Richard's lavish dispersal of his patronage made him unpopular with parliament and other members of the English nobility, and Mowbray fell out badly with the king's uncle, John of Gaunt.

[11] King Richard was reproved for his patronage of a few select royal favourites, to an extent that has been described as "lavish to the point of foolishness" by a biographer, historian Anthony Tuck.

[13][note 2] Mowbray remained high in royal favour following the death of his wife, and he was elected to the Order of the Garter in October 1383, despite his military inexperience.

The King held jousts between 13 and 14 February and Gaunt's murder was to be committed on the 14th; it is possible that Richard did not disapprove, such had relations between him and his uncle broken down over military policy.

[37][38][note 7] The Wonderful Parliament had taken place against a backdrop of genuine fear of a French invasion[41]—Walsingham described how Londoners, in his view, like "timid mice they scurried hither and thither[42]—and Arundel had been appointed Admiral of England.

[53][54] In response, Mowbray joined Bolingbroke, Gloucester, Arundel and Warwick in appealing several of the King's friends, including Oxford, of treason, and raised an army at Hornsey, north of London.

[58] Conversely, due to his position as Earl Marshal—one of the two heads of the Court of Chivalry—his presence with the Appellants enabled them to frame their offensive juridically rather than as a traditional noble rebellion.

This session became known as the Merciless Parliament on account of the vengeance it laid on the King's closest supporters, [63][note 9] with Mowbray overseeing the executions with "the aid and authority of the mayor, sheriffs, and aldermen of London".

[10] Given-Wilson suggests that the inclusion of Mowbray by the Appellants broadened their base among the nobility (from his having had less acrimonious relations with the King), but also weakened them as a body by diluting their grievances.

[73] The King regained sole control of government around in May 1389, and Mowbray attended a royal council meeting in Clarendon Palace that September, demonstrating the gulf that existed by then between him and his ex-comrades.

He jousted before Richard's chamberlain at St Inglevert, near Boulogne, in April 1390, where he proved himself a champion against the French, who the well-regarded knight led, Jean de Boucicaut.

[89][75][note 14] On his return, Mowbray almost immediately became involved, with his comrades-in-arms from the Irish campaign Lord Scrope and the Earl of Rutland, in the negotiations over Richard's proposed marriage to Isabella,[4] daughter of the French King, Charles VI.

[93] This was "doubly disastrous" for Warwick, comments Saul; not only was it the richest lordship he possessed—thus having a major impact on his income[94]—but he was ordered to repay Mowbray the profits he had earned since 1361,[95] amounting to around £5333 per annum.

[98] Richard, by the grace of God, king of England and France, and lord of Ireland, to his beloved kinsman Thomas earl marshal, captain of our town of Calais, and his lieutenant there, greeting.

[96] Rumours of Gloucester's death had been circulating since August, and Given-Wilson speculates that this may be a sign that Richard had ordered Mowbray to kill the duke then, but that the latter hesitated several weeks.

[118] The historian Caroline Barron argues that "a certain amount of inter-aristocratic rivalry could work to the king's advantage, but it was a dangerous game to play", and this one was to be fatal to Richard.

[123] Mowbray apparently urged Bolingbroke to turn against Surrey, Wiltshire and Gloucester, arguing that "even if they are unable to achieve their purpose at present, they will be intent on destroying us in our homes ten years hence".

[132] However, the lack of either supporting or disputing evidence for either party's claims made it a "he said, he said" situation, and as a result, Richard decided that it could only be settled with trial by combat,[127] since both men refused to be reconciled.

[139] The longer sentence on Mowbray was supposedly because, while the charge of treason had not been proven, he had failed to renounce the appellants severely enough, had misgoverned Calais to the endangerment of the country and had plotted against John of Gaunt.

A historian of the town has commented that, "If the authorities had chosen Lowestoft as the embarkation point in preference to Yarmouth because it was smaller and less well known, their hopes of keeping the event low-key seem not to have worked".

[150] Observers included eighty members of the Suffolk gentry, and they testified that, with a strong wind behind him—"bon vent et swerf" was recorded[151]—he could easily make six league before sunset.

The antiquarian Mary Margaret Newett commented that "it is not clear why he took this title or how long he bore it", although there are a number of Venetian documents extant from a few years later that refer to him again as Duke of Norfolk.

Michael was described by a contemporary chronicler as being "as strong, as active and as daring as any member of the court" of Henry V, and, dying at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, was one of the few notable English deaths.

[187] Mowbray, understanding he is a pawn in the King's plans, prophetically replies to Richard's "Lions make leopards tame" with the retort, "Yea, but not change his spots".

[201] Mowbray is blamed for the King's troubles:[202] First Henry Duke of Hereford ere fifteene dayes be past: Shall part this Realme on paine of death, while ten yeares space doth last.

[203] Ian McKellen, in an early role, took the play on a provincial tour with the Prospect Theatre Company, with Stephen Greif as Mowbray, in 1960; he is last seen visiting Gloucester, with guards, carrying a mattress, reflecting the contemporary rumour of his suffocation.

[204] 1973 saw John Barton's Stratford-upon-Avon production, with Denis Holmes to Richard Pasco's King, in which Mowbray and Bolingbroke fought each other on massive hobby horses.

Critic Michael Hattaway noted that, by then, "the uninformed resentment at the take-over of one of Shakespeare's greatest roles by a woman had been quelled by the excellence and intelligence of Shaw's performance".

[213] In 2000, Steven Pimlott directed David Troughton as Bolingbroke to Samuel West's Richard, with Paul Greenwood playing what critic Rhoda Koenig described as a "quietly intense, harshly whispering" Mowbray.

He was played by James Purefoy in the BBC2 series The Hollow Crown, a 2012 television film adaptation of Shakespeare's Henriad,[215][216] while the following year David Tennant took the leading role in Gregory Doran's RSC production, against Antony Byrne's Mowbray.