March 20, 1412: Death of Henry IV, King of England and Lord of Ireland

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Duke of Lancaster, Henry Bolingbroke, Henry IV of England, Joanna of Navarre, John of Gaunt, King Edward III of England, King Richard II of England, Lord of Ireland, Mary de Bohun, Usurper

Henry IV (c. April 1367 – March 20, 1413), also known as Henry Bolingbroke, was King of England from 1399 to 1413. His grandfather King Edward III had claimed the French throne as a grandson of Philippe IV of France, and Henry continued this claim. He was the first English ruler since the Norman Conquest, over three hundred years prior, whose mother tongue was English rather than French.

Early Life

Henry was born at Bolingbroke Castle, in Lincolnshire, to John of Gaunt and Blanche of Lancaster. His epithet “Bolingbroke” was derived from his birthplace. Gaunt was the third son of King Edward III. Blanche was the daughter of the wealthy royal politician and nobleman Henry of Grosmont, Duke of Lancaster.

Henry of Grosmont was the only son of Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster (c. 1281–1345); who in turn was the younger brother and heir of Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster (c. 1278–1322). They were sons of Edmund Crouchback, 1st Earl of Lancaster (1245–1296); the second son of King Henry III (ruled 1216–1272) and younger brother of King Edward I of England (ruled 1272–1307).

Henry of Grosmont was thus a first cousin once removed of King Edward II and a second cousin of King Edward III (ruled 1327–1377). His mother was Maud de Chaworth (1282–1322). On his paternal grandmother’s side, Henry of Grosmont was also the great-great-grandson of King Louis VIII of the Franks.

John of Gaunt enjoyed a position of considerable influence during much of the reign of his own nephew, King Richard II. Henry’s elder sisters were Philippa, Queen of Portugal, (wife of King João I of Portugal) and Elizabeth, Duchess of Exeter. His younger half-sister, the daughter of his father’s second wife, Constance of Castile, was Katherine, Queen of Castile wife of King Enrique III of Castile.

Henry Bolingbroke also had four natural half-siblings born of Katherine Swynford, originally his sisters’ governess, then his father’s longstanding mistress and later third wife. These illegitimate children were given the surname Beaufort from their birthplace at the Château de Beaufort in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France.

Henry’s relationship with his stepmother, Katherine Swynford, was a positive one, but his relationship with the Beauforts varied. In his youth, he seems to have been close to all of them, but rivalries with Henry and Thomas Beaufort proved problematic after 1406. Ralph Neville, 4th Baron Neville, married Henry’s half-sister Joan Beaufort.

Neville remained one of his strongest supporters, and so did his eldest half-brother John Beaufort, even though Henry revoked Richard II’s grant to John of a marquessate. Thomas Swynford, a son from Katherine’s first marriage, was another loyal companion. Thomas was Constable of Pontefract Castle, where Richard II is said to have died.

Henry’s half-sister Joan was the mother of Cecily Neville. Cecily married Richard, 3rd Duke of York, and had several offspring, including Edward IV and Richard III, making Joan the grandmother of two Yorkist kings of England.

John of Gaunt died in February 1399. Without explanation, Richard cancelled the legal documents that would have allowed Henry to inherit Gaunt’s land automatically. Instead, Henry would be required to ask for the lands from Richard.

Henry was involved in the revolt of the Lords Appellant against Richard in 1388, resulting in his exile by King Richard II.

Accession

After some hesitation, Henry met the exiled Thomas Arundel, former archbishop of Canterbury, who had lost his position because of his involvement with the Lords Appellant. Henry and Arundel returned to England while Richard was on a military campaign in Ireland. With Arundel as his advisor, Henry began a military campaign, confiscating land from those who opposed him and ordering his soldiers to destroy much of Cheshire.

Henry initially announced that his intention was to reclaim his rights as Duke of Lancaster, though he quickly gained enough power and support to have himself declared King Henry IV, imprison King Richard (who died in prison under mysterious circumstances) and bypass Richard II’s 7-year-old heir-presumptive, Edmund de Mortimer, 5th Earl of March.

Henry’s coronation, on October 13, 1399 at Westminster Abbey, may have marked the first time since the Norman Conquest that the monarch made an address in English.

As king, Henry faced a number of rebellions, most seriously those of Owain Glyndŵr, the self-proclaimed ruler of Wales, and the English knight Henry Percy (Hotspur), who was killed in the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403. The king suffered from poor health in the latter part of his reign, and his eldest son, Henry of Monmouth, assumed the reins of government in 1410. Henry IV died in 1413, and his son succeeded him as King Henry V.

Marriages and issue

First marriage: Mary de Bohun

The date and venue of Henry’s first marriage to Mary de Bohun (died 1394) are uncertain but her marriage licence, purchased by Henry’s father John of Gaunt in June 1380, is preserved at the National Archives. The accepted date of the ceremony is February 5, 1381, at Mary’s family home of Rochford Hall, Essex.

The near-contemporary chronicler Jean Froissart reports a rumour that Mary’s sister Eleanor de Bohun kidnapped Mary from Pleshey Castle and held her at Arundel Castle, where she was kept as a novice nun; Eleanor’s intention was to control Mary’s half of the Bohun inheritance (or to allow her husband, Thomas, Duke of Gloucester, to control it). There Mary was persuaded to marry Henry.

Henry had four sons from his first marriage, which was undoubtedly a clinching factor in his acceptability for the throne. By contrast, Richard II had no children and Richard’s heir-presumptive Edmund Mortimer was only seven years old. The only two of Henry’s six children who produced legitimate children to survive to adulthood were Henry V and Blanche, whose son, Rupert, was the heir to the Electorate of the Palatinate until his death at 20.

All three of his other sons produced illegitimate children. Henry IV’s male Lancaster line ended in 1471 during the War of the Roses, between the Lancastrians and the Yorkists, with the deaths of his grandson Henry VI and Henry VI’s son Edward, Prince of Wales.

Second marriage: Joanna of Navarre

Mary de Bohun died in 1394, and on February 7, 1403 at Winchester Cathedral Henry married Joanna of Navarre, the daughter of Charles II of Navarre, the daughter of Jean II of France (called The Good), and Bonne of Luxembourg.

She was the widow of Jean IV, Duke of Brittany (known in traditional English sources as Jean V), with whom she had had four daughters and four sons; however, her marriage to the King of England was childless.

Final illness and death

The later years of Henry’s reign were marked by serious health problems. He had a disfiguring skin disease and, more seriously, suffered acute attacks of a grave illness in June 1405; April 1406; June 1408; during the winter of 1408–09; December 1412; and finally a fatal bout in March 1413. In 1410, Henry had provided his royal surgeon Thomas Morstede with an annuity of £40 p.a. which was confirmed by Henry V immediately after his succession.

