Richard II and the Higher Nobility

Abstract The nobles who exercised the greatest individual influence on the politics of Richard reign were his uncles-especially John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster and Thomas of Woodstock, duke of Gloucester: it is worth noting, for example, that when a ‘continual ‘ council was established at the 10-year-old king ‘s coronation in July 1377, the three royal uncles were empowered to ‘surveye and correcte the defautes of them that were appointed for to be of the kingis counseil ‘. Kinship ties remained crucial. It was Gaunt ‘s relationship with his nephew which above all wrought division in political circles during the first nine years of the reign, and Gloucester ‘s during the next eleven. Richard never fully trusted either of them. (His third uncle, Edmund of Langley duke of York, may have been trustworthy, but he was a political lightweight.) This may be why Richard strove to augment the power and status of other kinsmen such as his half-brother John Holand, his nephew Thomas Holand, and his cousin Edward earl of Rutland.