Historical
and Commemorative Medals
Collection of Benjamin Weiss
HENRY IV DASSIER, Jean: England, 1731, Bronze, 41 mm Henry IV (Henry Bolingbroke) (1367-1413), King of England
(1399-1413), the son of John of Gaunt, was born in Bolingbroke Castle,
Lincolnshire, the first of three 15th -century monarchs from the
House of Lancaster, by his first wife, Blanche. As Henry Bollingbroke he was
exiled in 1399 by Richard II, thus being deprived of the vast Lancastrian
estates left to him by his father. He returned and overthrew Richard,
claiming both the estates and the crown for himself. As a usurper, Henry was
in a weak position and was forced to make concessions to the church,
parliament and the nobility. Nevertheless, he successfully consolidated his
power in the face of repeated uprisings of powerful nobles. Sir Henry Percy,
called Hotspur, staged a brief uprising which ended when the King’s forces
killed the rebel in battle near Shrewsbury, Shropshire in 1403. In 1405
Henry had Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk and Richard Scrope, Archbishop of
York, executed for conspiring with Northumberland to raise another
rebellion. Henry made an alliance with the French faction that was waging
war against his son’s Burgundian friends. As a consequence, tension between
Henry and his son, the Prince, was high. At his death, Henry was succeeded
by his son, who took the title of Henry V. (taken, in part, from Thompson)
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