Wars of the Roses a "sudden narrowing in the direct line of descent" near the end of his reign. His eldest son, Edward, the Black Prince, had died the year before. Edward III was succeeded on the throne by the Black Prince's only surviving son Richard II, who was only 10 years old. Richard's claim to the throne was based on the principle that the son of an elder brother had priority in the succession over his uncles. Since Richard was a minor, had no siblings, and had three living uncles at the time of Edward III's death, there was considerable uncertainty about who
John of Gaunt scale and organisation to that of a monarch. He owned land in almost every county in England, a patrimony that produced a net income of between £8,000 and £10,000 a year. After the death in 1376 of his older brother Edward of Woodstock (also known as the "Black Prince"), John of Gaunt contrived to protect the religious reformer John Wycliffe, possibly to counteract the growing secular power of the church. However, John's ascendancy to political power coincided with widespread resentment of his influence. At a time when English forces encountered setbacks in the Hundred Years' War against France, and Edward