The Young King and the Peasants
Richard II agreed to meet Wat Tyler and his contingent on the outskirts of London to hear their demands, but Wat Tyler was treacherously killed at the meeting. The young monarch then claimed that he would be the rebels’ leader. He promised reforms, agreed to their demands, and convinced them to disperse. As soon as sufficient military force was available, however, Richard reneged, and the peasants were brutally suppressed. When a peasant delegation reminded the king of his promises, he contemptuously dismissed them, and sneered “Villeins ye are, and villeins ye shall remain!“
Unsurprisingly, Richard grew up from a nasty teenager to become a nasty adult. His dynasty, the Plantagenets, had long been prone to internal strife. Henry II, the dynasty’s founder spent much of his reign at war against his wife and sons. That set an unfortunate tone. The dynasty survived those early travails, but it did not survive another bout of intra-dynastic violence that began in the fourteenth century. It was triggered by the tyrannical rule of Richard II. He surrounded himself with corrupt officials, and ruled in an arbitrary and capricious manner. In response, many lords, whose numbers included some of the king’s Plantagenet relatives, rose up and seized power.
