HENRY IV. 1399 - 1413
Born 1366. - Married, first, Mary, daughter of Humphrey Bohun, earl of
Hereford, by whom he had four sons and two daughters; secondly,
Joan, daughter of Charles the Bald, of Navarre, by whom he had two children, who died in infancy. Began to reign, 1399. - Reigned 14
years. - Died 1413.
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DOMINIONS Henry claimed the crown as the representative of Henry III, by the Lancastrian line, the realm being " in point to be undone by default of governance and undoing of the good laws." He was, in fact king by choice of Parliament upon this account, to reverse the policy of Richard II, but the nation as a whole was not quite prepared to accept a Parliamentary title only. The French, with whom Richard was allied, invited Bordeaux and the other towns of Guienne and Gascony to come over to them from the usurper. But though it was said that Richard of Bordeaux was popular in his native place, the inhabitants valued the English trade and the civic rights they enjoyed, and remained faithful to the house of Lancaster. |
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| Henry IV. King of England, first king of the house of Lancaster; born in 1366; was eldest son of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, third son of Henry III. By the heiress of Edmund, earl of Lancaster, second son of Henry III. | Not so Wales, where as there was no Parliamentary representation, the attempt at despotism by Richard was not resented . Henry IV. cannot be said to have ruled in a great part of Wales from 1400, when Owen of Glyndwrdy or Glendower first rose in arms, till 1409, when the defeat of a Welsh raid into Shropshire was followed by the gradual submission of much of the country. |
PRINCIPAL EVENTS
Conspiracy of the nobles quelled,
and invasion or Scotland, 1400. The first martyr burned at Smithfield, 1401. The Scots invade England, and are
defeated, 1402, Revolt and defeat of the Percys, 1403. Insurrection in Yorkshire suppressed, 1405. A great plague
devastates England, 1407. A rebellion, headed by Owen Glendower, which commenced in the year 1401, finally quelled,
1411: Glendower executed.
In the reign of Richard II. Henry was made Earl of Derby and Duke of Hereford, but having in 1398 preferred a charge of treason against Mowbray, duke of Norfolk, he was banished with his adversary. On the death of John of Gaunt in 1399 Richard withheld Henry's inheritance, and Henry, landing in England, gained possession of Richards person.
In 1399, Parliament deposed Richard II he had been
overthrown by Henry of Lancaster (Bolingbroke), Henry stood forward and claimed the crown,
yet he was not the immediate heir. The eight-year-old Edmund of March ranked before him.
Henry was descended from John of Gaunt, Edward III's fourth son; but Edmund was descended from Lionel of Clarence,
Edward's third son. The monarchy, indeed, was not strictly hereditary, but there was a very strong tradition in
favour of the principle. The
deposition of Richard by parliament, and the election of Henry, was followed by the murder of the late king.
Henry was a strong man, the popular liberator of his country from Richard's tyranny, and Parliament elected him with enthusiasm. The manner of Henry's accession had far-reaching consequences. The new king's best title to the throne did not rest on his pedigree, or on his conquest of Richard. It was based on his election by Parliament. This made Parliament's position strong and left Henry dependent on its favour. For, as Henry well knew, what one Parliament had done it might some day undo.
A TROUBLESOME REIGN
Risings and civil wars in quick succession lifted their heads against him like venomous serpents. Scotland and France were his ever active enemies. A plot against the king in 1400 was discovered in time to prevent its success, and many executions of men of rank followed; but an insurrection in Wales under Owen Glendower proved more formidable.
The Scots were decisively defeated by the Percies at Homildon, and their leader, the Earl of Douglas, was captured (1402). An order from Henry not to permit the ransom of that nobleman and other Scottish prisoners was regarded as an indignity by the Percies, who set Douglas free, made an alliance with him, and joined Glendower.
The amazing rebel Owen Glendower, with his spirit, and tireless perseverance, was an incurable poison in his blood. For years Henry could do nothing with him. Glendower defied his barons. He defied his son, Henry of Monmouth, the Prince of Wales, whose title the rebel boldly assumed. He defied the King himself. The baffled English, out-fought and out-maneuvered , swore he was a magician in league with the devil. Till the day of his death, in 1415, though he had at last been reduced to the position of a fugitive outlaw, Glendower remained at large. It was mainly the Prince of Wales who wore him down. And it was in the Welsh campaigns that the young Henry learned much of the soldiering that later, when he had become Henry V, was to perform the miracle of Agincourt.