This was so that Morstede would ‘not be retained by anyone else’. Medical historians have long debated the nature of this affliction or afflictions. The skin disease might have been leprosy (which did not necessarily mean precisely the same thing in the 15th century as it does to modern medicine), perhaps psoriasis, or a different disease.

The acute attacks have been given a wide range of explanations, from epilepsy to a form of cardiovascular disease. Some medieval writers felt that he was struck with leprosy as a punishment for his treatment of Richard le Scrope, Archbishop of York, who was executed in June 1405 on Henry’s orders after a failed coup.

According to Holinshed, it was predicted that Henry would die in Jerusalem, and Shakespeare’s play repeats this prophecy. Henry took this to mean that he would die on crusade. In reality, he died in the Jerusalem Chamber in the abbot’s house of Westminster Abbey, on March 20, 1413 during a convocation of Parliament. His executor, Thomas Langley, was at his side.

May 31, 1441/43: Birth of Lady Margaret Beaufort. Part I.

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Duke of Lancaster, Duke of Somerset, Duke of Suffolk, Edmund Tudor, Edward III of England, Henry IV of England, Henry VI of England, John Beaufort, John de la Pole, John of Gaunt, Lady Margaret Beaufort, Margaret Beauchamp

Lady Margaret Beaufort (May 31, 1441/43 – June 29, 1509) was a major figure in the Wars of the Roses of the late fifteenth century, and mother of King Henry VII of England, the first Tudor monarch.

Origins

She was the daughter and sole heiress of John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset (1404–1444), a legitimised grandson of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster (third surviving son of King Edward III) by his mistress Katherine Swynford.

Lady Margaret’s mother was Margaret Beauchamp (c. 1410 – before 3 June 1482) was the oldest daughter of Sir John Beauchamp, de jure 3rd Baron Beauchamp of Bletsoe, and his second wife, Edith Stourton.

Lady Margaret was born at Bletsoe Castle, Bedfordshire, either on May 31, 1441 or, more likely, on May 31, 1443. The day and month are not disputed, as she required Westminster Abbey to celebrate her birthday on May 31.

The year of her birth is more uncertain. William Dugdale, the 17th-century antiquary, suggested that she had been born in 1441, based on evidence of inquisitions post mortem taken after the death of her father. Dugdale has been followed by a number of Lady Margaret’s biographers; however, it is more likely that she was born in 1443, as in May 1443 her father had negotiated with the king concerning the wardship of his unborn child should he die on campaign.

As a descendant of King Edward III, Lady Margaret passed a disputed claim to the English throne to her son, Henry Tudor. Capitalising on the political upheaval of the period, she actively manoeuvred to secure the crown for her son.

Her descent from Edward III is from his son John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster.

All English monarchs beginning with Henry IV are descended from John of Gaunt. His direct male line, the House of Lancaster, would rule England from 1399 until the time of the Wars of the Roses. Gaunt is also generally considered to have fathered five children outside marriage: one early in life by a lady-in-waiting to his mother; the others, surnamed Beaufort, by Katherine Swynford, his long-term mistress and third wife.

They were later legitimised by royal and papal decrees, but this did not affect Henry IV’s bar to their having a place in the line of succession. This disbarment from the throne of the Beaufort line makes Lady Margaret’s claim, and her son Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond’s claim to the throne in dispute.

Lady Margaret Beaufort’s efforts ultimately culminated in Henry’s decisive victory over King Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field. She was thus instrumental in orchestrating the rise to power of the Tudor dynasty. With her son crowned Henry VII, Lady Margaret wielded a considerable degree of political influence and personal autonomy – both unusual for a woman of her time. She was also a major patron and cultural benefactor during her son’s reign, initiating an era of extensive Tudor patronage.

She is credited with the establishment of two prominent Cambridge colleges, founding Christ’s College in 1505 and beginning the development of St John’s College, which was completed posthumously by her executors in 1511. Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, the first Oxford college to admit women, is named after her.

Early years

At the moment of her birth, Margaret’s father was preparing to go to France and lead an important military expedition for King Henry VI. The Duke of Somerset negotiated with the king to ensure that if he were to die the rights to Margaret’s wardship and marriage would be granted only to his wife.

As Somerset was a tenant-in-chief of the crown, the wardship of his heir fell to the crown under the feudal system. Somerset fell out with the king after coming back from France and was banished from the royal court pending a charge of treason against him. He died shortly afterwards.

According to Thomas Basin, Somerset died of illness, but the Crowland Chronicle reported that his death was a suicide. As his only surviving child, Margaret was heiress to his considerable fortune and inheritor of his contested claim to the throne. Both effectively rendered Margaret, as her biographers Jones and Underwood write, “a pawn in the unstable political atmosphere of the Lancastrian court”.

Upon her first birthday, the king broke the arrangement with Margaret’s father and granted the wardship of her extensive lands to William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk, although Margaret herself remained in the custody of her mother.

Margaret’s mother was pregnant at the time of Somerset’s death, but the child did not survive and Margaret remained the sole heir. Although she was her father’s only legitimate child, Margaret had two maternal half-brothers and three maternal half-sisters from her mother’s first marriage whom she supported after her son’s accession to the throne.

Margaret was married to Suffolk’s son, John de la Pole. The wedding may have been held between January 28, and February 7,1444, when she was perhaps a year old but certainly no more than three.

However, there is more evidence to suggest they were married in January 1450, after Suffolk had been arrested and was looking to secure his son’s future by betrothing him to a conveniently wealthy ward whose children could be potential claimants to the throne. Papal dispensation was granted on August 18, 1450, necessary because the spouses were closely related (Lady Margaret and de la Pole being the great-grandchildren of two sisters, Katherine Swynford and Philippa Chaucer, respectively), and this concurs with the later date of marriage.

Three years later, her marriage to de la Pole was dissolved, and King Henry VI granted Margaret’s wardship to his own half-brothers, Jasper and Edmund Tudor.

Margaret never recognised the marriage to de la Pole; in her will, made in 1472, Margaret refers to Edmund Tudor as her first husband. Under canon law, Margaret was not bound by her first marriage contract as she was entered into the marriage before reaching the age of twelve.

Even before the annulment of her first marriage, Henry VI chose Margaret as a bride for his half-brother, Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond. This was likely to strengthen Edmund’s claim to the throne should Henry be forced to designate Edmund his heir; the king was then without child or legitimate siblings. Edmund was the eldest son of the king’s mother, Catherine of Valois, by Owen Tudor.

At nine years old Margaret was required to assent formally to the marriage. Later she claimed she was divinely guided to do so.

At age twelve Margaret married Edmund Tudor, twelve years her senior, on November 1, 1455. The Wars of the Roses had just broken out; Edmund, a Lancastrian, was taken prisoner by Yorkist forces less than a year later. He died of the plague in captivity at Carmarthen on 3 November 3, 1456, leaving a 13-year-old widow who was pregnant with their child.

