HENRY IV, king of England, first king of the house of Lancaster: b. Bolingbroke, 3 April 1367; d. 19 March 1413. He was the eldest son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster' fourth son of Edward III by the heiress of Edmund, Earl of Lancaster, second son of Henry III. In the reign of Richard II he was made Earl of Derby and Duke of Hereford, and while bearing the latter title appeared in the Parliament of 1398 and preferred an accu sation of treason against Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk. The latter denied the charge and offered to prove his innocence by single combat, which challenge being accepted, the king ap pointed the lists at Coventry; but on the ap pearance of the two champions at the appointed time and place, Richard would not suffer them to proceed. Both were banished the kingdom, Norfolk for life and Hereford for 10 years, shortened by favor to four, with the further privilege of immediately entering upon any in heritance which might accrue to him. On the death of John of Gaunt in 1399 he succeeded to the dukedom of Lancaster, and laid claim, according to agreement, to the great estates at tached to it; but Richard retained possession of the estates. The duke therefore, disregarding the unfinished term of his exile, landed with a small retinue at Ravenspur in Yorkshire, where he was quickly joined by the earls of North umberland and Westmoreland, and soon found himself at the head of 60,000 men. Richard falling into the hands of his enemies, was brought to London by the duke, who now be gan openly to aim at the crown. A resignation was first obtained from Richard, who was then solemnly deposed in Parliament; and Henry unanimously declared lawful king under the title of Henry IV. The death of Richard soon
removed
dangerous rival; yet 'a short time only elapsed before the nobles rebelled against the king of their own creation. The first plot, in 1400, was discovered in time to prevent its success, but an insurrection in Wales, under Owen Glendower, proved more formidable. That chieftain having captured Mortimer, Earl of March, who was descended from Lionel, Duke of Clarence, the second son of Edward III, and therefore the lineal heir to the crown, Henry would not suffer his relation, the Earl of North umberland, to treat for his ransom. He thus offended that powerful nobleman, who, with his son, the famous Hotspur, soon after joined Glendower. The king met the insurgents at Shrewsbury, and a furious battle ensued, 21 July 1403, which ended in the death of Percy and the defeat of his party. A new insurrec tion, headed by the Earl of Nottingham and Scrope, the archbishop of York, broke out in 1405, which was suppressed by the king's third son, Prince John. The archbishop afforded the first example in this kingdom of capital pun ishment inflicted upon a prelate. The rest of this king's reign was comparatively untroubled. Henry was succeeded by his son of the same name. Consult Wylies,