William II of England

and secure, when in reality his supreme authority is all in his head as he is ignorant of the populous turning against him. His most recent land seizing exploit is the last straw, angering the nobles and prompting Gaunt to brand him “Landlord of England are thou now, not king.” (2.1.113) Richard had strayed far enough away from the way his father had ruled before him, and now, even his only security of the belief in the divine right of kings would not be enough to keep his reign…

During the ruling of King Charles many changes occurred in England, many changes received harsh backlash. There were pros and cons to having King Charles rule. He chose to rule without Parliament and gave the people of England new taxes to pay. The King disliked working with the Parliament so instead of asking them for money he created new taxes for people to pay to get the funds he needed. Many objected to the taxes pointing out that they were illegal since Parliament did not approve them…

RICHARD THE SECOND TEXT RESPONSE ESSAY ‘Richard sees kingship as something inborn, Bolingbroke sees it as politics.’ Discuss. In the play Richard II, Shakespeare contends the need for alteration in the method of power from rule by divine right to rule by competency. Shakespeare authored the play during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, who was deemed to be a flawed queen at the end of her rule. Certainly the play is an allegory and Richards’s crimes are in fact her crimes. Shakespeare first…

absolution, one must sacrifice; retaining the benefits of one’s sins begets only hollow, self-serving guilt as penance. Similar boundaries to redemption exist in Henry IV, Part 1, as its characters exist in the wake of the deposition and murder of Richard II. In the work, King Henry IV seeks expiation in a planned crusade, but neglects to abdicate the throne granted to him by his denial of divine right. Similarly, Hotspur seeks to atone for his rebellion against Richard…

King Richard II’s Underserved Loyalty by the Commoners Wat Tyler’s Rebellion was written after 1381 by an anonymous author to persuade the readers that King Richard II did not deserve the loyalty and devotion put forth by the commons. The author provides the reader with a chronicle of the peasant’s revolt in which he presents the commons’ reasons for revolting and how the King reacts to each interaction with the commons. The peasants are portrayed as justified in their actions, while the King…

In act four, scene one of Shakespeare’s Richard II, Richard’s lengthy monologues as Henry Bolingbroke attempts to get him to revoke the thrown serve as a metaphor for the entire play. Lines 194 to 214, specifically, after Bolingbroke asks King Richard if he is “contented to resign the crown?” capture the complicated the relationship between the two men and the crown (4.1.193). Richard’s willingness to step down from the thrown is debatable through his reaction to Bolingbroke’s question.…

From the readings in the text book “Western Civilization Volume II: Since 1500” I found out that Oliver Cromwell was a strong leader with also strong religious beliefs. He was also mentioned to have been a Puritan who formed the New model Army and defeated the forces supporting King Charles the first, thus ending the first phase of the Civil war with his capture. Even after all of Cromwell’s victories and the new model army, which was made mostly of serious Patrons known as the Independents, who…

The English were able to resist absolution, by having traditions in place that tied the kings hands and had to have permission from Parliament, before citizens could be taxed or put a law into effect. This really didn't stop several kings from acting like they were absolute monarchy. This type of rule in the seventeenth century was a system where all governmental authority was concentrated in the hands of a monarch ruling by divine right. Such as King James I that secured confessions through…

Throughout the 1600s England was very chaotic state. Absolutism was challenged and the people questioned who should lead the nation. During this period, Absolutism was prominent in Europe and the king practically said and did whatever they wanted. This caused problems when King Charles I came into power in 1625 after his father’s death. The problems came from the fact that he struggled to control Parliament and would thus defy them by doing things such as taxing the people without consulting…

Position: Thomas Becket did not actively seek out martyrdom and is simply a martyr in every sense of the word. Thomas Becket never sought out power in any point in his life, it was simply given to him. The same is true of his martyrdom. Becket is quoted as saying, “While I ate out of the King’s dish/to become servant of God was never my wish” (Eliot 45). Becket never asked to become archbishop or a member of the clergy. These positions were given to him and ultimately caused his martyrdom by…