April 15, 1367: Birth of Henry IV, King of England and Lord of Ireland

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Duke of Lancaster, Edward III of England, Enrique III of Castile, Henry Bolingbroke, Henry IV of England, João I of Portugal, John of Gaunt, Richard II of England

Henry IV (c. April 15, 1367 – March 20, 1413), also known as Henry Bolingbroke, was King of England from 1399 to 1413. He asserted the claim of his grandfather King Edward III, a maternal grandson of Philippe IV of France, to the Kingdom of France. Henry was the first English ruler since the Norman Conquest, over three hundred years prior, whose mother tongue was English rather than French.

Henry was born at Bolingbroke Castle, in Lincolnshire, to John of Gaunt and Blanche of Lancaster. His epithet “Bolingbroke” was derived from his birthplace. Gaunt was the third son of King Edward III.

Blanche was the daughter of the wealthy royal politician and nobleman Henry, Duke of Lancaster, a member of the Plantagenet dynasty and a direct male descendant of Henry III.

Gaunt enjoyed a position of considerable influence during much of the reign of his own nephew, King Richard II. Henry’s elder sisters were Philippa, Queen of Portugal, wife of João I of Portugal, and Elizabeth of Lancaster, Duchess of Exeter.

His younger half-sister, the daughter of his father’s second wife, Constance of Castile, was Katherine, Queen of Castile, wife of Enrique III of Castile. He also had four natural half-siblings born of Katherine Swynford, originally his sisters’ governess, then his father’s longstanding mistress and later third wife. These illegitimate children were given the surname Beaufort from their birthplace at the Château de Beaufort in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France.

Henry Bolingbroke was involved in the revolt of the Lords Appellant against Richard in 1388. Henry was later exiled by Richard. After John of Gaunt died in 1399, Richard blocked Henry’s inheritance of his father’s duchy. That year, Henry rallied a group of supporters, overthrew and imprisoned Richard II, and usurped the throne, as King Henry IV, actions that later would lead to what is termed the Wars of the Roses and a more stabilized monarchy.

Seniority in line from Edward III

Ancestry

When Richard II was forced to abdicate the throne in 1399, Henry was next in line to the throne according to Edward III’s entailment of 1376. That entailment clearly reflects the operation of agnatic primogeniture, also known as the Salic law.

At this time, it was by no means a settled custom for the daughter of a king to supersede the brothers of that king in the line of succession to the throne. Indeed, it was not an established belief that women could inherit the throne at all by right: the only previous instances of succession passing through a woman had been those which involved King Stephen and the Empress Matilda, and this had involved protracted civil war, with Stephen being the son of Adela, sister of Henry I and daughter of William the Conqueror.

Yet, the heir of the royal estate according to common law (by which the houses and tenancies of common people like peasants and tradesmen passed) was Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March, who descended from the daughter of Edward III’s third son (second to survive to adulthood), Lionel of Antwerp.

Bolingbroke’s father, John of Gaunt, was Edward’s fourth son and the third to survive to adulthood. The problem was solved by emphasising Henry’s descent in a direct male line, whereas Edmund’s descent was through the female line.

The official account of events claims that Richard voluntarily agreed to resign his crown to Henry on September 29. The country had rallied behind Henry and supported his claim in parliament.

However, the question of the succession never went away. The problem lay in the fact that Henry was only the most prominent male heir, but not the most senior in terms of agnatic descent from Edward III. Although he was heir to the throne according to Edward III’s entail to the crown of 1376, Dr. Ian Mortimer has pointed out in his 2008 biography of Henry IV that this entail had probably been supplanted by an entail made by Richard II in 1399.

Henry thus had to overcome the superior claim of the Mortimers in order to maintain his inheritance. This difficulty compounded when the Mortimer claim was merged with the Yorkist claim in the person of Richard, 3rd Duke of York.

The Duke of York was the heir-general of Edward III, and the heir presumptive (due to agnatic descent, the same principle by which Henry IV claimed the throne in 1399) of Henry’s grandson Henry VI (since Henry IV’s other sons did not have male heirs, and the legitimated Beauforts were excluded from the throne). The House of Lancaster was finally deposed by Edward IV, son of the 3rd Duke of York, during the Wars of the Roses.

Henry avoided the problem of Mortimer having a superior claim by ignoring his own descent from Edward III. He claimed the throne as the rightful heir to King Henry III by claiming that Edmund Crouchback was the elder and not the younger son of Henry III. He asserted that every monarch from Edward I was a usurper, and he, as his mother Blanche of Lancaster was a great-granddaughter of Edmund, was the rightful king. Henry IV also claimed to be king of France, but Henry III had no claim to that throne.

As king, Henry faced a number of rebellions, most famously those of Owain Glyndŵr, the self-proclaimed ruler of Wales, and the English knight Henry Percy (Hotspur), who was killed in the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403. The king suffered from poor health in the latter part of his reign, and his eldest son, Henry of Monmouth, assumed the reins of government in 1410.

The later years of Henry’s reign were marked by serious health problems. He had a disfiguring skin disease and, more seriously, suffered acute attacks of some grave illness in June 1405; April 1406; June 1408; during the winter of 1408–09; December 1412; and finally a fatal bout in March 1413. In 1410, Henry had provided his royal surgeon Thomas Morstede with an annuity of £40 p.a. which was confirmed by Henry V immediately after his succession.

This was so that Morstede would ‘not be retained by anyone else’. Medical historians have long debated the nature of this affliction or afflictions. The skin disease might have been leprosy (which did not necessarily mean precisely the same thing in the 15th century as it does to modern medicine), perhaps psoriasis, or some other disease.

The acute attacks have been given a wide range of explanations, from epilepsy to some form of cardiovascular disease. Some medieval writers felt that he was struck with leprosy as a punishment for his treatment of Richard le Scrope, Archbishop of York, who was executed in June 1405 on Henry’s orders after a failed coup.

According to Holinshed, it was predicted that Henry would die in Jerusalem, and Shakespeare’s play repeats this prophecy. Henry took this to mean that he would die on crusade. In reality, he died in the Jerusalem Chamber in the abbot’s house of Westminster Abbey, on March 20, 1413 during a convocation of Parliament. His executor, Thomas Langley, was at his side.

Burial

Despite the example set by most of his recent predecessors, Henry and his second wife, Joan of Navarre, Queen of England, were not buried at Westminster Abbey but at Canterbury Cathedral, on the north side of Trinity Chapel and directly adjacent to the shrine of St Thomas Becket.

