king
henry
king
henry
Henry was born on
3 April 1367 at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire. He was the eldest son
of John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster, and his first wife Blanche of
Lancaster; this also made Henry the grandson of King Edward III. Like his
father before him, Henry was one of the most powerful men in England, holding
many titles (including Knight of the Garter and Earl of Derby, Lincoln, and
Leicester). In his youth, he traveled extensively, fighting with the
Teutonic Knights on two crusades against the Lithuanians and also visiting
Prague and Venice. He went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem as well, a journey
he would vow to repeat near the end of his reign as King.
Henry married Mary Bohun in 1380, when he was 13 and she 12, thus gaining the Dukedom of Hereford from her family. They had four sons (Henry, Thomas, John, and Humphrey) and two daughters (Blanche and Phillipa) together. Mary died in 1394, and Henry later remarried, this time to Joanna, the daughter of the King of Navarre. Their marriage seemed to be largely a political arrangement, however, and they had no children together.
Henry was involved in the politics of the country as well, becoming one of the five "lords appellant" who challenged King Richard II (Henry's cousin) and managed to hold control over England from 1388 to 1389. Henry supported Richard when he took the throne back, though, and stood by him when he took violent revenge on the three elder lords appellant. In 1398, however, a quarrel which Henry became embroiled in Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk (the other remaining lord appellant) resulted in exile for both of them. The year after Henry's banishment, his father died and his estates - which should rightfully have passed to Henry as the heir to the Dukedom of Lancaster - were seized by King Richard. Infuriated at this news, Henry took advantage of Richard's absence on campaign in Ireland and re-entered England in July of 1399, rallying a large group of followers. When Richard returned the next month, he surrendered to his cousin and was forced to relinquish his crown. Parliament confirmed Henry's claim to the throne (an unconventional act which entirely flew in the face of the doctrine of Divine Right) and he was crowned on 13 October 1399, thus beginning the Lancastrian dynasty.
The new King Henry IV had to confront rebellion on several fronts immediately. Still-loyal followers of Richard hatched a plot to kill Henry in early 1400, but this was averted. In the same year, the Welsh, led by Owen Glendower, revolted against English rule, and Henry split his powers against two fronts by trying rather ineptly to wage war in Scotland at the same time. The most dire threat to his crown, however, came in 1403 when the Percys, the wealthy and influential northern family which had helped Henry to the throne, suddenly decided to rebel against him. Henry put down this insurrection as well, though not without considerable loss of life at the famous Battle of Shrewsbury, and then quelled another uprising led by the Archbishop of York in 1405. Both of these rebellions were started with the intent of putting Edmund Mortimer, the 5th Earl of March (and Richard II's officially named successor) on the throne. Though Mortimer was only a boy at the time, Henry was wary enough of him to keep him in custody throughout his reign.
In his later life, Henry was troubled finally not by rebellious subjects but by a crippling long-term illness which kept him confined to his bed off and on for several years. He was also afflicted with a disfiguring skin disease, which he had grappled with all his life and apparently thought of as a punishment from God for his sins; no one is sure what precisely this condition was, but historians have supposed everything from psoriasis to syphilis to leprosy. Henry finally succumbed to his sickness at the age of 46, passing away on 20 March 1413 in the Jerusalem Chamber at the house of Westminster - an ironic location, considering his never-fulfilled desire to attempt a Holy Crusade. He is buried in Canterbury Cathedral.