History UsefulNotes / HenryTheFourth

Approaching the end of his life, Henry was stricken by a debilitating skin disease, thought now to be leprosy. He died in 1413, regretting Richard's death, and in fear for the state of his soul. His actual death was notable for two incidents. First he was mistaken as dead by Monmouth who took the Crown. When Henry awoke the Prince penitently returned it and swore he never desired it. Henry accepted and the two who never had the best of relationships were reconciled. As he was about to die, a priest asked if he repented deposing an anointed King. Henry fittingly said, [[DeadpanSnarker "My sons won't let me."]]

After death he would share a similar fate to his distant relative Henry VII of being a usurper against a King Richard who is overshadowed by his son's reign. Though for Henry IV as a father he would have been proud to know his son was regarded by many as the greatest English King. The lingering political crisis that his usurpation caused would later give rise to the UsefulNotes/WarsOfTheRoses and the usurpation of his grandson, Henry VI.

Approaching the end of his life, Henry was stricken by a debilitating skin disease, thought now to be leprosy. He died in 1413, regretting Richard's death, and in fear for the state of his soul. His actual death was notable for two incidents. First he was mistaken as dead by Monmouth who took the Crown. When Henry awoke the Prince penitently returned it and swore he never desired it. Henry accepted and the two who never had the best of relationships were reconciled. As he was about to die, a priest asked if he repented deposing an anointed King. Henry fittingly said, [[DeadpanSnarker "My sons won't let me."]] The lingering political crisis that his usurpation caused would later give rise to the UsefulNotes/WarsOfTheRoses and the usurpation of his grandson, Henry VI.

Henry's fortunes could not have been better. Assembling an army, he landed in Ravenspur in the north of England and began gathering support as he marched. His claim that he was only returning to England to assume his rightful title as Duke of Lancaster struck a chord with the disaffected nobility of England, and at the time, [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation Henry might have meant it]]. Richard's arbitrary and autocratic behavior in seizing the Lancastrian estates made ''every'' noble fear that their ''own'' estates could be taken at any time, for any reason. They flocked to the Duke of Lancaster, and in time, Henry had even the support of his uncle, Edmund of York, the [[{{Kingmaker}} Percy family of Northumberland]]. Richard was blindsided, and soon after his return to England, he was captured by Henry's men and held at Pontefract Castle.

Approaching the end of his life, Henry was stricken by a debilitating skin disease, thought now to be leprosy. He died in 1413, regretting Richard's death, and in fear for the state of his soul. The lingering political crisis that his usurpation caused would later give rise to the UsefulNotes/WarsOfTheRoses and the usurpation of his grandson, Henry VI.

Henry IV (15 April 1367 – 20 March 1413), also known as Henry of Bolingbroke, was the King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1399-1413; before then, he was Earl of Derby, Duke of Hereford, and Duke of Lancaster. As King, he was the founder of the House of Lancaster, a cadet branch of UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfPlantagenet. Born in 1367 at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, he was the son and heir of John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster, and a grandson of Edward III. While he was neither the heir, not the spare to the throne, his father was the most powerful peer in the country at the time, as well as the wealthiest. Young Henry grew up as a prominent member of the royal court, where he was the boyhood companion of UsefulNotes/RichardTheSecond. The two young boys could not have been more different; Richard was a cultured man and a great patron of the arts, while Henry was a keen warrior and tournament champion, going on crusade to Lithuania to support UsefulNotes/TheTeutonicKnights, before going on pilgrimage to Jerusalem and vowing to liberate it (something he never got around to). His relationship with his erstwhile best friend, cousin, and liege, the circumstances that led him to usurp Richard's throne, and the estrangement of UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfPlantagenet into competing factions, informed much of the political conflict that plagued England in the 15th Century.

The first cracks in their relationship emerged when John of Gaunt, Richard's benefactor, left England to pursue the throne of Spain, claiming it by right of his wife, the Infanta Constance of Castile. Long story short: with his protector, adviser, and political linchpin off trying to claim a kingdom for his own, Richard was more vulnerable than ever. In the years that Gaunt spent in Spain, Richard gathered a cohort of followers and royal favorites that aroused controversy among the English political. Some were of common birth and some were unpopular, but by appointing them to prestigious positions above the high magnates, he made powerful enemies. Among these were the Duke of Gloucester, the Earl of Arundel, the Earl of Warwick, the Earl of Nottingham, and Henry, the Earl of Derby. These five individuals dubbed themselves the "Lords Appellant" and launched an armed rebellion against Richard in 1387, where Henry crushed an army commanded by Robert de Vere, the Earl of Oxford and Richard's favorite, at Radcot Bridge. Richard was reduced to a figurehead, and one by one, the newly-formed [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Merciless Parliament]] of 1388 [[ThePurge purged the court]] of all his supporters.

