Henry IV "Bolingbroke" of England (15 April 1367-20 March 1413) was King of England from 1399 to 1413, succeeding Richard II of England and preceding Henry V of England. He was the son of John of Gaunt and the grandson of King Edward III of England, and he overthrew his tyrannical cousin Richard II in 1399 when his disinherited him from his father's lands. Henry IV became the new king, reigning until his death in 1413.
Biography[]
Duke of Derby and Hereford[]
Bolingbroke in 1398
Henry of Bolingbroke was born on 15 April 1367, the son of John of Gaunt and Blanche of Lancaster. His father was the third surviving child of King Edward III of England, and Henry was the cousin of King Richard II of England, the son of Edward III's son Edward the Black Prince. The two of them were childhood playmates, and they were both invested with the Order of the Garter in 1377. In 1387, he took part in the failed rebellion against the king by the Lords Appellant, but he was granted the duchy of Hereford and went unpunished. In 1390, he took part in the siege of Vilnius in Lithuania to assist the Teutonic Order, and he brought 300 captured Lithuanian princes back to England after taking part in the unsuccessful siege. In 1392, he returned to Lithuania and launched two failed attacks on Vilnius, and he decided to instead make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem rather than launch more futile assaults. In 1398, he was banished from England because he was going to partake in a duel with challenger Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk, who interpreted one of Henry's statements as treason.
Invasion of England[]
Bolingbroke in battle armor
When John of Gaunt died in 1399, King Richard cancelled the legal documents that would have allowed for Henry to inherit his father's lands, disinheriting his cousin. Henry met with the exiled Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Arundel and decided to invade England in June 1399 at the head of a small army, and he was joined by the forces of other nobles that were tired of King Richard's tyranny. He imprisoned King Richard in the Tower of London and had himself crowned king, bypassing the succession laws and becoming "King Henry IV of England".
King of England[]
Coronation of Henry IV, September 1399
On 13 October 1399, Henry was crowned king of England, and he was the first ruler of England after the Norman Conquest to address the English people with the English language, as all of the monarchs from 1066 to 1399 had spoken French as their language. Henry had a complex relationship with Parliament, as he agreed with the suppression of the Lollards, but he refused to weaken the same Catholic Church that had brought him to power. In 1400, he had to deal with the uprising of Owain Glyndwyr in Wales, and he also had to put down Harry Hotspur's uprising. In 1403, his son Henry of Monmouth defeated Hotspur at the Battle of Shrewsbury, killing Hotspur despite taking an arrow to the face. On his death in 1413, his son Henry succeeded him as king.