Hello everyone and welcome to the History of England episode 122, the character of the

King. We've had a happy few weeks talking about things other than politics, so just to remind

you last time we spoke about politics was the Pesence Revolt, which means that we'd got to

1381. This week the aim is to cover the following six years also as Richard begins to grow up and

begins to have an influence on policy and what that tells us about Richard himself. And with the

revolting Pesence well and truly repressed, the 15-year-old Richard could begin the process of being

the King he wanted to be or at least that being the plan. But before getting into all of that,

let's quickly cover a bit of the European political situation and context. In France in

1380 a new King had come to the throne Charles VI. He was only 11 and would be called Charles the

beloved or Charles the mad or Charles Le Thou command Wachter from Arge. Given that he was

never knee-high to a grasshopper until 1388 the government of France was entrusted to Charles's

four uncles, the juke's of Burgundy, Berry, Anjou and Bourbon. French policy was to prosecute the

war against England and make peace only if England could be made to adopt French terms. They

focused particularly on the fleet and prosecuting the war by sea and thus throughout the period England felt

constantly at threat of attack. For many years Flanders had been cut off from the alliance that Edward

III had enjoyed because of the rule of its Franco-File count Louis de Maulle. But in 1379

the Gentois were chafing under Louis's rule, constantly looking back to their previous independence

and glory days and finally they had rebelled against their count. And by 1382 they had managed to

survive, found themselves another Art of Elder this time Philip, son of Jacob, and they'd defeated

Louis and his allies at the battle of Beberhootsfelder. In fact Philip Art of Elder would later be

killed at the Battle of Roussebec in 1382 but the threat from Gent proved a constant distraction to

the French and more than once prevented the French fleet from raiding the English coast until the

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