This Day in History: 1400-02-14

Richard II (now referred to as Sir Richard of Bordeaux) died age 33 at Pontefract Castle on or around the 14th February 1400. On the 17th, a payment of £80 (£90,000 in today’s money) was made to William Pampilion to go to the town and transport the body of Richard to London. Various theories surround the cause of Richard’s death including a combination of his grief and voluntary abstinence leading to self-starvation, deliberate starvation by his gaolers and foul play (as per Shakespeare). No marks of violence were found on the remains of Richard’s body when it was exhumed in the nineteenth century. The painting is of Richard II at Westminster Abbey.