During his exile, John of Gaunt fell ill and died. This created a massive problem for Richard. For one, his most important servant had died, leaving him politically vulnerable. Secondly, the Lancastrian estates were vast, being worth the modern equivalent of over ''$100 billion'' , and all of that wealth, power, and prestige was going in the hands of his friend-turned-rival, Henry of Bolingbroke. Henry, now rightfully Duke of Lancaster, had a huge base of support in England, from all parts of society, and his accomplishments made him seem like TheParagon of everything a medieval Englishman ought to be: honest, soldierly, and chivalrous. Richard, in a half-baked attempt to combat this burgeoning problem head on, confiscated Henry's lands, and used the vast wealth to finance...an invasion of Ireland.

Henry IV (15 April 1367 – 20 March 1413), also known as Henry of Bolingbroke, was the King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1399-1413; before then, he was Earl of Derby, Duke of Hereford, and Duke of Lancaster. As King, he was the founder of the House of Lancaster, a cadet branch of UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfPlantagenet. Born in 1367 at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, he was the son and heir of John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster, and a grandson of Edward III. While he was neither the heir, not the spare to the throne, his father was the most powerful peer in the country at the time, as well as the wealthiest. Young Henry grew up as a prominent member of the royal court, where he was the boyhood companion of UsefulNotes/RichardTheSecond. The two young boys could not have been more different; Richard was a cultured man and a great patron of the arts, while Henry was a keen warrior and tournament champion. His relationship with his erstwhile best friend, cousin, and liege, the circumstances that led him to usurp Richard's throne, and the estrangement of UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfPlantagenet into competing factions, informed much of the political conflict that plagued England in the 15th Century.

Richard and the Lords Appellant came to a rapprochement when John of Gaunt returned empty-handed from Spain. With his protector back in England, Richard was able to reassert some of his former power. More importantly to him, he was able to [[BestServedCold exact revenge]]. In 1397, he struck against the former Lords Appellant. Warwick was beheaded, Arundel was stripped of his lands and titles and imprisoned on the Isle of Man, and Gloucester was mysteriously murdered in Calais, likely by the King's command. In a classic case of [[Franchise/TheGodfather keeping one's friends close, but their enemies closer]], Richard not only pardoned Henry and the Earl of Nottingham, but he made them the Dukes of Hereford and Norfolk, respectively. The next year, however, Henry and Norfolk quarreled over the latter's involvement in having Gloucester killed. Richard, in turn, took the opportunity to banish both from England.

Creator/WilliamShakespeare [[UsefulNotes/RichardII wrote]] [[Theatre/HenryIVPart1 three]] [[Theatre/HenryIVPart2 plays]] about his life.

Approaching the end of his life, Henry was stricken by a debilitating skin disease, thought now to be leprosy. He died in 1413, regretting Richard's death, and in fear for the state of his soul. The lingering political crisis that his usurpation caused would later give rise to the WarsOfTheRoses and the usurpation of his grandson, Henry VI.

King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1399-1413; before then, he was Earl of Derby, Duke of Hereford, and Duke of Lancaster. As King, he was the founder of the House of Lancaster, a cadet branch of UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfPlantagenet. Born in 1367 at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, he was the son and heir of John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster, and a grandson of Edward III. While he was neither the heir, not the spare to the throne, his father was the most powerful peer in the country at the time, as well as the wealthiest. Young Henry grew up as a prominent member of the royal court, where he was the boyhood companion of UsefulNotes/RichardTheSecond. The two young boys could not have been more different; Richard was a cultured man and a great patron of the arts, while Henry was a keen warrior and tournament champion. His relationship with his erstwhile best friend, cousin, and liege, the circumstances that led him to usurp Richard's throne, and the estrangement of UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfPlantagenet into competing factions, informed much of the political conflict that plagued England in the 15th Century.

