King Henry IV
1367 – 1413 · Generation XVIII · King of England (r. 1399–1413) · House of Plantagenet
Henry IV Bolingbroke (1367–1413). King of England (r. 1399–1413). Married Mary de Bohun in 1381. The first Lancastrian king, crowned after deposing his cousin. A son of John of Gaunt and grandson of Edward III, he had joined the Lords Appellant against Richard II in 1388 and later suffered exile; it was Richard’s seizure of the Lancastrian inheritance at Gaunt’s death that drove him to return in arms. He was the first English ruler since the Norman Conquest whose mother tongue was English rather than French. His reign was spent beating down rebellions — above all Owain Glyndŵr’s rising in Wales and the revolt of Henry “Hotspur” Percy, killed at the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403. As his health failed, his eldest son took up the reins of government from 1410 until the king’s death.
One of 23 people of House of Plantagenet (1126–1485) in this archive. The longest-reigning English house, counting its Angevin beginning and the rival Lancaster and York branches that fought the Wars of the Roses.
Line of descent: King William I The Conqueror → King Henry I → Matilda the Empress → King Henry II → King John → King Henry III → King Edward I Longshanks → King Edward II → King Edward III → John of Gaunt → King Henry IV.
Parents
- John of Gaunt (1340 – 1399)
- Blanche of Lancaster (1342 – 1368)
Siblings
- John Beaufort (1373 – 1410) (half)
Partners
- Married Mary de Bohun (1368 – 1394) in 1381 — one child together
Children
- King Henry V (1386 – 1422)
Life
- 1367 — Born
- 1381 — Married Mary de Bohun
- 1399 — Henry returns from exile in France to reclaim his estates seized by Richard II; he claims the throne and is crowned. His coronation was the first since the Norman Conquest in which the King's address was in English instead of Norman French.
- 1406 — Henry contracts a leprosy-like illness
- 1413 — Died
- 1413 — Henry dies at Westminster, worn out by constant revolts and shortage of money.