Summary. King Richard visited the secure, fortified cathedral many times in the last years of his reign. He was imprisoned in a tower after capture by Henry Bolingbroke. His chaplain became the bishop.
Richard was born 6 January 1367, in the archbishop’s palace of Bordeaux in Aquitaine. At 4 years of age, he was brought to England and never wanted to return to France. He was made king at the age of 10 upon the death of Edward III, and crowned at Westminster Abbey on 16 July 1377. He was bilingual and, perhaps the first king to speak fluent English. During his 22-year reign, 1377 to 1399, he was a frequent visitor to Lichfield and the diocese in the last years of his life.
AI Richard II aged 10 at his
coronation adapted from a portrait at Westminster Abbey, painted mid-1390s.
.png)
Richard married
Anne of Bohemia, the daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV in 1382. The
marriage was diplomatically significant.
Marriage of Richard and Anne in the
Liber Regalis of Westminster Abbey, MS 38, f.20. Both were aged 15.
In 1385, Richard le Scrope[i] was elected by the pope to be Bishop of Chichester, but this was rejected by Richard II. Instead, on 18 August 1386 the pope, Urban VI, made him the 54th Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry[ii] and consecrated him on the following day. Richard must have agreed.[iii] Scrope, aged 47, was installed in Lichfield on 29 June 1387 and Richard with Queen Anne of Bohemia, both aged 21, the Archbishops of York and Dublin and various earls and knights attended. The ceremony was followed by a huge feast in the bishop's palace,[iv] to which all the clergy and the leading citizens of Lichfield were invited, which must have stretched the resources of the Close.
AI rendition of the installation of Bishop Richard Scrope in
1387. He is holding Chad’s Gospels and sits alongside Richard and Anne.
Standing are the Archbishop of York and various earls.
After many
mishaps and mistakes Richard lost the trust of his nobles and the Commons. His
dependence on a small number of favourite courtiers caused discontent. Richard saw this as an affront to his royal
prerogative, so from February to November 1387, he toured the country to muster
support, but only managed to find it in Cheshire, an area in the diocese of
Lichfield. He then had to reconcile with his adversaries and this led to peace
for the next eight years. Anne died in 1394, aged 28, of the plague and Richard mourned
her death. He then had a close relationship with Robert de Vere, the Earl of
Oxford, which resumed resentment within his court. In 1396, a truce with France
was agreed which lasted 28 years, and as part of the truce Richard agreed
to marry Isabella, daughter of Charles VI of France when she came of age.
The diplomacy was possibly Richard’s greatest achievements.
AI Richard agreeing to marry Isabella aged 6 when she came of age. He was 29. From an anonymous painting c. 1450.
Richard by now was displaying odd behaviour; he was exhibiting anxiety and paranoia, and was prone to stammering. He saw himself as divine and absolutist, and not to be questioned. He had no immediate heir and this was adding to the growing tension in his court. Between 1397 and 99, Richard had many of his old adversaries executed and, in their place, promoted nobles that supported him. In 1398 Richard summoned the Parliament to meet in Shrewsbury Abbey and announced that no restraint could legally be put on the King. This ‘Revenge Parliament’ met at the centre of the diocese. He now decreed to be addressed as ‘royal majesty’ or ‘high majesty’. Furthermore, he began to spend extravagantly on clothes, jewellery, rich textiles and completing Westminster Hall. He became interested in the occult, and had an obsession with Richard I and his grandfather Edward II. He was showing clear signs of narcissism.
Richard spent
Christmas at Lichfield in 1397, staying until mid-January, including a
celebration of his birthday on 6 January. At this festival two hundred tons of
wine, and two thousand oxen, were consumed. He visited Lichfield at least six times
in 1398. He is recorded as being at Lichfield on 8, 17–20 January; 24–27 May; 22–26
June; 8 September, 25 December to 6 January 1399. This is over 30 days
accommodation, and it is most likely the visits were longer than
recorded.
AI King Richard II entering the west door of the cathedral in 1397. Ahead is Dean Thomas de Stretton.
Lichfield bishop’s
palace would have been a good residence for Richard. The partly moated and
fortified cathedral would have appealed to this insecure king. The ornate
cathedral with its sumptuous Chad’s shrine would have satisfied Richard’s taste.
In
1397, Bishop Richard Scrope visited the pope and was appointed Archbishop of York,
probably on the recommendation of Richard. The king then forwarded his chaplain
and confessor John Burghill, to be bishop of Lichfield.[v] He was
installed at Lichfield on 8 September 1398, and the enthronement was attended
by three archbishops, Canterbury, York, and Dublin, five bishops, four
dukes, and four earls. The fully robed clergy met the new bishop at the west
end of the Close and were surprised to find him bare-footed. Burghill was a
Dominican or Black Friar, and this was a demonstration of his belief in asceticism,
though some detractors described it as miserliness.
