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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Richard II
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(1595) Historical tragedy by *Shakespeare, in which the king brings his fate upon himself by his imperious behaviour, his weakness and his tendency to self-dramatization. At the start of the play he banishes two powerful nobles, one of them Bolingbroke, the son of *John of Gaunt. The confiscation of Bolingbroke's property leads, as in history, to his seizing the throne as *Henry IV. But a major element in the play is Richard's theatrical self-pity, inviting his followers to join him in telling 'sad stories of the death of kings' and making much of handing over the crown in a famous deposition scene.
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One of the charges against the earl of *Essex was that he and his followers had arranged a performance of a play about Richard II (almost certainly Shakespeare's) on the evening before his abortive uprising. At the end of the drama Richard is murdered on a hint from Henry IV, who then vows to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land to expiate his guilt.
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