Richard II Deposed as Henry Bolingbroke Claims Throne
By late September 1399, Henry Bolingbroke had returned from exile and rapidly gained support against his cousin King Richard II of England, whose rule had grown increasingly tyrannical after years of conflict with the nobility. Richard, who had been campaigning in Ireland, surrendered at Flint Castle in August and was brought to London. On September 29, he was persuaded to sign an abdication document in the Tower of London. The following day, September 30, the Archbishop of Canterbury read the formal abdication statement to Parliament at Westminster Hall, where thirty-three articles of deposition were presented and accepted by the lords and commons. Bolingbroke was then proclaimed King Henry IV. Richard was imprisoned and later died in captivity under unclear circumstances.
Why it matters: The deposition ended the direct Plantagenet line of succession and established a precedent for parliamentary involvement in removing a monarch, influencing later constitutional developments in England. It triggered the Wars of the Roses a generation later through competing claims to the throne.