General Notes

Along with 4 other ruthless Barons, John of Gaunt (regent during King Richard II's minority), Richard FitzAlan Earl of Arundel, Thomas de Beauchamp Earl of Warwick, and Thomas Mowbray Duke of Norfolk, became known as the "Apellants".  They had real power during much of King Richard II's reign and had many of his friends executed to keep him powerless.

In 1397 Richard had gathered a party of supporters and finally struck back.  Arundel was executed, Warwick was banished, and Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester was imprisoned and murdered.  In 1398 Henry Bolingbroke, son of John of Gaunt (dead) was deprived of all of his Lancastrian estates and banished as well.  However in 1399 Henry invaded England while Richard was in Ireland and became Henry IV.

[information taken from Encylcopedia Britannica]

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Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, (b. Jan. 7, 1355, Woodstock, Oxfordshire, Eng.--d. probably September 1397), powerful opponent of King Richard II of England (ruled 1377-99).

The seventh son of King Edward III (ruled 1327-77), he was created Duke of Gloucester in 1385 and soon became the leader of a party opposed to Richard II, his young nephew. In 1386 Gloucester and his associates--later known as the appellants--took virtual control of the king's government. Gloucester defeated one of Richard's favourites, Robert de Vere, Duke of Ireland, at Radcot Bridge, London, in December 1387 and then had a number of the king's friends executed. In 1389 Richard gained the upper hand and worked out a compromise with his enemies. Gloucester was made lieutenant of Ireland in 1392, but in 1397 Richard arrested him and two other leading appellants. Committed to the charge of Thomas Mowbray, Earl of Nottingham (later Duke of Norfolk), at the English port of Calais, France, Gloucester was murdered, possibly on orders from Richard. According to one of Mowbray's servants, who was later executed for his part in the crime, the duke was suffocated with a feather bed. [Encyclopædia Britannica CD '97]