About 1394, when a temporary cessation of hostilities elsewhere allowed it, and again in 1399, King Richard II of England made expeditions into Ireland with large forces, but he failed to achieve any significant result. During his absence from England Henry of Lancaster seized the throne and Richard had to rush home. He was forced to abdicate by Henry and died in 1400 in prison. England's new rulers, with enough problems of their own, left Ireland to its own devices. Gradually the Gaelic and Anglo-Norman elements settled down together, the Normans, it is said, becoming "more Irish than the Irish themselves." The authority of the English Crown became limited to the area known as the Pale, a small district on the east coast around Dublin and the port of Drogheda.