Brittany =
formed an alliance
- Although certainly hostility towards the French strengthened his position as he was regarded as
far more militarily competent then Richard, this was not the main reason for the maintaining of
his government as in the International realm he formed diplomatic relationships with the French
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, which gave more stability. However the removal of alternative claimants to the throne was the
biggest factor for Henry’s retaining of the throne
Paragraph 4
- the removal of alternative claimants to the throne was the reason for Henry’s maintaining of the
throne (therefore I disagree with the statement)
- Put down the Epiphany Rising in 1400
- Richard, although initially imprisoned in Pontefract castle mysteriously died (probably killed on
Henry’s orders) so he wouldn’t provide a focal point for a rebellion
- He also kept close watch on the 8 y/o earl of march (alternative claimant to the throne) so he
would not provide a focal point of rebellion either - which was a good call as his uncle sided
with the Welsh
- Defeated the Hotspur rebellion in 1403 - killed Hotspot in a battle in Shrewsbury and publicly
displayed his body as a warning
- In the scrope rebellion, Henry showed an uncharacteristic lack of mercy as he executed the
arbishop scrope for treason = was harsh against rebels as warning
- Therefore the removal of alternative claimants to the throne was the reason Henry IV retained
the throne, rather then anti-French sentiments
Conclusion
I mostly disagree with the statement that Richard lost the throne because of pro-French
sentiments and Henry IV maintained the throne because of hostility towards France, as although
these were certainly factors at play, they were not the most signi cant ones. Richard mostly lost
the throne due to tyranny and corruption, and Henry held on due to diplomatic international ties,
the unpopularity of Richard before him and his e ective use of squashing rebellions
ff fi
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