Battle of Radcot BridgeThe Battle of Radcot Bridge was fought on 19 December 1387 in medieval England between troops loyal to Richard II, led by court favourite Robert de Vere, and an army captained by Henry Bolingbroke, Earl of Derby. It took place at Radcot Bridge, a bridge over the River Thames now in Oxfordshire but then the boundary between Oxfordshire and Berkshire
== Background ==
The previous year had seen increasing hostility between the young King Richard II and his magnates. This crisis reached a head in November 1386, when the Wonderful Parliament compelled King Richard to remove his chancellor, Michael de la Pole.
According to the 16th-century chronicler Raphael Holinshed:
In 1387, King Richard II sent secretly to Robert de Vere, Duke of Ireland, who was levying troops in Wales, to come to him with all speed, to aid him with the Duke of Gloucester and his friends; and commissioned at the same time Sir Thomas Molineux de Cuerdale, Constable of Chester, a man of great influence in Cheshire and Lancashire, and the Sheriff of Chester, to raise troops, and to accompany and safe conduct the Duke of Ireland to the King's presence. Molineux executed his commission with great zeal, imprisoning all who would not join him.
Photo: Unknown author (
Public domain)
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Battle of Radcot Bridge