AI gen.
King Richard II greeting Dominican John Burghill to be Bishop of Lichfield.
Behind are three archbishops, five bishops, four dukes, and four earls.
They processed to an atrium at the
west end door,[vi]
which was possibly built with an extension inwards and outwards of the central doorway.[vii] Oaths
were said in the atrium before the party filed to the high altar for the
commission.
AI rendition of King Richard and Bishop Burghill entering the west doorway with an added atrium. The archbishops in the atrium were ready to announce oaths of allegiance.
West front drawing from ‘The Builder’, (1891), February 7, 108–9. It shows a pair of buttress foundations discovered under the paving outside the west front, probably during Scott's work in 1850s.[viii] The rubble foundation between the end pillars was revealed in 2000.[ix] Was this part of an outward and inward projecting atrium or narthex?
A feast followed in the bishop’s palace
to which all the cathedral clergy were invited. . A monk of Evesham listed the feast
needed twenty cattle, three hundred sheep, and a daily large quantity of
poultry.
AI
Richard II in 1398 being toasted by Bishop Burghill in the feast following the
installation of the bishop.
AI rendition of King Richard taking interest in the jousting. The jousting field is
thought to have been outside the town defences, just beyond St. John's Hospital
where an area was known as 'the duelling ground'.
On 1 June 1399, Richard journeyed to Ireland with a large army to restore his dwindling authority. This gave an opportunity for his exiled and dispossessed enemy, Henry Bolingbroke, to return from France and land on the Yorkshire coast. He invaded with a small force that quickly grew in numbers. Richard hurriedly returned landing at Conway, but could not raise any support; his army was still in Ireland. On 19 August, Richard surrendered to Henry Bolingbroke, later Henry IV, at Flint Castle, promising to abdicate if his life was spared. Both men then made their way to London, broken by a short stay at Chester and then Lichfield. On the evening of 23 August, the party arrived at Lichfield and Richard was imprisoned in one of the towers, most likely the north-east tower and part of the Bishop’s Palace. Harwood thought the larger southwest tower was used. [xiii] That night Richard escaped through a window of the tower, but then was recaptured in an adjoining garden. He was removed from the Close and transferred to the house of the Archdeacon of Chester, on the corner of Beacon Street and Shaw Lane. Ten to twelve armed men kept close guard over and Richard complained that he was not even allowed a change of clothes.
AI rendition of Richard escaping from the tower at night with the help
of two residents. There is a version he jumped into the moat, but he is caught in a garden. The story was told by a Frenchman who accompanied the king.
North-east tower remains. Was this the tower used to imprison Richard II, or was it the southwest tower known to have a dungeon?
On arrival in London, 1 September, he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. A commission, including Archbishop Scrope,[xiv] a past friend of Richard, visited the king and agreed, perhaps reluctantly, on his imprisonment. Richard was later moved to Pontefract Castle and died, some say starved to death, on or around 14 February 1400, aged 33. His interment at the Dominican friary church at Kings Langley in Hertfordshire was conducted by his friend, Bishop John Burghill.[xv] His body was later removed by order of Henry V to Westminster Abbey. Afterwards, Burghill became a great benefactor leaving much to the cathedral, and this was warmly commemorated after his death in 1414.
When the Lady
Chapel was built a screen was erected across the cathedral behind the high
altar and east of Chad’s shrine. Wyatt found part of the screen when he was
joining the choir to the Lady Chapel in 1788.[xvi]
During the Victorian renovation 'a rayed rose
and hart' was found on one piece of the old screen and could have been the
emblem of Richard and Anne.[xvii] An
inn in Sadler Street was named the White Hart.
Is this
the hart emblem remarked upon by Robert Bridgeman? The canopy also has several
sculpted roses. [xviii]
There are a
number of 14-century chapter houses, York, Lincoln, Westminster and Salisbury that
have dedications to the Virgin Mary. At Lichfield, above the door is a
triangular painting of ‘The Assumption of Mary’. In the bottom right corner stand
several ‘Black Friars’, clearly showing their black cappa or cloak above their
white habit. This suggests Bishop John Burghill commissioned this painting and thus
a date around 1398–1414 is likely. St Mary is surrounded by angels and the two
at knee height have an outline of adult faces. The one on the left of the
painting appears to be wearing a crown. The one on the right appears to be a
woman. It would be plausible to assume they are Richard and Anne. Perhaps, then
the figure to the bottom left is the dean, Thomas de Stretton. If this could be
verified, it is a remarkable painting.
Assumption
of Mary painting. Revealed after removal of limewash in the 19th-century Gothic
Revival. 
