Welsh Journals

book with great distinction-we owe an immense debt of thanks. They have given us one of the most seminal books on late-medieval England to appear for many a year; they have also reminded us of McFarlane's immense stature as a historian. R. R. DAVIES University College, London RICHARD II AND THE ENGLISH NOBILITY. By Anthony Tuck. Arnold, London, 1973. Pp. 255. £ 5.00. 'The most important problem facing English kings in the fourteenth century was their relations with their nobility' (p. 1). This is Dr. Tuck's main theme, which he pursues in a way which illuminates the whole reign of Richard II. The nobility were particularly concerned with two aspects of royal government, war and patronage. The series of truces with France in this period not only thwarted the chivalric aspirations of men like Arundel and Gloucester but also deprived them of a potential source of income. Without a war they were men without a role and unless they exploited the time-honoured safety valve of the crusade, they turned to activities at home which undermined the peace and stability of the realm. As foreign horizons shrank, so they focused their attention upon the disposal of royal patronage at home, and Dr. Tuck has turned a useful spot-light upon this crucial aspect of Richard's government. Richard used his patronage in the 1380s to reward and bind more closely to him men who were of comparative insignificance before that time, most notably Michael de la Pole, Robert de Vere, Simon Burley and John Beauchamp of Holt. All four held office in the Household and were to suffer subsequently in the Merciless Parliament. Dr. Tuck shows (pp. 74-83) that these four men not only increased their landed estates but 'all four received grants in areas which the great magnates considered their spheres of influence'. The grants of new titles in 1387, which caused such offence to the old aristocracy and to the aristocratic chroniclers, can be seen to express a new view of the nobility. For Richard the grant of a title was not the recognition of a certain status and income derived from extensive landed possessions, but was rather the means of conveying royal favour to those who existed 'to shed lustre on the crown' (p.84). Just as Richard rewarded and ennobled his Household in the 1380s, so too the Appellants marked their triumph in 1388 by displaying 'good lordship' to their friends and retainers (p. 129). After this setback Richard, in the 1390s, exercised his gifts of patronage more circumspectly, but as his confidence grew, so did his grants. Following the triumph of his Irish expedition in 1394-95, Richard bestowed most of the newly-Anglicized Leinster lands upon his close companions, Mowbray, Rutland, the earls of Huntingdon and Kent, Sir Thomas Percy, Sir Thomas Despenser, Sir John Beaumont and Sir William Lescrope (to whom Tuck attributes a key part in Richard's policies and whose power was all pervasive, p. 199)- the direction of patronage was unmistakable' (p. 175). So Rutland, Mowbray and Lescrope replaced de Vere, de la Pole and Burley.