1-627-893 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

'Arrest of the Duke of Gloucester', 1397. Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester (1355-1397) was the thirteenth and youngest child of King Edward III and Queen Philippa. He was the leader of the Lords Appellant, a group of powerful nobles, whose ambition to wrest power from King Richard II (Thomas' nephew) culminated in a successful rebellion in 1388 which significantly weakened the king's power. Richard managed to dispose of the Lords Appellant in 1397 and Thomas was imprisoned in Calais to await trial for treason. He was, however, murdered the same year by Nicholas Colfox, presumably on behalf of Richard, causing an outcry amongst the nobility of England which is considered by many to have added to Richard's unpopularity. From Cassell's Illustrated History of England.