Henry IV

King of England

The future King Henry IV was born at Bolingbroke Castle in around April 1366, he was the son of John of Gaunt and Blanche Plantagenet, daughter and heiress of Henry of Grosmont, Duke of Lancaster, who was himself the descendant of Edmund Crouchback, Earl of Lancaster, the second son of Henry III. In common with his first cousin, Richard II, he therefore had a double Plantagenet descent.

Henry IVHenry IV

The parents of Henry IV

John of Gaunt, Shakespeare's 'time honoured Lancaster' was the fourth son of Edward III. Henry's mother, Blanche, Duchess of Lancaster was a beautiful and gracious woman, much admired by the poet Geoffrey Chaucer, who dedicated his Book of the Duchess to her. She and Gaunt produced two other surviving children, Phillipa and Elizabeth.

John of Gaunt, Duke of LancasterJohn of Gaunt

Following the death of his mother, Henry's father remarried in political alliance with the Spanish Princess, Constanza, elder daughter of Pedro the Cruel of Castille, who held a claim to the throne of Castille, which John of Gaunt thereafter pursued. It was a loveless marriage, but nevertheless produced two children, a daughter Katherine, later to become Queen of Castille and a son, John, who died in infancy.

The young Bolingbroke was created a Knight of the Garter by his grandfather, Edward III, on St.Georges Day 1377. At Richard II's coronation later that year, his seven-year-old cousin played a prominent part, holding the sword of mercy, Curtana. Henry grew to a short but stocky man with red-brown hair, a red beard and brown eyes. Courageous and energetic, in common with many of the Plantagenet family, he was fond of music and song.

Following his marriage to Constanza, his father's fate was inextricably interwoven with that of the Iberian peninsula. His sister Philippa of Lancaster became Queen of Portugal. His half-sister, Katherine Plantagenet, whom Henry never met, due to her dynastic marriage to Henry III of Castille, was Queen Consort of Castile. He also had four half-siblings by his father's marriage to his long term mistress, Katherine Swynford, whom John of Gaunt eventually married, resulting in their being declared legitimate by Richard II. His feelings toward Katherine Swynford, his second stepmother and the offspring of the marriage were mixed. He is recorded as disliking the fact that his former governess had taken his mother’s place. On his ascension to the throne, he revoked his half-brother, John Beaufort's marquessate, and barred the possibility of the Beauforts ever inheriting the throne, but showed favour to Thomas Swynford, Katherine's son by her first husband.

Henry of Bolingbroke was married in childhood to Mary de Bohun, the daughter and heiress of Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford and in her right held that title. He also held the Earldom of Derby.

Henry had supported his cousin Richard II against three of the Lords Appellant and accused the fifth Lord Appellant, Mowbray, of treason, A trial by combat was decided upon to settle the issue but Richard intervened, preventing the duel, and banishing Henry for ten years. He later confiscated his cousin's extensive estates and decreed the banishment should remain in force for life. On the death of his father in 1399, Henry landed at Ravenspur claiming he came to safeguard his inheritance but came to take the throne from the cousin he now thoroughly detested.

Heney IV usurps Richard II's crownHenry IV

Reign

Henry made the erroneous claim that his Lancastrian maternal ancestor, Edmund Crouchback, had been the elder son of Henry III, but had been overlooked because of his deformity in favour of Edward I. Richard met Henry's representatives at Conway Castle and was informed that if he restored Henry's estates and surrendered certain councillors for trial, he could remain in power. He agreed but was betrayed and instead of being returned to power found himself the inhabitant of a dungeon in the Tower.

A Parliament was called at the end of September, at which Henry claimed the throne. Richard was declared a tyrant and deposed. He was taken up to Pontefract Castle, in Yorkshire and there it is certain, he met his end around the second week in February 1400. His skeleton was examined in 1871 by Dean Stanley of Westminster but showed no marks of violence. Starvation was the most likely cause of death, although this has never been proven.

Evil omens were said to have marked the coronation ceremony of the new king on 13th October, one of his golden spurs fell off, whispered to be a sure sign of impending rebellion. He needed no such warnings to underline the weakness of his situation. Henry took as his second wife Joan of Navarre, the widow of John IV of Brittany and the daughter of Charles II of Navarre. They married in 1403, the new queen was never popular with the people or the aristocracy.

