Deposition of Richard II and Accession of Henry IV

Timeline

1. 1399Westminster · LondonSince 1397 Richard had taken revenge on the appellants, and Bolingbroke had already been exiled. When his father John of Gaunt died in February 1399, Richard confiscated the vast Lancastrian inheritance and changed Bolingbroke's exile to life. This broke noble inheritance custom, turning Bolingbroke from a claimant of property into a potential claimant to the throne. Richard then took his main force to Ireland, leaving the realm thinly defended.
2. 1399Ravenspur · YorkshireIn July Bolingbroke landed at Ravenspur in the Humber estuary from France with a small retinue, claiming he sought only to recover the Lancastrian estates. Nobles such as Northumberland and London quickly defected, and Edmund, Duke of York, failed to organize effective resistance. Richard remained stranded in Ireland; by the time he returned to Wales, the royalist cause had collapsed.
3. 1399Flint Castle · WalesAfter landing in Wales from Ireland, Richard was trapped around Conwy and surrendered to Bolingbroke at Flint Castle on 19 August, having been promised his life. He was then taken via Chester to London and imprisoned in the Tower of London in early September. Royal authority had fallen into Bolingbroke's hands both militarily and legally.
4. 1399Westminster · LondonRichard signed the instrument of abdication in the Tower of London on 29 September. On the 30th, an assembly in Westminster Hall read over thirty articles of deposition; Parliament accepted the abdication and raised up Bolingbroke. On 13 October (the feast of Edward the Confessor) Henry was crowned Henry IV at Westminster Abbey, beginning the Lancastrian dynasty. Official records stress a voluntary abdication, while rival chronicles record Richard's resistance.