DASSIER, Jean: England, 1731, Bronze, 41 mm
Obv: Bust of Henry IV (l) wearing embroidered robe and veil with Lancastrian rose    HENRICUS. IV. D.G. ANG. FR. ET. HIB. REX.
Rev: Tomb surmounted by reclining figure of Death holding a scythe in one hand and an ax in the other, surrounded by military trophies. Below the tomb is a bas-relief representing at left Prince John of Lancaster ordering his officers to suppress the rebellion of Scrope, Archbishop of York, and Mowbry, Earl Marshal. The crushing of the rebel forces is depicted at right. (From Eisler)
On base:  NATUS J366 CORONAT. J399 MORT. J413
Signed:  I.D.
Ref: M.I. i, 12/6; Eimer 28/15; Thompson 26/13; Eisler I, 257/15

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 15^th -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)