Owain Glyndwr

A rebellion of Richard's supporters arose after the new King's coronation. The Welsh, under their leader, Owain Glyndwr, also rose in revolt. In 1400, Glyndwr proclaimed himself the true Prince of Wales and captured Conway Castle. Two years later the Welsh took Henry's cousin, Edmund Mortimer prisoner. Mortimer, the Earl of March, was, by the strict laws of primogeniture, the true heir of Richard II, through his prior descent from Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence, the third son of Edward III, subsequently Henry was not in a hurry to secure his release.

Mortimer was supported by his brother-in-law, Henry Percy, known as Harry Hotspur who was married to his sister, Elizabeth Mortimer. Hotspur was the son of the Duke of Northumberland and a grandson of Mary Plantagenet, a granddaughter of Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster by his wife Maud Chaworth. The impulsive and fiery Hotspur marched to meet the king's army, their forces clashed at the Battle of Shrewsbury on 21st July 1403.

The Battle of Shrewsbury

As Hotspur and his uncle, Thomas Percy, Earl of Worcester, along with their Scottish ally, Archibald, Earl of Douglas, advanced on Shrewsbury, the town was garrisoned by the king's eldest son, Henry, Prince of Wales, the future Henry V. The king himself marched a force to intercept Harry Hotspur before he could join forces with Owain Glyndwr.

The Battlefield at Shrewsbury

Shrewsbury BattlefieldBattle of Shrewsbury

Henry IV arrived at Shrewsbury a short while before Hotspur on the 20th July, 1403. The following morning, ominously, Glyndwr had still not arrived with reinforcements, perhaps taken by surprise at the speed of the King's advance. The Royal army marched out of the town to meet the rebels at Haytely Field, about three miles from the centre of the town on the road to Whitchurch. Estimates regarding the sizes of the two armies vary widely, the King's army, which far outnumbered that of the rebels, is generally considered to be between 15,000 and 60,000 men, while the rebels numbered between 5,000 and 20,000.

Parleys were entered into, which failed to result in an acceptable agreement, rendering battle inevitable. By around the hour of noon, the order for the advance was given and battle commenced.

The assault was opened with a deadly exchange of arrows, a dread and whirring cacophony which resulted in many casualties on both sides. The Prince of Wales was wounded in the face with an arrow but staunchly refused to retire from the field. When the two armies clashed, the larger Royal army began to gain the upper hand, although the Earl of Stafford, who led the centre of the King's army was killed in the fighting. Harry Hotspur fell whilst leading a rash and impulsive charge, as a result of an arrow hitting his forehead, entering his brain.

View of the battlefieldShrewsbury battlefield

Morale in the rebel army suffered as a result of Hotspur's death and as dusk began to fall on the battlefield, the rebels fled, resulting in a general rout. Huge casualties were suffered by both sides, mainly as the result of the use of the English longbow, which enabled archers to fire twelve arrows a minute. A contemporary wrote of the conflict-:

'A more stubborn fight, it is maintained by those who were present was never known. Very many of the combatants on both sides struggled with such obstinacy that when night came on they did not know which side had won: and they sank down in all directions a chance medley of weary, wounded, bruised and bleeding men.'

The body of Hotspur was recovered in the gathering twilight, the king is said to have wept over the body.. An eclipse of the moon that night cast an eerie blackness over the desolate field, which was littered with the dead and the dying.

Henry IV at first allowed Hotspur's body to be interred at Whitchurch. In response to rumours that he had survived the battle, his attitude hardened and he had it disinterred. Hotspur's body was set up in Shrewsbury, impaled on a spear between two millstones, and was later quartered, its parts dispatched to separate locations in the kingdom, his head impaled on a pike at the gates of York, a grim warning of the king's terrible retribution to others. The Earl of Worcester was taken alive but later beheaded and his head set up on a spike on London Bridge.

