John of Gaunt III's rule was becoming unpopular due to high taxation and his affair with Alice Perrers, political opinion closely associated the Duke of Lancaster with the failing government of the 1370s. Furthermore, while King Edward and the Prince of Wales were popular heroes due to their successes on the battlefield, John of Gaunt had not won equivalent military renown that could have bolstered his reputation. Although he fought in the Battle of Nájera (1367), for example, his later military projects proved unsuccessful. When Edward III died in 1377 and John's ten-year-old nephew succeeded as Richard II of England, John's influence strengthened.
English and British royal mistress the only surviving legitimate heir of the House of York, Richard of Gloucester, who ascended the throne as Richard III. Edward's former mistress Jane Shore was arrested because of her involvement in the plot against Richard that on 13 June led to Hasting's execution and the arrest of Bishop Morton and Lord Thomas Stanley (who was pardoned and released before Richard's coronation 3 weeks later). She was condemned to do public penance for adultery and imprisoned, but was later pardoned by King Richard, released from Ludgate prison and allowed to marry his Solicitor General, Thomas Lynom. Richard III had two