Becket’s cult was then still thriving, as evidenced in the monastic accounts and in literary works such as The Canterbury Tales, and Henry seemed particularly devoted to it, or at least keen to be associated with it. Reasons for his interment in Canterbury are debatable, but it is highly likely that Henry deliberately associated himself with the martyr saint for reasons of political expediency, namely, the legitimisation of his dynasty after seizing the throne from Richard II.

Significantly, at his coronation, he was anointed with holy oil that had reportedly been given to Becket by the Virgin Mary shortly before his death in 1170; this oil was placed inside a distinct eagle-shaped container of gold. According to one version of the tale, the oil had then passed to Henry’s maternal grandfather, Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster.

Henry IV died in 1413, and was succeeded by his son, who reigned as Henry V.

Speaking of Henry IV … his second wife, Joan of Navarre, was arrested for being a witch.

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Charles I the Bold, Friar Randolph, Henry IV of England, Henry V of England, Imprisoned, Jean IV of Brittany, Joan of Navarre, Leeds Castle, Pevensey Castle, Queen of England, Witchcraft

Joan of Navarre, also known as Joanna (c. 1368 – June 10, 1437) was Duchess of Brittany by marriage to Duke Jean IV of Brittany and Count of Montfort from 1345 until his death and 7th Earl of Richmond from 1372 until his death.

Joan of Navarre was later Queen of England by marriage to King Henry IV. She served as regent of Brittany from 1399 until 1403 during the minority of her son. She also served as regent of England during the absence of her stepson, Henry V, in 1415. Four years later her stepson had her imprisoned and confiscated her money and land on the suspicion of being a witch. Joan was released in 1422, shortly before Henry V’s death.

Joan was a daughter of King Charles II of Navarre and Joan of France, the daughter of King Jean II of France (called The Good), and his first wife, Bonne of Luxembourg.

Duchess of Brittany

On October 2, 1386, Joan married her first husband, Duke Jean IV of Brittany. She was his third wife and the only one with whom he had children.

Jean IV died on November 1, 1399 and was succeeded by his and Joan’s son, Jean V. Her son being still a minor, she was made his guardian and the regent of Brittany during his minority. Not long after, King Henry IV of England proposed to marry her. The marriage proposal was given out of mutual personal preference rather than a dynastic marriage. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, affection developed between Joan and Henry while he resided at the Breton court during his banishment from England.

Joan gave a favourable reply to the proposal, but stated that she could not go through with it until she had set the affairs of Brittany in order and arranged for the security of the duchy and her children.

Joan knew that it would not be possible for her to continue as regent of Brittany after having married the king of England, nor would she be able to take her sons with her to England. A papal dispensation was necessary for the marriage, which was obtained in 1402. She negotiated with the Duke Charles I the Bold of Burgundy to make him guardian of her sons and regent of Brittany. Finally, she surrendered the custody of her sons and her power as regent of Brittany to the Duke of Burgundy, who swore to respect the Breton rights and law, and departed for England with her daughters.

Queen of England

On February 7, 1403, Joan married Henry IV at Winchester Cathedral. On the 26th, she held her formal entry to London, where she was crowned Queen of England. Queen Joan was described as beautiful, gracious and majestic, but also as greedy and stingy, and was accused of accepting bribes.

Reportedly, she did not have a good impression of England, as a Breton ship was attacked outside the English coast just after her wedding. She preferred the company of her Breton entourage, which caused offence to such a degree that her Breton courtiers were exiled by order of Parliament, a ban the king did not think he could oppose given his sensitive relation to the Parliament at the time.

Joan and Henry IV had no surviving children, but it appears that in 1403 Joan gave birth to stillborn twins. She is recorded as having had a good relationship with Henry’s children from his first marriage, often taking the side of the future King Henry V in his quarrels with his father. Her daughters returned to France three years after their arrival on the order of their brother, her son.

In 1413, her second spouse, Henry IV, died, and was succeeded by her stepson Henry V. Joan had a very good relationship with Henry, who allowed her use of his royal castles of Windsor, Wallingford, Berkhamsted and Hertford during his absence in France in 1415. Upon his return, however, he brought her son Arthur of Brittany with him as a prisoner. Joan unsuccessfully tried to have him released. This apparently damaged her relationship with Henry.

In August 1419 the goods of her personal confessor, Friar Randolph, were confiscated, although the itemised list shows the objects actually belonged to Joan. The following month, Randolph came before Parliament and claimed that Joan had “plotted and schemed for the death and destruction of our said lord the King in the most evil and terrible manner imaginable”.

On September 27, 1419, (other sorces mention September 30) Joan, was deprived of all her possessions and revenue and four days later, she was arrested on charges of witchcraft. The charges were probably an attempt at claiming her wealth and Joan had no actual dealings with witchcraft.

Her large fortune was confiscated and she was imprisoned at Pevensey Castle in Sussex and later was incarcerated at Leeds Castle in Kent. She was released upon the order of Henry V in 1422, six weeks before he died.

After her release, her fortune was returned to her, and she lived the rest of her life quietly and comfortably with her own court at Nottingham Castle, through Henry V’s reign and into that of his son, Henry VI. She died at Havering-atte-Bower in Essex, and was buried in Canterbury Cathedral next to Henry IV.

Pierre II (1418–1457), Duke of Brittany, Count of Montfort

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Arthur III of Brittany, Duchy of Brittany, Earl of Richmond, Henry IV of England, John IV of Brittany, Kingdom of England, Peter II of Brittany

Pierre II (1418–1457), was Duke of Brittany, Count of Montfort and titularEarl of Richmond, from 1450 to his death. He was son of Duke Jean VI and Jeanne of France, a daughter of Charles VI of France and Isabeau of Bavaria. Pierre II was a younger brother of François I, Duke of Brittany.

While Pierre II was Count of Guingamp, he fought against the English in Normandy in 1449 and in 1450 with his brother, François I, Duke of Brittany, and his uncle the Constable de Richemont.

They took several cities, including Coutances, Saint-Lô and Ferns. Upon the death of his brother in 1450, Peter became Duke. Since François did not have a son, according to the provisions of the first Treaty of Guerande (1365) that did not allow the succession of girls, he appointed Pierre in preference to his own daughters, Margaret and Marie, to succeed him.

Pierre II then pursued the murderers of his other brother, Gilles.

By 1455, Pierre II and his wife, Françoise d’Amboise, had failed to produce offspring. Given the health problems of Pierre II, this raised the question of succession. To prevent the throne of Brittany from falling into foreign hands, the Duke decided to marry his niece, Margaret, the eldest daughter of his deceased brother François, to his cousin, François, Count of Étampes.

To seal the marriage, the Duke summoned the Estates of Brittany, a sovereign court, at Vannes to meet on November 13, 1455, in the upper room of la Cohue. The court, composed of the main Breton lords bishops, abbots and representatives of cities approved the marriage.

