The Loyal Conspiracy: The Lords Appellant Under Richard II

by Anthony Goodman

This book gives a detailed examination of the most critical years of the reign of Richard II, through an account of the careers of the Lords Appellant. These were the five years great nobleman, ranging from Thomas of Woodstock, the king's uncle, to Henry of Bolingbroke, later Henry IV, who rose in arms to restrain the activities of Richard II and his partisans in 1387. Anthony Goodman looks, too, at the origins, course and results of this revolt, and his study of these five nobles and the dramatic episode which united briefly and reluctantly provides a novel and interesting interpretation of an important section of English medieval history. He directs new light on the personalities of Richards and the Lords Appellant, and also on the nature of the polity - its bases and tensions - in later fourteenth-century England.

Genres: Medieval

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Anthony Goodman (1936-2016) was an English professor emeritus of medieval and renaissance history at the University of Edinburgh. His main field of interest was late medieval England, and he published books on subjects such as John of Gaunt and the Wars of the Roses.

See also Anthony A. Goodman for the author of The Shadow of God

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anthony Goodman’s The Loyal Conspiracy: The Lords Appellant Under Richard II is the only book length study of the Appellant Crisis, when five lords rebelled against Richard II in the late 1380s in effort to impeach Richard’s favourites who they claimed had mislead and corrupted the young king. Published in 1971, this book is outdated in places and I found the chapters detailing the Appellant Crisis itself dense – it was difficult to get a sense of what exactly was happening. Goodman is not overtly “pro-Appellant” or “pro-Richard” in his approach although, to be fair, Richard is not given much focus. However, this was not the point of the book and Richard has been well-served by numerous biographies and studies of his reign, while the Appellants have not (with the exception of Henry Bolingbroke, later Henry IV, for obvious reasons). The book’s strength lies in the discussion of the Lords Appellant themselves, particularly the three senior members: Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester; Richard Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel and Thomas Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick. This is the most complete study of these men and I finished this book feeling I had a far better understanding of all Appellants than I had before.

[Mercedes Rochelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this book; it had such a promising title. However, once again, I bumped into one of those books that is absolutely not targeted for the general market. On my first reading, I don’t think I made it more than ten pages before giving up. I couldn’t follow it to save my life. This author threw out names with wild abandon; one paragraph, the person in question was Woodstock; the next paragraph, the same man was Gloucester. I had no clue where the author was headed. Much later, once I had familiarized myself with the players in the Richard II saga (well, mostly), I tried the book again and after much effort I finished it. The confusion with names was only the beginning of my struggles. The author hopped back and forth, paying no attention to chronology. It was as though the whole book was written through free association. Having said that, the occasional burst of brilliance must be the reason this book was listed in so many other histories’ footnotes. Goodman does give us interesting interpretations of events and tries to give some insight into the personalities of the Appellants, but for the most part I could have spared myself the effort of reading this most difficult volume.