
Richard II
Manhood, Youth, and Politics 1377-99
Christopher Fletcher(Author)
Oxford University Press
Published on 7. October 2010
Book
Paperback/Softback
336 pages
978-0-19-959571-6 (ISBN)
Description
Richard II (1377-99) has long suffered from an unusually unmanly reputation. Over the centuries, he has been habitually associated with lavish courtly expenditure, absolutist ideas, Francophile tendencies, and a love of peace, all of which have been linked to the king's physical effeminacy. Even sympathetic accounts have essentially retained this picture, merely dismissing particular facets of it, or representing Richard's reputation as evidence of praiseworthy dissent from accepted norms of masculinity.
Christopher Fletcher takes a radically different approach, setting the politics of Richard II's reign firmly in the context of late medieval assumptions about the nature of manhood and youth. This makes it possible not only to understand the agenda of the king's critics, but also to suggest a new account of his actions. Far from being the effeminate tyrant of historical imagination, Richard was a typical young nobleman, trying to establish his manhood, and hence his authority to rule, by thoroughly conventional means; first through a military campaign, and then, fatally, through violent revenge against those who attempted to restrain him.
The failure of Richard's subjects to support this aspiration produced a sequence of conflicts with the king, in which his opponents found it convenient to ascribe to him the conventional faults of youth. These critiques derived their force not from the king's real personality, but from the fit between certain contemporary assumptions about youth, effeminacy, and masculinity on the one hand, and the actions of Richard's government, constrained by difficult and complex circumstances, on the other.
Christopher Fletcher takes a radically different approach, setting the politics of Richard II's reign firmly in the context of late medieval assumptions about the nature of manhood and youth. This makes it possible not only to understand the agenda of the king's critics, but also to suggest a new account of his actions. Far from being the effeminate tyrant of historical imagination, Richard was a typical young nobleman, trying to establish his manhood, and hence his authority to rule, by thoroughly conventional means; first through a military campaign, and then, fatally, through violent revenge against those who attempted to restrain him.
The failure of Richard's subjects to support this aspiration produced a sequence of conflicts with the king, in which his opponents found it convenient to ascribe to him the conventional faults of youth. These critiques derived their force not from the king's real personality, but from the fit between certain contemporary assumptions about youth, effeminacy, and masculinity on the one hand, and the actions of Richard's government, constrained by difficult and complex circumstances, on the other.
Reviews / Votes
Review from previous edition This is and ambitious book...the insights of the book and Fletcher's use of sources not often given prominence in the conventional political narrative...are important. * Phillip Morgan, History Today * This is the most important study of Richard II's reign to have been written for a decade. * Nigel Saul, Times Literary Supplement * A pioneering, provocative and compelling book. Fletcher has mounted a clever and courageous assault on the conventional picture of Richard's reign. * David Carpenter, London Review of Books * Engaging and compelling...a significant contribution to scholarship on Richard II. It offers many new insights and goes far in pointing interpretations of the reign along new and fruitful lines of historical enquiry. * Gwilym Dodd, English Historical Review * The brilliant reinterpretation put forward here by Chris Fletcher incontestably wins the agreement of the reader, who is grateful to him for having knocked the dust from the image we used to have of this king. * Vincent Challet, Cahiers de recherches medievales * A bold attempt to shift gender-oriented approaches to the past to the central ground of political history, to demonstrate how sensitivity to issues of manliness allows new readings of texts...Fletcher presents us with well-wrought and challenging new interpretations of evidence * Ian Mortimer, History *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
1 black and white halftone, 1 line figure
Dimensions
Height: 217 mm
Width: 138 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
421 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-959571-6 (9780199595716)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Book
09/2008
Oxford University Press
€129.80
Shipment within 15-20 days
Person
Christopher Fletcher is currently charge de recherche at the Laboratoire de Medievistique Occidentale de Paris I (Pantheon-Sorbonne). He was Drapers Research Fellow at Pembroke College, Cambridge, from 2005 to 2008. He has taught at Oxford, Cambridge, London, and the University of Kent.
Author
, Charge de Recherche, Laboratoire de Medievistique Occidentale de Paris I (Pantheon-Sorbonne)
Content
1. Introduction ; 2. The Language of Manhood I: Strength, Violence, and Honour ; 3. The Language of Manhood II: Humanitas, Decorum, and Largesse ; 4. Medico-Moral Theories of Manhood: Strength, Constancy, and Reason ; 5. The Royal Authority and the King's Childhood, 1376-82 ; 6. The Emergence of the King's Firm Purpose, 1382-84 ; 7. The Pursuit of Manhood, 1384-86 ; 8. The Return of the King's Youth, 1386-88 ; 9. The Establishment of a Conciliar Regime, 1388-90 ; 10. Majesty and Restriction, 1390-92 ; 11. The Drift to Power, c.1390-97 ; 12. A Boy not a Man? 1397-99