Richard II, King

Richard II, King, a historical tragedy by Shakespeare, probably written and acted 1595, printed 1597. After the death of Elizabeth I a fourth quarto was issued in 1608, which contained the first appearance in print of the deposition scene (iv. i. 154–318). The scene was included in the text of the play printed in the First folio of 1623. Shakespeare's main source was the Chronicles of Holinshed, but he appears to have drawn on S. Daniel's narrative poem The Civil Wars.

The play begins with the quarrel between Henry Bolingbroke, son of John of Gaunt, and Thomas Mowbray, duke of Norfolk, which King Richard resolves arbitrarily by exiling Mowbray for life and Bolingbroke for ten years. When ‘time-honoured’ John of Gaunt dies Richard confiscates his property to pay for his Irish wars, for which he leaves the country. Bolingbroke returns to claim his inheritance and takes Berkeley Castle, which the duke of York has as regent to yield him. The king returns to Wales, hears that his Welsh supporters have deserted him and that Bolingbroke has executed the king's favourites Bushy and Green; accompanied by York's son Aumerle, he withdraws to Flint Castle, where Bolingbroke accepts his surrender. The first half of the play ends with a discussion between a gardener and Richard's Queen Isabel about the government of the garden-state and the possibility of the king's deposition (iii. iv).

In London Richard relinquishes his crown to Bolingbroke, who sends him to the Tower. The earl of Carlisle's and Aumerle's plot to kill Bolingbroke, who has now proclaimed himself Henry IV, is foiled by York. Richard is transferred to Pomfret Castle, where he hears of Henry's coronation and is murdered by Sir Pierce of Exton.

Richard II is written entirely in verse.