When Does "Richard II" (1595) Take Place?
"The Life and Death of King Richard the Second" (often released simply as "Richard II") is a historical fiction stageplay written by William Shakespeare and performed as early as December 9th, 1595 (according to most scholars).
It takes place in the years:
We know this because act 1 scene 1 depicts an audience with the real-world English King Richard II in which a decision must be made in a dispute between the real-world Duke Henry Bolingbroke (later English King Henry IV) and the real-world Duke Thomas de Mowbray. This event really happened sometime in January of 1398 AD. A trial-by-combat is decreed to solve it.
1398 AD - 1400 AD
We know this because act 1 scene 1 depicts an audience with the real-world English King Richard II in which a decision must be made in a dispute between the real-world Duke Henry Bolingbroke (later English King Henry IV) and the real-world Duke Thomas de Mowbray. This event really happened sometime in January of 1398 AD. A trial-by-combat is decreed to solve it.
The characters reconvene for this contest in act 1 scene 3 and this occurred in the real world on September 16th of the same year.
In act 2 scene 1, the real-world Duke John of Gaunt dies. This happened in the real world on February 3rd of the next year. So the audience has been brought to 1399 AD.
Finally, at the end of the show in act 5 scene 6, the real-world English King Henry IV (previously Duke Bolingbroke) speaks about defeating the rebellion historians now call the Epiphany Rising, which occurred roughly from the 4th to 16th of January 1400 AD.
It is the chronological first play in the Henriad universe, one of Shakespeare's only two timelines.
It has been adapted countless times.