The wedding started on November 16 with a grand mass in Saint Peter’s cathedral in Vannes, presided over by the Bishop of Nantes, Guillaume de Malestroit. Further celebrations subsequently took place including banquets, dances and jousts.

During dinner, the Duke led the newly espoused lady to a room in the Hermine, where she sat in the middle of the canopy … The Duke dined in the room with the main Lords … The Duke had the groom near him, under his canopy … After dinner, at about four hours, the dance began with the high minstrels.

The Duke led the Lady Malestroit, Monsieur de Laval led the duchess, other Lords led other Ladies, and continued to dance to the night … The next day the games began, which lasted four days; and after the Lords had passed the time in great joy and feasts they left Vennes.

The relatively short reign of the Duke did not make a mark on history. His contemporaries described Pierre II as simple, well advised by his wife, but little suited to the ducal function, heavy mind as body, prone to mood swings.

He participated in the Battle of Castillon in 1453. While he was still only Count of Guingamp, he had a tomb carved from himself in the Notre-Dame de Nantes which was lost during the French Revolution.

It is said that, in 1803, when the church was being destroyed, the engineer Pierre Fournier opened the tomb but found only a mannequin. It is unknown whether the Duke was actually buried in the tomb.

Family

In June 1442 Pierre married Françoise d’Amboise (1427–1485), daughter of Louis d’Amboise, Viscount of Thouars and Prince of Talmond, Françoise was later beatified by the Catholic Church. The marriage never produced any children.

Succession

Pierre II died in 1457 with no known issue. He was succeeded by his uncle Arthur who became Arthur III, Duke of Brittany.

Arthur III, Duke of Brittany, was more commonly known as Arthur de Richemont. The name Richemont reflects the fact that he inherited the English title of Earl of Richmond, which was held by previous dukes of Brittany, but his tenure was never recognized by the English crown.

Arthur III was a younger son of Duke Jean IV of Brittany and his third wife Joanna of Navarre. Joanna was a daughter of King Charles II of Navarre and Jeanne of France (the daughter of Jean II of France [called The Good], and his first wife, Bonne of Luxembourg).

Joanna of Navarre was later Queen of England by marriage to King Henry IV. She served as regent of Brittany from 1399 until 1403 during the minority of her son. She also served as regent of England during the absence of her stepson, Henry V, in 1415.

After the death of Arthur’s father, the English Crown refused to recognize his heirs as earls. Nevertheless, they continued to style themselves “Count of Richmond”, while the English title was given to John Plantagenet, Duke of Bedford (1389–1435) in 1414.

July 18, 1290: King Edward I of England issues The Edict of Expulsion expelling all Jews from the Kingdom of England.

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Anti-Semitism, Edict of Expulsion, Expulsion of the Jews, Henry IV of England, Jews, Judaism, King Edward I of England, King Henry III of England, Magna Carta, William the Conqueror

The Edict of Expulsion was a royal decree issued by King Edward I of England on July 18, 1290 expelling all Jews from the Kingdom of England. Edward advised the sheriffs of all counties he wanted all Jews expelled by no later than All Saints’ Day (1 November) that year. The expulsion edict remained in force for the rest of the Middle Ages. The edict was not an isolated incident, but the culmination of over 200 years of increasing persecution. The edict was overturned during the Protectorate more than 350 years later, when Oliver Cromwell permitted Jews to return to England in 1657.

Background

The first Jewish communities of significant size came to England with William the Conqueror in 1066. After the conquest of England, William instituted a feudal system in the country, whereby all estates formally belonged to the Crown; the king then appointed lords over these vast estates, but they were subject to duties and obligations (financial and military) to the king. Under the lords were other subjects such as serfs, who were bound and obliged to their lords, and to their lords’ obligations. Merchants had a special status in the system, as did Jews.

Jews were declared to be direct subjects of the king, unlike the rest of the population. This was an ambivalent legal position for the Jewish population, in that they were not tied to any particular lord but were subject to the whims of the king, and it could be either advantageous or disadvantageous. Every successive king formally reviewed a royal charter, granting Jews the right to remain in England. Jews did not enjoy any of the guarantees of the Magna Carta of 1215.

Economically, Jews played a key role in the country. The Church then strictly forbade the lending of money for profit, creating a vacuum in the economy of Europe that Jews filled because of extreme discrimination in every other economic area. Canon law was not considered applicable to Jews, and Judaism does not forbid loans with interest between Jews and non-Jews. Taking advantage of their unique status as his direct subjects, the King could appropriate Jewish assets in the form of taxation. He levied heavy taxes on Jews at will, without having to summon Parliament.

The situation only got worse for Jews as the 13th century progressed. In 1218, Henry III of England proclaimed the Edict of the Badge requiring Jews to wear a marking badge. Taxation grew increasingly intense. Between 1219 and 1272, 49 levies were imposed on Jews for a total of 200,000 marks, a vast sum of money. Henry III imposed greater segregation and reinforced the wearing of badges in the 1253 Statute of Jewry. He endorsed the myth of Jewish child murders.

The first major step towards expulsion took place in 1275, with the Statute of the Jewry. The statute outlawed all lending at interest and gave Jews fifteen years to readjust.
In the duchy of Gascony in 1287, King Edward ordered the local Jews expelled. All their property was seized by the crown and all outstanding debts payable to Jews were transferred to the King’s name. By the time he returned to England in 1289, King Edward was deeply in debt.

The next summer he summoned his knights to impose a steep tax. To make the tax more palatable, Edward, in exchange, essentially offered to expel all Jews. The heavy tax was passed, and three days later, on 18 July, the Edict of Expulsion was issued.

One official reason for the expulsion was that Jews had declined to follow the Statute of Jewry and continued to practice usury. This is quite likely, as it would have been extremely hard for many Jews to take up the “respectable” occupations demanded by the Statute. The edict of expulsion was widely popular and met with little resistance, and the expulsion was quickly carried out.

The Jewish population in England at the time was relatively small, perhaps 2,000 people, although estimates vary. The expulsion process appears to have been relatively non-violent, although there were some accounts to the contrary. One perhaps apocryphal story told of a captain taking a ship full of Jews to the Thames, en route to France, while the tide was low, and convincing them to go out for a walk with him. He then lost them and made it back to his ship quickly before the tide came back in, leaving them all to drown. King Edward was said to be incensed and had the captain executed for the crime.

Many Jews emigrated, to Scotland, France and the Netherlands, and as far as Poland, which guaranteed their legal rights.

Intermediate period

Between the expulsion of Jews in 1290 and their formal return in 1655, there are records of Jews in the Domus Conversorum up to 1551 and even later. An attempt was made to obtain a revocation of the edict of expulsion as early as 1310, but in vain. Notwithstanding, a certain number of Jews appeared to have returned; for complaints were made to the king in 1376 that some of those trading as Lombards were actually Jews.

