Home > Henry IV of England

Henry IV ( April 3, 1367 – March 20, 1413) was born at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, hence the other name by which he was known, "Henry Bolingbroke". His father, John of Gaunt was the third surviving son of King Edward III of England. After supporting his cousin, King Richard II of England, in some early difficulties, Bolingbroke was exiled and disinherited in 1398. Returning the following year on September 30, 1399 he deposed Richard and took the throne, rising from Henry, Duke of Lancaster to King Henry IV. Henry's coronation, on October 13, 1399, is notable as the first time following the Norman Conquest that the monarch made an address in English.

In 1380 Henry married Mary de BohunMary de Bohun (~1369 June 4, 1394) was the first wife of King Henry IV of England and the mother of King Henry V, but was never queen. The daughter of Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford, she was a great heiress, and her elder sister, Eleanor, became the; they had two daughters and four sons, one was the future Henry V of EnglandHenry V ( August 9 or September 16, 1387 August 31, 1422), King of England, son of Henry IV of England by Mary de Bohun, was born at Monmouth, Wales, in September 1387. On his father's exile in 1398, Richard II took the boy into his own charge, and treate. One of their daughters, Philippa in 1406, married Eric of PomeraniaEric of Pomerania Erik af Pommern (Danish title), Erik av Pommern (Erik III (Norwegian title) or Erik av Pommern (Eric XIII (Swedish title), was adopted by Margaret I of Denmark and became king of Norway ( 1389-1442), of Denmark ( 1412- 1439), and of Swed, king of DenmarkKongeriget Danmark ( In Detail) Motto of the Queen: Guds hjaelp, Folkets kaerlighed, Danmarks styrke (English: God's help, the love of the people, Denmark's strength) Official language Danish Capital Copenhagen Kobenhavn Monarch Margrethe II Prime Ministe, NorwayThe Kingdom of Norway is a Nordic country west of Sweden on the Scandinavian Peninsula. It has a very elongated form and has an extensive coastline along the North Atlantic Ocean, where Norway's famous fjords are found. In addition to Sweden, it borders R and SwedenThe Kingdom of Sweden Konungariket Sverige in Swedish) is a Nordic country in Scandinavia, in Northern Europe. It is bordered by Norway on the west, Finland on the northeast, the Skagerrak and the Kattegat on the southwest, and the Baltic Sea and the Gulf. Mary died in 1394, and in 1403 Henry married Joanna of NavarreJoanna of Navarre ( 1370? 1437) was the daughter of Charles the Bad, King of Navarre. She married John V of Brittany, and they had four sons and four daughters. After he died, in 1403 she became the second wife of Henry IV of England. They had no children, the daughter of Charles d'Albret, King of Navarre. She was the widow of John IV of Brittany, with whom she had four daughters and four sons, but she and Henry had no children.

Henry's reign was marked by widespread rebellion, including the revolt of Owen Glendower who declared himself Prince of Wales in 1400, and the rebellion of Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland. The king's success in putting down these rebellions was due partly to the military ability of his eldest son, Henry, who would later become King Henry V of England. These events form the plot of Shakespeare's Henry IV, part 1.

In 1406, English soldiers captured the future James I of Scotland as he was going to France. James remained a prisoner of Henry for the rest of Henry's reign.

The later years of Henry's reign were marked by serious health problems. He had some sort of disfiguring skin disease, and more seriously suffered acute attacks of some grave illness in June 1405, April 1406, June 1408, during the winter of 1408–9, December 1412, and then finally a fatal bout in March 1413. Medical historians have long debated the nature of this affliction or afflictions. The skin disease might have been leprosy (which in any case didn't mean precisely the same thing as it does to modern medicine), perhaps psoriasis, a symptom of syphilis, or something else. The acute attacks have been given a wide range of explanations, from epilepsy to some from of cardiovascular disease.

In 1413, he died in the Jerusalem Chamber in the house of the Abbot of Westminster. He was buried in Canterbury Cathedral. His body was well embalmed, as an exhumation some centuries later established.