King Henry IV of England

1366-1413 King

Great Britain: England

Also the Earl of Derbey (or Derby) and the Duke of Hereford, Henry Bolingbroke (also known as Henry of Lancaster) usurped the English crown from Richard II, beginning the Lancastrian dynasty and planting the seeds of the Wars of the Roses.

King Edward III had fathered many sons; the oldest, Edward, the Black Prince, predeceased the old king, but not before he himself had a son: Richard. When Edward III died, the crown passed to Richard when he was only 10 years old. Another of the late king's sons, John of Gaunt, served as regent to young Richard. Henry was John of Gaunt's son.

When Gaunt left for an extended expedition to Spain in 1386, Henry, now about 20, became one of five leading opponents to the crown known as the "lords appellant." Together they successfully made an "appeal of treason" to outlaw those closest to Richard. A political struggle ensued for about three years, at which point Richard began to regain some of his autonomy; but the return of John of Gaunt triggered a reconciliation.

Henry then went crusading in Lithuania and Prussia, during which time his father died and Richard, still resentful of the appellants, seized the Lancastrian estates that were rightfully Henry's. Henry returned to England to take his lands through force of arms. Richard was in Ireland at the time, and as Henry proceeded from Yorkshire to London he attracted to his cause many powerful magnates, who were concerned that their rights of inheritance might be endangered as Henry's had. By the time Richard returned to London he had no support left, and he abdicated; Henry was subsequently declared king by Parliament.

But although Henry had conducted himself fairly honorably, he was considered a usurper, and his reign was plagued with conflict and rebellion. Many of the magnates who had supported him in defeating Richard were more interested in building their own power bases than in helping the crown. In January of 1400, when Richard was still alive, Henry quashed a conspiracy of the deposed king's supporters.

Later that year, Owen Glendower started a rebellion against English rule in Wales, which Henry was unable to quell with any real success (although his son Henry V had better luck). Glendower allied with the powerful Percy family, encouraging more English resistance to Henry's rule. The Welsh problem persisted even after Henry's forces killed Glendower in battle in 1403; the French aided Welsh rebels in 1405 and 1406. And Henry also had to contend with intermittent conflict at home and border troubles with the Scots.

Henry's health began to deteriorate, and he was accused of mismanaging the funds he received in the form of parliamentary grants in order to finance his military expeditions. He negotiated an alliance with the French who were waging war against the Burgundians, and it was at this tense stage in his difficult reign that he became incapacitated in late 1412, dying several months later.

Important Dates

Succeeded to throne: Sept. 30, 1399
Died: Mar. 20, 1413

Dynastic Table

Medieval & Renaissance Monarchs of England
Use this table to see the progression of Kings and Queens from Egbert of Wessex in the ninth century to Elizabeth I in the sixteenth. Hyperlinks lead to entries in Who's Who.

Image

King Henry IV of England
This portrait from Cassell's History of England - Century Edition is free for your use. Part of the Medieval and Renaissance History Portrait Gallery here at this site.

On the Web

Henry IV
Lucid overview of Henry's reign by Steven Muhlberger; part of Muhlberger's work on Medieval England at the ORB.

Henry IV of England
Heavily-hyperlinked bio at Wikipedia.

Henry IV (1399-1413 AD)
Concise biography at Britannia Internet Magazine.

In Print

The links below will take you to a site where you can compare prices at booksellers across the web. More in-depth info about the book may be found by clicking on to the book's page at one of the online merchants.

Henry IV
by Bryan Bevan

Henry IV
by Luigi Pirandello

The History of England under Henry the Fourth
by James H. Wylie

Loyal Conspiracy: The Lords Appellant under Richard II
by Anthony Goodman

England's Empty Throne: Usurpation and the Language of Legitimation, 1399-1422
by Paul Strohm

Related Resources

Medieval Britain
Sites that focus on general British medieval history, people, places, events, documents, the Norman Conquest, the Wars of the Roses, and other aspects of Britain in the Middle Ages.

The Wars of the Roses
An index of sites that focus on the complex dynastic war in 15th-century Britain.

More at the Medieval History Site

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