Occasionally permits were given to individuals to visit England, as in the case of Dr Elias Sabot (an eminent physician from Bologna summoned to attend Henry IV) in 1410, but it was not until the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 and Portugal in 1497 that any considerable number of Sephardic Jews found refuge in England.

In 1542 many were arrested on the suspicion of being Jews, and throughout the sixteenth century a number of persons named Lopez, possibly all of the same family, took refuge in England, the best known of them being Rodrigo López, physician to Queen Elizabeth I, and who is said by some commentators to have been the inspiration for Shylock.
England also saw converts such as Immanuel Tremellius and Philip Ferdinand.

Jewish visitors included Joachim Gaunse, who introduced new methods of mining into England and there are records of visits from Jews named Alonzo de Herrera and Simon Palache in 1614. The writings of John Weemes in the 1630s provided a positive view of the resettlement of Jews in England, effected in 1657.

May 4, 1394: Birth of Philippa of England, Queen Consort of Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

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Eric of Pomerania, Henry Bolingbroke, Henry IV of England, Kingdom of Denmark, Kingdom of England, Kingdom of Norway, Kingdom of Sweden, Mary de Bohun, Philippa of England, Queen Margrethe I of Denmark, Regent, Scandinavia, Union of Kalmar

Philippa of England (June 4, 1394 – January 5, 1430), also known as Philippa of Lancaster, was Queen of Denmark, Norway and Sweden from 1406 to 1430 by marriage to King Eric of Pomerania during the Kalmar Union. She was the daughter of King Henry IV of England by his first spouse Mary de Bohun and the younger sister of King Henry V. Queen Philippa participated significantly in state affairs during the reign of her spouse, and served as regent of Denmark from 1423 to 1425.

Philippa of England

Family and Early life

Philippa was born to Henry Bolingbroke and Mary de Bohun, at Peterborough Castle, Peterborough. Her father became king in 1399. She is mentioned a couple of times during her childhood: in 1403, she was present at her widowed father’s wedding to Joan of Navarre, and the same year, she made a pilgrimage to Canterbury. She mainly lived at Berkhamsted Castle and Windsor Castle.

Henry IV’s first wife Mary de Bohun died at Peterborough Castle, giving birth to her last child Philippa of England. She was buried in the collegiate Church of the Annunciation of Our Lady of the Newarke, Leicester on July 6, 1394.

Henry IV, King of England and Lord of Ireland

Through Mary de Bohun was also a descendant of the Kings of England. Mary was a daughter of Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford (1341-1373) by his wife Joan FitzAlan (1347/8–1419), a daughter of Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel and Eleanor of Lancaster. Through her mother, Mary was descended from Llywelyn the Great.

Mary’s grandmother (Philippe’s great-grandmother) Eleanor of Lancaster, Countess of Arundel (sometimes called Eleanor Plantagenet; 1318-1372) was the fifth daughter of Henry, 3rd Earl of Leicester and Lancaster and Maud Chaworth. Henry, 3rd Earl of Leicester and Lancaster (c. 1281 – 22 September 1345) was a grandson of King Henry III (1216–1272) of England and was one of the principals behind the deposition of King Edward II (1307–1327), his first cousin.

Marriage

In 1400 or 1401, King Henry IV suggested to Queen Margarethe I of Denmark, Norway and Sweden that an alliance be formed between England and the Kalmar Union through a double wedding between Henry’s daughter Philippa to the heir to the Nordic thrones, Eric of Pomerania, and Henry’s son Henry to Eric’s sister Catherine.

Eric of Pomerania (1381 or 1382 – September 24, 1459) was the ruler of the Scandinavian Kalmar Union from 1396 until 1439, succeeding his grandaunt, Queen Margarethe I. He is numbered Eric III as King of Norway (1389–1442), Eric VII as King of Denmark (1396–1439) and Eric XIII as King of Sweden (1396–1434, 1436–39). Later, in all three countries he became more commonly known as Eric of Pomerania.

Eric of Pomerania, King of Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

Queen Margarethe could not agree to the terms and the marriage between Henry and Catherine never occurred. In 1405, however, a Scandinavian embassy composed of two envoys from each of the three Nordic kingdoms arrived in England, and the marriage between Philippa and Eric was proclaimed.

The November 26, 1405, Philippa was married to Eric by proxy in Westminster, with the Swedish nobleman Ture Bengtsson Bielke as the stand-in for the groom, and on December 8, she was formally proclaimed Queen of Denmark, Norway and Sweden in the presence of the Nordic ambassadors.

Philippa left England from Lynn in August 1406 with an entourage of male and female English nobles and arrived in Helsingborg in September, where she was greeted by Eric and Queen Margaret. The wedding between Philippa and Eric of Pomerania took place on October 26, 1406 in Lund Cathedral.

Philippa was the first documented princess in history to wear a white wedding dress during a royal wedding ceremony: she wore a tunic with a cloak in white silk bordered with grey squirrel and ermine. The wedding ceremony was followed by her coronation.

The festivities lasted until November, during which several men were knighted and Philippa’s dowry was officially received by the court chamberlain and clerics from the three kingdoms. Philippa was in turn granted dower lands in all three kingdoms: Närke and Örebro In Sweden, Fyn with Odense and Nasbyhoved in Danmark, and Romerike in Norway.

Queen and Regent

Queen Philippa and King Eric lived in Kalmar Castle in Sweden with their court the first three years of their marriage. Philippa was given her own court, supervised by her chief lady in waiting, Lady Katarina Knutsdotter, a granddaughter of Saint Bridget of Sweden through Lady Märta Ulfsdotter, who had been the chief lady in waiting of Queen Margarethe herself.

From 1409 onward, and particularly after the death of Queen Margarethe I in 1412, when Eric became King de facto, the royal couple mainly resided in Denmark. However, Philippa frequently returned to Sweden, and as she had lived there during her first years in Scandinavia, she was given a close relationship to Sweden, of the three Kingdoms, from the beginning.

Queen Philippa was actively involved in state affairs. By the Pomeranian Act of Succession of 1416, Eric named his cousin Bogusław IX of Pomerania as heir to the three Kingdoms if his marriage to Philippa remained childless. When Eric left to participate in warfare in Femern in 1420, the Act was amended and Philippa was given an active role. The revised Act stated that upon the death of Eric, Queen Philippa should be appointed Regent of the realm until Bogusław could be instated as King; and should Bogusław inherit the three Kingdoms while still a minor, Philippa would serve as Regent during his minority.

Eric evidently had great trust in Philippa. Both ancient and modern authors give a favourable account of her rule. It is said that in certain matters she was more efficient than Eric. However, scholars have largely accepted this judgment of the Queen without going into detail. Her great dower lands in Sweden increased Philippa’s interest in this Kingdom, and while Eric preferred to reside in Denmark, Philippa made such frequent and long visits in Sweden, where she acted as Eric’s proxy while present, that she was the de facto Regent of Sweden for the most part of the 1420s, though not formally made such.

