Henry IV

Henry IV. was the eldest son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and was born at Bolingbroke, Lincolnshire, in 1366. By his first marriage he acquired the Hereford property, and in 1385 was treated Earl of Derby. He was one of the five Lords Appellant who, in 1381, impeached the misters of Richard II., but afterwards supported that king. In 1398, however, he was banished for ten years, the king probably thinking the quarrel with Norfolk a good opportunity of getting rid of two such powerful nobles. Next year Richard confiscated the Lancaster estates, and the new duke, relying on his popularity, returned to claim them. He was so well received that he found it not difficult to obtain the deposition of Richard and the offer of the crown to himself. He conciliated the Church by the statute De Haeretico Comburendo (1401), and defeated and captured Douglas, the great Scottish captain, in the following year. In 1403 he defeated a combination of the Percies and the Scots at Shrewsbury before their Welsh ally was able to join them. Two other risings were crushed later in the reign, and after the last (1408) Henry was able to intervene in the affairs of France, where he supported alternately the Burgundians and Armagnacs according as he found it to his advantage. In 1406 the heir to the Scottish crown fell into his hands, and was kept a prisoner. Henry IV. was twice married, and three of his sons by Mary Bohun, his first wife, played important parts in English history. This king died in 1413. His reign was the high-water mark of parliamentary power under the Plantagenets, owing to the weak position of the king and his financial necessities. [Hotspur, Glendower, Lollards.]