RICHARD II
1611
RICHARDSON his relief of Joppa — these and other deeds gave him a great name for heroism and valor, but brought no decisive advantage to the crusade. On Richard's way home in 1193 he was shipwrecked in the Adriatic. Wandering in disguise through the dominions of his enemy, the archduke of Austria, he was recognized, seized and handed over to Emperor Henry VI. Being ransomed by his loyal subjects, Richard returned home the next year, and almost immediately afterwards engaged in war with Philip of France, in which he was killed by an arrow shot from the castle of Chaluz, near Limoges, April 6, 1199.
Richard II of England, second son of the Black Prince and Joanna of Kent, was born at Bordeaux, April 13, 1366, and succeeded to the throne on the death of his grandfather, Edward III, June 28, 1377. His reign is an interesting epoch of English history, as the newly-established house of commons was eager to claim a share of political power and the laboring classes were seeking to be freed from the bondage under which they had so long suffered. During the first years of Richard's reign — he being only n when he came to the throne — the government was intrusted to a council of 12. Although John of Gaunt, the king's uncle, was nominally excluded from this council, he was generally regarded as the real head of the government and was held responsible for the heavy taxation and other abuses of which the nation complained. In the midst of the conflicts of contending factions and after several impeachments and executions Richard in 1380 declared himself of age and took the government into his own hands. For several years the country enjoyed peace and a fair degree of prosperity until the king became involved in quarrels with the earls of Warwick, Arundel and others. Warwick was banished and Arundel beheaded, but Richard, after having triumphed over his enemies, began to quarrel with his friends. A misunderstanding having arisen between the duke of Norfolk and Henry, duke of Lancaster, Richard sent the former into banishment for life and the latter for ten years. But on Richard's return from an expedition into Ireland in 1399, he found that Lancaster had landed in England and raised a large army during his absence, with which he was marching to London; moreover, the army which Richard had taken into Ireland no sooner landed in England than it almost entirely deserted him and passed over to the invader. Richard met Lancaster at Flint Castle, where he formally resigned his crown and was carried captive to London and placed in the Tower. A month later Lancaster was proclaimed king as Henry IV, and Richard was condemned to imprisonment for life In the following: February Richard's body, or what was supposed to be his body, was brought from Pontefract Castle and shown to the public. According to some accounts, he was murdered in the castle in February, 1400; according to others, he escaped to Scotland and died there a lunatic.
Richard III of England, was the youngest son of Richard, Duke of York, and the great-grandson of Edmund, Duke of York, the fifth son of Edward III. He was born at Fotheringay, Oct. 2, 1452. On the defeat and death of their father in 1460, he and his brother George, afterwards duke of Clarence, were sent by their mother to Utrecht, where they remained until the crown was won from Henry VI by Edward IV, their older brother. In 1471 Richard led the van of his brother's army at Barnet, and took an active part m the decisive victory at Tewkesbury. It is claimed that after the battle he and Clarence murdered Prince Edward, son of Henry VI, and in some quarters it is believed * that .he was concerned in the murder of Henry himself in the Tower. Edward IV died on April 9, 1483, leaving Richard guardian of his son, Edward V, only 13 years of age; but, instead of faithfully fulfilling this trust, Richard placed the boy and his younger brother in the Tower and had himself proclaimed king. Not content with thus depriving young Edward of his crown, Richard caused him and his brother to be murdered while they were in the Tower, hoping thereby to make his own power the more secure. But Richard's numerous crimes made him so unpopular, that when Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, arrived in England with an invading force in 1485, he soon raised such an army that at the battle of Bosworth Richard lost both his crown and his life (August 22), and was succeeded by his antagonist as Henry VII.
Rich'ardson, Samuel, a famous English novelist, was born in Derbyshire in 1689, and died at London, July 4, 1761. He says of himself that he had only "common-school learning," and at 16 he was bound to a printer, with whom he served the usual period of apprenticeship. After working as a journeyman-printer for years, in 1719 he set up an establishment of his own, in which he attained a fair degree of prosperity. In November, 1740, when Richardson was over 50, he published his first novel: Pamela or Virtue Rewarded. So popular was this book that a second edition was published in February following, a third in March and a fourth in May. Eight years later appeared the work which is generally considered Richardson's masterpiece ; The History of Clarissa Harloim. Dr. Johnson declared this book to be the first in the world for its knowledge of the human heart' and Fielding says of it; "Such simplicity, such manners, such deep