In the spring of 1426, Philippa was sent to Sweden by Eric where she summoned the Swedish council in Vadstena and managed to secure support and funds for the Dano-Hanseatic War (1426–35) despite the Swedish opposition to this war. In January 1427, when the war was going the wrong way for Eric, she summoned the Swedish council to Nyköping, where she again managed to secure Swedish support for Eric in his war. At this visit, she also acquired additional Swedish estates to support her future in Sweden, where she evidently planned to retire as a widow.

In March 1427 she returned to Denmark where she stayed for three years during the war. In 1428, Philippa successfully organized the defense of the Danish capital against the attack of the Hanseatic League during the 1428 bombardment of Copenhagen. She was hailed as a heroine by the people of Copenhagen for rallying the citizens to fight the Hanseatic fleet in Copenhagen Harbor.

In late 1429, Philippa left for Sweden, officially on a mission from Eric to secure support for his war in Sweden, where the war had been opposed from the start. In Sweden, she traveled to Vadstena Abbey as usual, where she was welcomed by a delegation of Swedish riksråd. Not long after her arrival, however, she fell ill.

This was an attack of some kind of a recurring illness which had been noted to affect her at times for at least the previous five years. The queen bore a stillborn boy and her health deteriorated after the stillbirth. She died on January 5, 1430 at the age of 35 and was buried in the Cloister Church at Vadstena, close to Linköping in Östergötland, Sweden. She made several donations to Vadstena Abbey in her will. After her death Eric formed a relationship with a former lady-in-waiting of Philippa’s, Cecilia.

12. Crown of Margaret of York & Crown of Princess Blanche

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Blanche of Lancaster, Crown of Blanche of Lancaster, Crown of Bohemia, Crown of Margaret of York, Elector Ludwig III of the Rhine, Henry IV of England, House of Lancaster, House of York, Margaret of York, Richard Plantagenet

Crown of Margaret of York & Crown of Princess Blanche

From the Emperor’s Desk: Today begins a series of examining the history of my Top Favorite 12 Crowns of Europe (well, 13 because there is a tie for the 12th place).

Crown of Margaret of York

Margaret of York

Margaret of York (May 3, 1446 – November 23, 1503)—also by marriage known as Duchess Margaret of Burgundy—as the third wife of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy and acted as a protector of the Burgundian State after his death. She was a daughter of Richard, 3rd Duke of York, and Cecily Neville, and the sister of two kings of England, Edward IV and Richard III. She was born at Fotheringhay Castle, Northamptonshire, in the Kingdom of England, and she died at Mechelen in the Low Countries.

The celebrations that followed the Margaret of York’s wedding to Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy were extravagant even by the standards of the Burgundians, who were already noted for their opulence and generous festivities. The bride made her Joyous Entry in a golden litter drawn by white horses, wearing upon her head a golden crown.

Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy

When the Duke and Duchess of Burgundy appeared in Burgundy together for the first time, both wore magnificent crowns. Margaret’s crown was adorned with pearls, and with enamelled white roses for the House of York set between red, green and white enamelled letters of the Latinization of her name (“Margarita de York”, m ar ga ri ta de yo rk), with gold Cs and Ms, entwined with lovers’ knots (it can still be seen in the treasury at Aachen Cathedral).

The removal of the crown to Aachen was significant, since it allowed its survival from the ravages of the later English Civil War which involved the destruction of all the main English Crown Jewels. It thus remains one of only two medieval royal British crowns still surviving, the other being the Crown of Princess Blanche.

Charles the Bold wore an equally splendid crown, accompanied by a golden gown encrusted with diamonds, pearls and great jewels. The parades, the streets lined with tapestry hung from houses, the feasting, the masques and allegorical entertainments, the jewels, impressed all observers as “the marriage of the century”. It is reenacted at Bruges for tourists every five years with the next event in 2022, the last one having taken place in August 2017.

The Crown of Princess Blanche of Lancaster, also called the Palatine Crown or Bohemian Crown, is the oldest surviving royal crown known to have been in England, and probably dates to 1370–80.

The Crown of Princess Blanche of Lancaster

Blanche of England, (spring 1392 – May 22, 1409), also known as Blanche of Lancaster, was a member of the House of Lancaster, the daughter of King Henry IV of England by his first wife Mary de Bohun.

Her crown is made of gold with diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires, enamel and pearls. Its height and diameter are both 18 centimetres (7.1 in). The crown has been a property of the House of Wittelsbach since 1402, when it came with Princess Blanche of England, daughter of King Henry IV of England, on her marriage to Ludwig III, Elector Palatine.

The crown is made up of 12 hexagonal rosettes on the base each supporting a gold stem topped by a lily. The stems and lilies alternate in size and height. They are heavily jewelled versions of the fleur de lys (lily flower) that was popular for medieval crowns. In the middle of the hexagons, which have enamelled white flowers overlaid onto a translucent blue or red background, is a pale blue sapphire, 11 of which are oval and 1 is hexagonal. Each point is decorated with alternating rubies and clusters of four pearls that have a small diamond at the centre. In addition to diamonds, pearls, and sapphires, the lilies are also decorated with emeralds.

Detail of two hexagons mounted on the base with alternating arrangements of jewels and pearls

Some of the original pearls may have been replaced when the crown was restored in 1925. The lily stems are detachable, and it is possible to fold the crown’s base so that it can be transported more easily. Each rosette is numbered 1–12 to make sure the lilies are re-attached correctly. The crown is 18 centimetres (7.1 in) in both height and diameter.

The nuptial crown is first documented in the inventory of King Richard II of England It was recorded again in a 1399 list of royal jewels being moved across London which had been owned by the deposed Richard II and others. Therefore, the crown had most likely belonged to Queen Anne of Bohemia, the wife of Richard II, whom she married in 1382.

The crown came to the Palatine line of the House of Wittelsbach as dowry of Blanche of England, daughter of King Henry IV of England. After his accession to the English throne, Henry wanted to make important alliances in order to maintain and legitimize his rule. One ally whose support he hoped to gain was the Wittelsbach King Rupert of Germany, who also took the German throne after the deposition of King Wenceslaus. A marriage between Rupert’s eldest surviving son, Ludwig, and Henry IV’s eldest daughter, Blanche, was soon arranged.

On March 7, 1401, the marriage contract was signed in London, and the bride’s dowry was fixed at 40,000 nobles. In 1402, prior to the wedding of Blanche and Ludwig III, it was restored by a London goldsmith, who added a twelfth rosette and replaced the missing emerald and pearls on the fleurons.

