Edward III had been highly unpopular and faced steep political opposition towards the end of his reign. And leading up to his death, Edward's opponents among the nobility sought to consolidate their own power and install a new monarch that they could control.

So they plotted to install young Richard to the throne. Even though Richard would technically be King, the nobles would be calling the shots behind the scenes.

And so, on July 16, 1377, nearly 645 years ago to the day, the boy was whisked away to Westminster Abbey and crowned King Richard II under the watchful eyes of the new Regency Council.

The nobles wasted no time in appointing themselves to positions of high authority. After all, England was in extreme turmoil and in desperate need of their courageous leadership and expertise. They and they alone could save England from the depths of its crises.

And crises there were many.

The English treasury was depleting rapidly, thanks in large part to the endless Hundred Years War that had been raging for decades.

But most notably, recurrent outbreaks of the Bubonic Plague had ravaged the kingdom, with some cities having lost as much as 50% of their populations.