Changes

'''Richard II''' (1367-1400), King of [[England]] (1377-1399), was ten years old when he succeeded his grandfather, [[Edward III]]. His father, [[Edward, the Black Prince]] had died the year before of an illness contacted whilst campaigning in France, and for the first  five to seven years of his reign he ruled with a regency council guided by [[John of Gaunt]], Duke of [[Lancaster]], his uncle.

'''Richard II''' (1367-1400), King of [[England]] (1377-1399), was ten years old when he succeeded his grandfather, [[Edward III]]. His father, [[Edward the Black Prince]] had died the year before of an illness contacted whilst campaigning in France, and for the first  five to seven years of his reign he ruled with a regency council guided by [[John of Gaunt]], Duke of [[Lancaster]], his uncle.

He inherited a country fraying under the financial stress of the war with France and the resultant high taxes; a social order struggling with the changes wrought by the [[Black Death]] of 1348/9 (and its return during 1368); and political tensions as Parliament, and the “old guard” controlled by Lancaster, jockeyed for power.  

He inherited a country fraying under the financial stress of the war with France and the resultant high taxes; a social order struggling with the changes wrought by the [[Black Death]] of 1348/9 (and its return during 1368); and political tensions as Parliament, and the “old guard” controlled by Lancaster, jockeyed for power.