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Richard II (1367-1400) King of England (1377-99):
The younger son of Edward the Black Prince. At the age of 10 he became the successor to his grandfather Edward III. During the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 he fearlessly opposed their leader Wat Tyler. His reign was quarrelsome. Richard tried to exercise as much power as possible, whereas the magnates, the Lords Appellant, tried to control royal prerogatives. In 1397/8 he had several barons executed, banished or murdered. He exiled Henry Bolinbroke, John of Gaunt's son, and after the duke's death in 1399 he even confiscated the Lancastrian estates. With the support of the magnates Bolinbroke invaded England. Richard was deposed and Bolinbroke crowned as Henry IV. Richard was imprisoned in Pontrefact castle, where he died in 1400, possibly of starvation. Richard had been married to Anne of Bohemia in 1382 and to Isabella of Valois in 1396, but had no children.