Richard II

Richard II is one of England’s most notorious kings. Just a child when he came to the throne, he was thrust into instability. Even so, Richard was not a warrior king, but someone who championed art, literature and frivolity. He surrounded himself with a glittering court in which women played an unusually prominent role. He honoured them as Ladies of the Garter, while his favoured courtiers were derided as ‘knights of Venus’, mocked for having ‘more prowess i