!!Tropes
* ActionDad: Fought at Shrewsbury alongside his son Henry of Monmouth.
* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: His actual place in the line of succession was something like 4th in line after his cousins, Sir Roger Mortimer, his children, and his brother, Sir Edmund. Unlike all of them, Henry was an asskicker with an army and widespread political support.
* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: His reign inspired a lot of this. The death of Richard II became a permanent stain on his reputation, but the very fact that he managed to outlast so many implacable enemies speaks to his fearless and resourceful personality.
* {{Badass}}: In his prime, he was the finest jouster in England, and he almost took part in a DuelToTheDeath with Norfolk.
* TheClan: The House of Lancaster had blood and marriage ties to some pretty illustrious people. Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal was his nephew, and Geoffrey Chaucer was married to his step-mother's sister. Another sister was Queen-consort of Castile. He himself had four sons, and a couple daughters, one of whom became Queen-consort of Denmark.
* TheExile: A brief one in 1398. Richard's confiscation of his inheritance provoked him to return.
* {{Foil}}: Henry, the military-minded crusader knight, was one to the cultured and vain UsefulNotes/RichardTheSecond.
* FourStarBadass: His military talents were used up fighting internal rebellions, and he led from the front at Shrewsbury. He never got a chance to launch a crusade to Jerusalem, or to campaign in France.
* GoingNative: The Lancastrians were definitely more English than their Angevin forefathers. He was the first Plantagenet raised as an Englishman, and the first to speak English as his native tongue. Parliament began delivering reports in English during his reign.
* KingOnHisDeathbed: He was poorly later in life, and his son Henry led his councils on his behalf several times.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Richard's death haunted him for the rest of his life.
* NamesTheSame: His son's name was Henry, he had a half-brother named Henry, his enemy Northumberland was named Henry, Northumberland's son Hotspur was named Henry, and Hotspur's son was also named Henry. Henry of Monmouth would later have a son named Henry.
* NonIdleRich: Was a pretty accomplished knight and soldier, as well as the heir of the richest man in England.
* OopNorth: He was a Yorkshireman, and most of his support came from Northern England.
* TheParagonAlwaysRebels: He was considered the exemplar of knightly accomplishment and when he returned to England, many thought he would be England's savior. Then it went so terribly wrong.
* RedheadedHero [=/=] EvilRedhead
* ReligiousBruiser: He took part in a couple of crusades in Lithuania.
* ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated: During the chaos of Shrewsbury, Henry had been unhorsed, and both Henry of Monmouth and Hotspur had been struck by arrows to the face. Unsure of who still lived, the northern rebels cried, "Henry Percy King!" King Henry then shouted back at them, "Henry Percy is dead!" and the rebels panicked.
* TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized: The Lords Appellant rebellion and the ensuing Merciless Parliament made no bones of executing, imprisoning, or exiling Richard's associates. Oddly enough, Henry himself was a latecomer to the whole affair.
* TheUsurper: An UnbuiltTrope -- it caused endless problems during his reign and there's a strong case to be made that he didn't really want to be king in the first place. Moreover, the king he overthrew was considered UnfitForGreatness.
* WeUsedToBeFriends: He and Richard were boyhood friends and were admitted together into the Order of the Garter in 1377, by their grandfather Edward III.

King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1399-1413; before then, he was Earl of Derby, Duke of Hereford, and Duke of Lancaster. As King, he was the founder of the House of Lancaster, a cadet branch of TheHouseOfPlantagenet. Born in 1367 at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, he was the son and heir of John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster, and a grandson of Edward III. While he was neither the heir, not the spare to the throne, his father was the most powerful peer in the country at the time, as well as the wealthiest. Young Henry grew up as a prominent member of the royal court, where he was the boyhood companion of UsefulNotes/RichardTheSecond. The two young boys could not have been more different; Richard was a cultured man and a great patron of the arts, while Henry was a keen warrior and tournament champion. His relationship with his erstwhile best friend, cousin, and liege, the circumstances that led him to usurp Richard's throne, and the estrangement of TheHouseOfPlantagenet into competing factions, informed much of the political conflict that plagued England in the 15th Century.

[[caption-width-right:337:The Real-Life [[ASongOfIceAndFire Robert Baratheon]] ]]

King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1399-1413; before then, he was Earl of Derby, Duke of Hereford, and Duke of Lancaster. As King, he was the founder of the House of Lancaster, a cadet branch of TheHouseOfPlantagenet. Born in 1367 at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, he was the son and heir of John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster, and a grandson of Edward III. While he was neither the heir, not the spare to the throne, his father was the most powerful peer in the country at the time, as well as the wealthiest. Young Henry grew up as a prominent member of the royal court, where he was the boyhood companion of RichardTheSecond. The two young boys could not have been more different; Richard was a cultured man and a great patron of the arts, while Henry was a keen warrior and tournament champion. His relationship with his erstwhile best friend, cousin, and liege, the circumstances that led him to usurp Richard's throne, and the estrangement of TheHouseOfPlantagenet into competing factions, informed much of the political conflict that plagued England in the 15th Century.

