This is the first full-length study of the last years of Richard II's reign and the circumstances of his overthrow by Henry of Bolingbroke in 1399. It reviews Richard's early experiences, from his accession, aged only ten, through the troubled politics of the 1380s, placing new emphasis on his own insecurities and the vexed issue of the succession. It offers a detailed examination of Richard's attempts to reassert his royal authority in the 1390s, including his so-called 'tyranny' from 1397 to 1399, and sets them in the context of his personal anxieties and broader ambitions. It shows Richard, all too conscious of his mortality and lack of issue, and all too aware of the vicissitudes of European politics - lashing out at all who had opposed him ten years earlier and crashing through the constraints imposed on his regality in order to prepare himself for some higher destiny in Christendom. This important new book - the fruit of over ten years research - deserves a place on the bookshelves of every historian and student of English history. Covering an episode which has stirred the imagination since Shakespeare first put Richard II on the stage, it will be enjoyed by anyone fascinated by the personalities and the high political drama of the Middle Ages.