The Chronic Scotch Wars
continued :-.
In 1402 Henry Percy defeated
the Scots at Homildon; but the expenses of the war helped to provoke the rebellion of the Percys, The king met
the insurgents at Shrewsbury (1403), the battle ending in the defeat of the Percies, the Earl of Northumberland was pardoned, and but few victims were executed.
A new insurrection, headed by the Earl of Nottingham and Scrope or Scroop, archbishop of York, broke out in 1405,
but was suppressed by the king's third son, Prince John. in 1408, at Bramham Moor, the Earl of Northumberland was
killed by Sir Thomas Rokeby.
All through the reign there were rebellions in England, war in Wales, war with Scotland, troubles in Ireland, where the Mortimers had estates and influence, and hostilities with France, whose fleets burnt English towns and landed troop in Wales. In 1411 Henry's troops in France helped the Burgundians to defeat the Orleans party at St. Cloud.
In 1405 James, son and heir to King Robert of Scotland, was captured at sea on his way to France, and was detained a prisoner in England.
LOLLARD MARTYRS
While the King's energy was engaged in quelling risings, his tact was being employed in keeping Church and Parliament in good humour. Never before had Lords and Commons found a King so graciously eager to consult their wishes. Very wisely, they made the most of the opportunity. Through their control of the country's purse-strings, they did much to keep the obliging monarch at their feet. As for the Church, Henry won their approval by delivering the Lollards into their hands. Religious persecution was then unknown in England; but, in 1401, the first Lollard martyr was burned at the stake and a law was passed authorising the same monstrously inhuman punishment for all heretics. Thus did the blind and mistaken zeal that deemed it a sacred duty to destroy free-thinkers begin on its fiery course.
Henry must have been born under an unlucky star. In spite of all his efforts to please, he became increasingly
unpopular. And, no sooner did his political troubles begin to dwindle and a prospect of peace and security come
in sight than a new enemy took him by the throat. He was smitten with a horrible disease. His doctors said it was
leprosy; but, whatever it was, this malady brought him, to the grave. His snatch at the crown had gained him precious
little joy in life, Henry
died in 1413, and was succeeded by Henry V.
OFFICIALS
Archbishop - Thomas Fits-Alan, restored 1399-1413.
Chancellors - John do Searle, 1399 - 1401; Edmund Stafford, Bishop of Exeter, 1401 - 1403; Henry Beaufort Bishop
of Lincoln, afterwards Bishop of Lincoln and Cardinal, the king's half-brother, 1403 - 1405; Thomas Longley, afterwards
Bishop of Durham, Keeper of the Privy Seal, 1405 - 7; Thomas the Archbishop, 1407 - 1410; Sir Thomas Beaufort,
the king's half-brother, afterwards Earl of Dorset and Duke of Exeter, 1410 - 12; Thomas the Archbishop, 1412 -
1413.
Henry, Prince of Wales, was Lieutenant of Wales and the Marches, 1403, a commission repeated in different terms,1405
- 1406 - 1407. A Privy Councillor from 1406 - 1411, Warden of the Cinque Ports, 1409, Captain of Calais, 1410.
ACTS AND DOCUMENTS
The House of Lancaster were to reign as strictly
Parliamentary sovereigns, and by 1 Henry IV., c. 3, the whole of the legislation of the Parliament of 21 Richard
II., and the powers conferred by it, were repealed. Printed in the Statutes.
In 1402, by 2 Henry iv., c.15, an act was passed against the Lollards, the first great persecuting act in England.
It was considered that Richard had not been severe enough against them, and the Earl of Salisbury, the chief leader
of the Lollards, had been a partisan of Richard's. But the same Parliament urged the strict enforcement of the
Statute of Provisors. Printed in the Statutes
In 1406 the Parliament passed a vote of confidence in the ministers, but insisted on an audit of public accounts,
and on freedom of election for knights of the shires. (Rolls of Parliament, iii. 567-589.)
In 1407 the Commons succeeded in establishing their right of declaring all grants of money by the mouth of their
Speaker. (Rolls of Parliament, iii. 611.)
In 1410 the Lollard party in Parliament proposed the confiscation of all the temporalities of the Church for the
permanent endowment of 15 earls, 1500 knights, 6000 esquires, and 100 hospitals, leaving £20,000 over for
the king. The scheme, which was probably impracticable, was rejected. See Stubbs, Constitutional History, vol.
iii..