Richard and the Lords Appellant came to a rapprochement when John of Gaunt returned empty-handed from Spain. With his protector back in England, Richard was able to reassert some of his former power. More importantly to him, he was able to [[BestServedCold exact revenge]]. In 1397, he struck against the former Lords Appellant. Warwick was beheaded, Arundel was stripped of his lands and titles and imprisoned on the Isle of Man, and Gloucester was mysteriously murdered in Calais, likely by the King's command. In a classic case of [[TheGodfather keeping one's friends close, but their enemies closer]], Richard not only pardoned Henry and the Earl of Nottingham, but he made them the Dukes of Hereford and Norfolk, respectively. The next year, however, Henry and Norfolk quarreled over the latter's involvement in having Gloucester killed. Richard, in turn, took the opportunity to banish both from England.

Creator/WilliamShakespeare [[RichardII wrote]] [[HenryIVPart1 three]] [[HenryIVPart2 plays]] about his life.

* {{Foil}}: Henry, the military-minded crusader knight, was one to the cultured and vain RichardTheSecond.

* WeUsedToBeFriends: He and Richard were boyhood friends and were admitted together into the Order of the Garter in 1377, by their grandfather Edward III.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Richard's death haunted him for the rest of his life.

King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1399-1413; before then, he was Earl of Derby, Duke of Hereford, and Duke of Lancaster. As King, he was the founder of the House of Lancaster, a cadet branch of TheHouseOfPlantagenet. Born in 1367 at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire (hence his , he was the son and heir of John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster, and a grandson of Edward III. While he was neither the heir, not the spare to the throne, his father was the most powerful peer in the country at the time, as well as the wealthiest. Young Henry grew up as a prominent member of the royal court, where he was the boyhood companion of RichardTheSecond. The two young boys could not have been more different; Richard was a cultured man and a great patron of the arts, while Henry was a keen warrior and tournament champion. His relationship with his erstwhile best friend, cousin, and liege, the circumstances that led him to usurp Richard's throne, and the estrangement of TheHouseOfPlantagenet into competing factions, informed much of the political conflict that plagued England in the 15th Century.

* ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated: During the chaos of Shrewbury, Henry had been unhorsed, and both Henry of Monmouth and Hotspur had been struck by arrows to the face. Unsure of who still lived, the northern rebels cried, "Henry Percy King!" King Henry then shouted back at them, "Henry Percy is dead!" and the rebels panicked.

* TheUsurper: An UnbuiltTrope -- it caused endless problems during his reign and there's a strong case to be made that he didn't really want to be king in the first place.

More seriously, it also turned key allies against him. As a usurper, what he had done to Richard could easy be done to him. In 1403, Sir Edmund Mortimer, a descendant of Edward III through his second son Lionel, was captured leading an expedition against Owain Glyndwr of Wales, a rebel leader who styled himself Prince of Wales. When Henry was considering whether to ransom him, Mortimer married Glyndwr's daughter, and Henry refused to ransom a perceived traitor back to England. Also, the Percy family, led by the Earl of Northumberland and Sir Henry [[HotBlooded "Hotspur"]] Percy, was angered at Henry for not fulfilling promises of land, and for perjuring himself regarding his oath -- he had claimed Lancaster, but he had taken the crown. Northumberland, Wales, Cheshire, and Shropshire rose in rebellion against Henry. At Shrewbury in 1403, his army and the rebels engaged in a bloody battle that left thousands dead. Henry himself was nearly killed and his son, Henry of Monmouth, the future Henry V, took ''an arrow to the face''. Hotspur was also struck, and killed by an arrow, and his rebellion was broken. Over the next ten years, Monmouth would lead his father's army in destroying the rebels. The Percys were crushed, and Sir Edmund Mortimer was defeated in 1408 at Harlech Castle. Owain Glyndwr continued to be a thorn in England's side until 1415, when he disappeared.

With the King of England as his hostage, Henry now faced the problem of what to ''do'' with Richard. The king was a ruthless man, and allowing him to regain power would make the House of Lancaster a target for the rest of his reign. More importantly, ''not'' having someone on the throne would have been disastrous, and the only other heirs were small boys. Killing a king would have been an unthinkable crime, and Richard was not only a king, but Henry's boyhood companion. Whatever his feelings on the matter, it seems as though Henry was satisfied with Richard resigning his crown and living in captivity. Henry of Bolingbroke became Henry IV of the House of Lancaster. But then, in 1400, a year into his reign, supporters of Richard launched a rebellion, and after it was crushed, Richard starved to death in his cell. Whether Henry ordered it or not has never been conclusively confirmed, but the guilt of his cousin's death wracked him with guilt.

* TheUsurper