Intercession and Motherhood: The Queenships of Philippa of Hainault and Anne of Bohemia
In this post, author Conor Byrne discusses the rule of two medieval queens: Anne of Bohemia and Philippa of Hainault.
Anne of Bohemia, Queen of England
By Susan Abernethy King Richard II’s first wife Anne has the distinction of being the only English queen from Bohemia. The marriage was…
Hair and Masculinity in the Alliterative Morte Arthure
This essay examines the use of forced hair cutting in the late fourteenth‐century alliterative romance, Morte Arthure, to show how it is used to develop characters that reflect the tension surrounding the English king Richard II and the tyranny that characterized the final years of his reign.
Landlord of England, not King? Reinterpreting the Reign of Richard II
Mark King is a PhD student in the Faculty of History at the University of Cambridge working on the political history of Richard II’s reign.
John Rykener, Richard II and the Governance of London
Its narrative of cross-dressing, male prostitution, gay sex, clerical promiscuity and the like seems to offer a rare window onto late medieval sexuality and sexual mores.
The Usurpation of Henry IV: His Quest for Legitimacy on the English Throne
On 30 September 1399, Richard II’s cousin, Henry Bolingbroke, would usurp the throne, taking the name Henry IV, and months after the coronation, Richard would die a prisoner in Pontefract Castle amidst speculation that he was murdered.
Richard II: One of England’s forgotten kings
I thought I’d take five minutes today to talk a little bit about one of England’s forgotten kings.
The Uses Made of History by the Kings of Medieval England
The kings of medieval England, besides using history for the entertainment of themselves and their courts, turned it to practical purposes. They plundered history-books for precedents and other evidences to justify their claims and acts. They also recognised its value as propaganda, to bolster up their positions at home and strengthen their hands abroad.
What to See in Westminster Abbey
A review and tour of Westminster Abbey
Queer times: Richard II in the poems and chronicles of late
The article focuses on the representation of deviant sexual behavior in 14th-century English poetry and other chronicles. The portrayal of King of England Richard II as a rebellious youth, which is interpreted as perverse and lacking manliness, and the propaganda needed to offset this perception are discussed. Historical information is given about the political culture and power of the church. The murder of Edward II after being accused of sodomy by the Bishop of Hereford is mentioned.
Gower’s “Confessio” and the “Nova statuta Angliae”: royal lessons in English law
In the following discussion, I will explore some hitherto unexamined links between the Confessio Amantis and one of these legal texts, the Nova Statuta Angliae or New Statutes of England, which circulated among professional and non-professional readers in the 1380s and 1390s and which Richard II received in a manuscript now in Cambridge: St. John’s College MS A.7.
The King’s Table: A Semiotic Analysis of a Medieval Noble Banquet
During the Middle Ages, aristocratic banquets were common and often grandiose affairs. The function of a banquet went beyond mere celebration of an event or holiday and became a tool for demonstrating a person’s wealth, influence, piety, and generosity.
English Royal Minorities and the Hundred Years War
It has become commonplace in modern textbooks to base any brief account of the Hundred Years War on the contention that the chief cause was the dynastic dispute over the French throne between Edward III and Philip of Valois.
‘Kings were not wont to render account’ Henry IV and the Authority of the King
Henry travelled extensively, became famed throughout Christendom as a champion jouster, crusaded in Eastern Europe, and looked after his father’s holdings whilst John of Gaunt campaigned in Spain.3 It is impossible not to note that Henry Bolingbroke’s popularity continued to increase while Richard II’s declined.
Fashion of Middle England and its Image in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales
Fashion of Middle England and its Image in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales Petra Štěpánková Bachelor Thesis, Masaryk University – Brno, Faculty of Education, Department…
The Mind’s Eye: Reconstructing the Historian’s Semantic Matrix Through Henry Knighton’s Account of the Peasants’ Revolt, 1381
The Mind’s Eye: Reconstructing the Historian’s Semantic Matrix Through Henry Knighton’s Account of the Peasants’ Revolt, 1381 Sarah Marilyn Steeves Keeshan Master of Arts,…
Manhood, kingship and the public in late medieval England
Were medieval kings like other men? A century’s work on the sacrality of kingship has tended to stress how kings differed from their fellow adult males, even fellow nobles.
Shakespeare’s Richard II: Machiavelli for the Good of England
The name Machiavelli has negative connotations, and this way of thinking is not new. Throughout Europe, in Shakespeare’s time and earlier, Machiavellianism was associated with unscrupulous abuse of power, and Machiavellian methods were seen as immoral and evil.
The Sad Death of a King: The Legacy of Richard the Second
This thesis will examine the manner in which Shakespeare drew upon existing sources material to depict a king whose inherent character flaws made him unworthy of his crown.
Advising France through the Example of England: Visual Narrative in the Livre de la prinse et mort du roy Richart (Harl. MS. 1319)
This article complements historical and textual analyses of Creton’s book by examining the visual narrative in Harl. MS. 1319, the only one of the seven surviving manuscripts of the text to be illustrated with a pictorial cycle of sixteen images.
“Be waar, Hoccleue, I rede thee”: Intertextual Subjectivity in Thomas Hoccleve’s Petitioning Poetry
The way these operate can be seen in the section of La Male Regle from which I excerpted my paper’s title. It comes about three-quarters of the way through the poem when the narrator relates a first-hand account of how he and his Privy-Seal Office colleagues handle a night of drinking.
A Hotbed for Dissidence: Southeast England in the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381
What were the causes and circumstances that led not only to the ebullient revolt in Southeast Europe, but also to ist relative success?
And He Honoured Þat Hit Hade Euermore After’: The Influence of Richard II’s Livery System on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
The theoretical framework for my analysis of Richard II’s use of iconic signs was largely drawn from the works of Charles Peirce, Umberto Eco, and the studies of the iconography of kingship by Louis Marin.
War financing in the late-Medieval Crown of Aragon
War financing in the late-Medieval Crown of Aragon Kagay, Donald J. (Albany State University) The Journal of Medieval Military History, Volume 6 (2008)…
The two funerals and two bodies of King Richard II : a study on the idea of kingship, transference of power and political theology
The two funerals and two bodies of King Richard II : a study on the idea of kingship, transference of power and political…