The new rosette contained 12 pearls, 3 diamonds, 3 balas rubies, and 1 sapphire. In total, 1 6⁄8 ounces (50 g) of gold were added to the crown. Blanche wore the crown at her wedding, which took place on 6 July 1402 at Cologne Cathedral in the Holy Roman Empire. In 1421, it was pawned to Maulbronn Monastery, and by that time several gems and pearls had been taken out.

King Henry IV of England: Part III.

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5th Earl of March, Duke of York, Edmund Mortimer, Edward III of England, Henry Bolingbroke, Henry IV of England, House of Lancaster, Kings and Queens of England, Richard Plantagenet, Salic Law

When Richard II was forced to abdicate the throne in 1399, Henry Bolingbroke was next in line to the throne according to Edward III’s entailment of 1376. That entailment clearly reflects the operation of agnatic primogeniture, also known as the Salic law. At this time, it was by no means a settled custom for the daughter of a king to supersede the brothers of that king in the line of succession to the throne. Indeed, it was not an established belief that women could inherit the throne at all by right: the only previous instance of succession passing through a woman had been that which involved the Empress Matilda, and this had involved protracted civil war, with the other protagonist being the son of Matilda’s father’s sister (not his brother).

Edward III, King of England, Lord of Ireland

Yet, the heir of the royal estate according to common law (by which the houses and tenancies of common people like peasants and tradesmen passed) was Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March, who descended from the daughter of Edward III’s third son (second to survive to adulthood), Lionel of Antwerp.

Bolingbroke’s father, John of Gaunt, was Edward’s fourth son and the third to survive to adulthood. The problem was solved by emphasising Henry IV’s descent in a direct male line, whereas Edmund’s descent was through his grandmother.

The official account of events claims that Richard voluntarily agreed to resign his crown to Henry on September 29. The country had rallied behind Henry and supported his claim in parliament. However, the question of the succession never went away. The problem lay in the fact that Henry was only the most prominent male heir, but not the most senior in terms of agnatic descent from Edward III. Although he was heir to the throne according to Edward III’s entail to the crown of 1376, Dr. Ian Mortimer has pointed out in his 2008 biography of Henry IV that this entail had probably been supplanted by an entail made by Richard II in 1399.

Henry IV, King of England, Lord of Ireland

Henry IV thus had to overcome the superior claim of the Mortimers in order to maintain his inheritance. This difficulty compounded when the Mortimer claim was merged with the Yorkist claim in the person of Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York. The Duke of York was the heir-general of Edward III, and the heir presumptive (due to agnatic descent, the same principle by which Henry IV claimed the throne in 1399) of Henry’s grandson Henry VI (since Henry IV’s other sons did not have male heirs, and the legitimated Beauforts were excluded from the throne). The House of Lancaster was finally deposed by Edward IV, son of Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York, during the Wars of the Roses.

Henry IV avoided the problem of Mortimer having a superior claim by ignoring his own descent from Edward III. He claimed the throne as the right heir to King Henry III by claiming that Edmund Crouchback was the elder and not the younger son of King Henry. He asserted that every monarch from Edward I was a usurper, and he, as his mother Blanche of Lancaster was a great-granddaughter of Edmund, was the rightful king. Henry also claimed to be king of France, but Henry III had no claim to that throne.

King Henry IV of England. Part II.

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Byzantine Emperor, Byzantine Empire, De heretico comburendo, Henry IV of England, Lollard, Lollard Movement, Manuel II Palaiologos, Owain Glyndŵr, Prince of Wales, Richard II of England, William Sawtrey

Henry IV ‘s first major problem as monarch was what to do with the deposed Richard II. After an early assassination plot (the Epiphany Rising) was foiled in January 1400, Richard died in prison, probably of starvation. He was 33 years old. Though Henry is often suspected of having his predecessor murdered, there is no substantial evidence to prove that claim.

As king, Henry IV consulted with Parliament frequently, but was sometimes at odds with the members, especially over ecclesiastical matters. On Arundel’s advice, Henry IV obtained from Parliament the enactment of De heretico comburendo in 1401, which prescribed the burning of heretics, at the stake as an act done mainly to suppress the Lollard movement.

De heretico comburendo was one of the strictest religious censorship statutes ever enacted in England. In March 2, 1401 William Sawtrey became the first Lollard to be burned. This law stayed on the books until Section 6 of the Act of Supremacy 1558 repealed De heretico comburendo but it was not until March 1677 that a bill to take away the Crown’s right to the writ was introduced in the House of Commons. It passed in that session.

Lollard priest William Sawtrey was burned at Smithfield for heresy — the first known heresy execution in England.

Henry spent much of his reign defending himself against plots, rebellions and assassination attempts. Rebellions continued throughout the first 10 years of Henry’s reign, including the revolt of Owain Glyndŵr, who declared himself Prince of Wales in 1400, and the rebellions led by Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, from 1402. The rebellions of Henry Percy advanced into the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403. After this battle, Henry IV’s son, Prince Henry, was left with an arrow penetrated in the left hand side of his face under his eye.

Henry IV, King of England, Lord of Ireland

Foreign relations

Early in his reign, Henry hosted the visit of Manuel II Palaiologos, the only Byzantine Emperor ever to visit England, from December 1400 to January 1401 at Eltham Palace, with a joust being given in his honour. Henry also sent monetary support with Manuel II upon his departure to aid him against the Ottoman Empire.

In 1406, English pirates captured the future James I of Scotland, aged eleven, off the coast of Flamborough Head as he was sailing to France. James was delivered to the English king and remained a prisoner for the rest of Henry’s reign.

Final illness and death

The later years of Henry’s reign were marked by serious health problems. He had a disfiguring skin disease and, more seriously, suffered acute attacks of some grave illness in June 1405; April 1406; June 1408; during the winter of 1408–09; December 1412; and finally a fatal bout in March 1413. In 1410, Henry had provided his royal surgeon Thomas Morstede with an annuity of £40 p.a. which was confirmed by Henry V immediately after his succession.

Medical historians have long debated the nature of this affliction or afflictions. The skin disease might have been leprosy (which did not necessarily mean precisely the same thing in the 15th century as it does to modern medicine), perhaps psoriasis, or some other disease. The acute attacks have been given a wide range of explanations, from epilepsy to some form of cardiovascular disease.

Some medieval writers felt that he was struck with leprosy as a punishment for his treatment of Richard le Scrope, Archbishop of York, who was executed in June 1405 on Henry’s orders after a failed coup.

According to Holinshed, it was predicted that Henry would die in Jerusalem, and Shakespeare’s play repeats this prophecy. Henry took this to mean that he would die on crusade. In reality, he died in the Jerusalem Chamber in the abbot’s house of Westminster Abbey, on March 20, 1413 during a convocation of Parliament. His executor, Thomas Langley, was at his side.