Battlefield Church, Shrewsbury, built at the behest of Henry IV, for the souls of those killed in the battle

Battle of Shrewsbury

Battlefield Church, otherwise known as St. Mary Magdalene, was built in 1406 at the behest of King Henry, where daily masses were said for the souls of those who fell. Said to stand over the mass grave in which the many dead were buried, it is a commemorative monument, similar in sentiment to Battle Abbey in Sussex, built by Wiliam the Conqueror on the site of the Battle of Hastings.

Rebellion broke out again in Wales, headed by Owain Glyndwr, a man of charisma and great ability, who allied with the French. Henry of Monmouth, the English Prince of Wales, went on to subdue the country and Glyndwr went into hiding. Never captured, he mysteriously disappeared from the pages of history and became a national hero amongst the Welsh people. Nothing is recorded of him after 1412. Huge rewards were offered by the crown which failed to bring about his capture. Tradition states that he either died at his estate in Sycharth or on the estates of one of his daughters' husbands.

Tomb of Henry IV and Joan of Navarre at Canterbury CathedralHenry IV

The Death of Henry IV

In the latter part of his reign Henry was struck by a disfiguring disease, which forced him to become a recluse. The Prince of Wales, who the king considered too eager to step into his shoes, was given control of the government along with a council.

The king's health steadily deteriorated, he contracted a form of skin disease, variously considered to be leprosy, syphilis or psoriasis. He is said to have developed a large tumour under his nose, while his body was covered in suppurating sores. The attacks he suffered from have been the subject of a wide range of theories which it is impossible to confirm, they range from epilepsy to a form of cardiovascular disease.

Henry suffered a seizure whilst praying at St. Edward's shrine at Westminster and was carried to the abbot's house. The first King of the House of Lancaster died on 20th of March 1413, aged forty-six, in the Jerusalem chamber at Westminster. During his lifetime it had been predicted that Henry would die in Jerusalem. The king himself took this to mean that he would die on Crusade.

He was not buried at Westminster, the traditional mausoleum of English kings, but at Canterbury Cathedral, in the Trinity Chapel, near the shrine of Thomas A' Becket and opposite the tomb of the Black Prince. During Henry's reign, the cult of St. Thomas Becket was extremely popular and Henry was particularly devoted to Becket. His widow, Joan of Brittany had an altar tomb built over the spot.

Queen Joan herself was later accused of necromancy by her step-son, Henry V and was imprisoned by him in Leeds Castle. Being released by Henry on his deathbed, she lived on until 1437, when she was laid to rest in the tomb of her husband in Canterbury Cathedral.

The children and grandchildren of Henry IV and Mary de Bohun

(1) HENRY V (1387-1422) m. Catherine of Valois

Issue:-

(i) HENRY VI (1421 - 1461)

(2) John Duke of Bedford(1389-1435) m. (i)Anne of Burgundy (ii) Jacquetta of Luxembourg

(i) Mary married Pierre de Montferrand.

(ii) Richard, Lord of Haye-du-Puits.

(3) Thomas Duke of Clarence (1388-1421) m. Margaret Holland

(i) John

(4) Humphrey Duke of Gloucester (1390-1447) m. (i) Jacqueline of Holland (ii) Eleanor de Cobham

(i) Arthur of Gloucester, died 1447

(ii) Antigone of Gloucester, who married Henry Grey, 2nd Earl of Tankerville, Lord of Powys (c. 1419-1450).

(5) Blanche (1392-1409) m. Louis III, Elector Palatine

(i) Rupert of the Palatine (1406 - 1426)

(6) Phillipa (1394-1430) m. Eric IX of Denmark

The Ancestry of Henry IV

Henry IV

Father: John of GauntDuke of Lancaster

Paternal Grandfather: Edward III

Paternal Great-grandfather: Edward II

Paternal Great-grandmother: Isabella of France

Paternal Grandmother: Phillipa of Hainault

Paternal Great-grandfather: William I, Count of Hainaut

Paternal Great-grandmother: Joan of Valois

Mother: Blanche of Lancaster

Maternal Grandfather: Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster

Maternal Great-grandfather: Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster grandson of Henry III

Maternal Great-grandmother: Maud Chaworth

Maternal Grandmother: Isabel de Beaumont

Maternal Great-grandfather: Henry de Beaumont, Earl of Buchan grandson of Henry III

Maternal Great-grandmother: Alice Comyn