Figures
left and right of Mary. Superimposed is the head of Richard II from The Wilton
Diptych.
Richard is positioned on the right
hand of Chad on the west front, which reflects his love for Lichfield. Since his
appearance at Lichfield is well after the completion of the cathedral it
suggests his exalted position was favoured by the Victorian sculptors. He is sculped as an older man.
AI rendition of Richard from a description before his death at the age of 33.
Later examination of his tomb show a man 6 feet 2 inches tall with a round, feminine face. He could quickly fly into a rage, and he stammered. Dressing extravagantly, devotion to his wife, favouring certain nobility and preferring diplomacy over war has led to the notion he was unmanly and weak. Recent analysis shows this to be false.
[i]
He was also a friend, with family connections, with the Earls of
Northumberland, the Percy family.
[ii]
H.E. Savage, The Church Heritage of Lichfield, Unpub. St Chad’s Day
Address (1914) claimed the title from 1386 was transposed to Bishop of
Lichfield and Coventry. He also stated the electing body at Coventry no longer
existed. The addition of Chester to the title had ceased in 1350. H. Wharton, Anglia
Sacra Volume 1.,(London: 1691), 450, has ‘Ricardus Scrope. Episcopus
Lichfeldensis & Coventrensis. His predecessor Walterus Skirlaw also has
this order, but his predecessor Robertus Stretton (449) gives priority to
Coventry. Richard II must have agreed with this new order of title.
[iii]
J. Gould, ‘Lichfield and Richard II’, Staffordshire Archaeological and
Historical Society Transactions, (2001), 39, 16–21, from which much of this
post has been constructed. See also J. Tait, 'Scrope, Richard', Dictionary
of National Biography, li (1897), 144-47. The burgesses of Lichfield appear
not to have accepted Scrope’s elevation especially if decided by the King.
[iv]
Lichfield Dean and Chapter Acts Book, i, f. 15v.
[v]
H. Wharton, Anglia Sacra. Volume 1. (London: 1691), 451.
[vi]
This description of the ceremony comes from H. E. Savage, Bishop John
Burghull, (note the misspelling), an A. C. Lomax publication (Lichfield:
1924), 1–24. It was taken from the Chapter Acts Book, 52–3.
[vii]
Beneath the flagstones outside the west end large door has been found a stone buttress
foundation. It is not known when this atrium (narthex?) was built and
demolished. This is referred to by W. Rodwell, Lichfield Cathedral:
Conservation Plan. Unpub. report in Cathedral library (2006), 5. Rodwell
believed there was a previous large, lower, west front.
[viii]
The buttresses are mentioned by W. Rodwell, Notes on the 'gallery' and other
features at the west end of the nave. Unpub. assessment in Cathedral
Library, (1989). Rodwell’s view was they would fit perfectly an early
13th-century west front; and at the same time invite closer comparisons between
Lichfield and Wells.
[ix]
W. Rodwell, Revealing the history of the Cathedral: 3. Archaeology in the
nave. Unpub. paper in the Cathedral Library, (2000).
[x]
D. Wikins, Concilia magnae Britanniae et Hiberniae a Synodo Verolamensi. (1737)
Volume 3, 235. See also H. E. Savage, (1924), 5.
[xi]
N. Saul, Richard II (New Haven and London: 1997), 142–3.
[xii]
Ibid, 393. Richard employed a bodyguard of yeoman archers who came
from the area around Macclesfield and were known as the Cheshire Archers. They
were elite soldiers.
[xiii]
There are some accounts that have Richard escaping from the Archdeacon’s House.
H. E. Savage (1924), see note 10, had Richard imprisoned in the fabled town
Castle in Castle Dyke Street and Frog Lane. T. Harwood, The history and antiquities of the church and city of
Lichfield. (London: 1806), 292, has
him in the south-west tower which had a dungeon, and where there is now
Newton’s building. It is possible there were members of the Close who
helped him to escape.
[xiv]
Some years
later, Scrope opposed Bolingbroke and was beheaded at York.
[xv]
Thomae Walsingham Historia Anglicana, ed. H. T. Riley (Rolls Series,
1846), 246.
[xvi]
J. Britton, The history and antiquities of
the See and cathedral church of Lichfield, (London: 1820) 32. In The carvings of Lichfield Cathedral. (2010),
Cathedral booklet, 11, it is suggested the sedilia either side of the altar
contains part (the canopy) of the 15th-century screen. It is made of Bath
limestone and invites the question of where was it sculpted? Its rich detail
would have been appropriate for being near to Langton’s Lady Chapel.
[xvii]
See note 3, J. Gould, (2001), 18.
[xviii]
J. Gould (2001), 22. A White Hart is depicted on the timber ceiling of St
Mary’s Hall, Coventry.
