We continue the six hundred year old story about the quest for power. The times have changed, the venue has changed; people have not - nor has the nature of power.
A seven-minute read, 1700 words.
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PROLOGUE Henry IV was the first of three Lancastrian Kings to rule England. The build-up of the Plantagenet family conflict that led to the Wars of the Roses (1455-1485) began with his ascension. Throughout his reign and that of subsequent Lancastrian rulers until 1453, English Royalty pursued their ambitions in France during the Hundred Years War (1377-1453). The stage was set many years earlier. Edward III fathered fourteen (or fifteen) children by Philippe of Hainaut. Their five surviving sons, their children, and grandchildren became active players in the saga of power politics that devolved into the Wars of the Roses. In birth order, the surviving sons from Edward III and Philippa were: 1st Son - Edward of Woodstock (1330-1376), the Prince of Wales, known to history as “The Black Prince,” 2nd Son - Lionel of Antwerp (1338-1376), Duke of Clarence, 3rd Son - John of Gaunt (1340-1399), Duke of Lancaster, 4th Son - Edmund of Langley (1341-1402), Duke of York, and 5th Son - Thomas of Woodstock (1355-1397), Duke of Gloucester. The Lancaster Plantagenet family chose the red rose as their symbol. The white rose symbolized the York contingent. Richard II’s reign (1377-1399), discussed previously, was Plantagenet and not aligned with either the House of Lancaster or the House of York. His reign introduced the reader to the prevailing mindset and lust for power that beset the Plantagenets for over one hundred years. Henry IV’s story began the same year as that of Richard II. BLANCHE AND JOHN Blanche of Lancaster gave birth to Henry three months after Joan, the Fair Maid of Kent, gave birth to Richard of Bordeaux, who became King Richard II. Henry Bolingbroke came into this world 3 April 1367 at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, England. Blessed or cursed by a double Plantagenet lineage, Henry of Bolingbroke rose to be King of England in 1399 as Henry IV. Henry’s story is embroiled in Plantagenet family intrigue. Henry was the eldest son of John of Gaunt, the third surviving son of Edward III. John’s and Blanche’s story gives us a glimpse of life within the power elite during the English Late Middle Ages. Blanche was the younger of two girls born to Henry de Grosmont, Duke of Lancaster, and Isabella de Beaumont. Fourteen-year-old Blanche married nineteen-year-old John of Gaunt on 19 May 1359. Both Blanche’s mother and father succumbed to the bubonic plague, as did her elder sister, Matilda. The Lancaster title and wealth passed down to Blanche and her husband. The duchy added to the stature of the already powerful and influential John, son of King Edward III. By the end of 1362, John of Gaunt and Blanche were invested as the Duke and Duchess of Lancaster. At that time, Geoffrey Chaucer was a part of the Lancastrian social circle. He appeared to have been taken with the young Blanche. He described her as “bothe fair and bright,” and nature’s “cheef patron of beautee.” When Blanche died, possibly in childbirth, in 1368, John of Gaunt lost his first love. He commissioned Chaucer to write a piece entitled The Deth of Blaunche. John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, was a central player in the Plantagenet family dramas, although he never was King. Before Black Prince Edward, the Prince of Wales died, Gaunt promised his older brother to oversee the reign of Richard II, his nephew, who ascended to the Throne in 1377. Lionel of Antwerp, Edward III’s second surviving son, predeceased the Black Prince and did not factor in the discussions. However, Lionel’s progeny played a critical role during the early years of Henry IV’s reign and again during the Wars of the Roses a few decades later. Gaunt and Blanche had seven children, three of whom survived into adulthood. Henry was the youngest and the only male survivor. First, as Earl of Lancaster and then as Duke of Lancaster, Gaunt possessed vast wealth and magnificent properties throughout England and in London proper. After Blanche’s death, Gaunt maintained a lifelong relationship with his mistress, Katherine Swynford, by whom he fathered four children, all of whom with the surname, Beaufort. The couple married in January 1396, after which Parliament declared their children legitimate. The Beaufort name appeared prominently later in the Wars of the Roses. While Gaunt maintained his relationship with Swynford, he married Constance of Castile in 1371. One daughter, Catherine of Lancaster, survived into adulthood and served as Queen Consort to Henry III of Castile. A son, John, died in early childhood. Constance died in March 1394, after which Gaunt was free to marry Katherine Swynford in 1396. For brevity’s sake, historians and others frequently refer to Gaunt as Lancaster. While he was the progenitor of the Lancaster line, his son, Henry of Bolingbroke, established the House of Lancaster as Henry IV.
COUSINS, RICHARD AND HENRY Richard of Bordeaux and Henry of Bolingbroke were age mates. When the Black Prince and his family returned to England in 1371, there was ample opportunity for the four-year-old cousins to become acquainted and play together at the vast Plantagenet family holdings in and around London. On 23 April 1377, the ten-year-old cousins became Knights of the Garter. Later that year, at Richard II’s coronation on 21 June 1377, Henry of Bolingbroke carried the Curtana, the Sword of Mercy, a ceremonial sword blunted at one end to symbolize mercy. Historians describe Henry of Bolingbroke as short and stocky with reddish-brown hair and brown eyes. He was ambitious. The eldest son of Gaunt cast a different shadow than his father. Gaunt was a tall, dark, imposing man of dramatically different stature. His armor, which has survived through the ages, suggests he was a man six feet-nine inches tall. Henry’s latent or overt ambitions appeared not to impede Gaunt’s promise to support Richard II’s reign. During the early years of Richard II’s reign, Henry of Bolingbroke grew to adulthood, mainly on the sidelines, while Richard faced his tribulations. However, in 1387, nineteen-year-old Henry participated with his uncle, Thomas of Woodstock, to curb the young King’s power. Lancaster, Richard’s protector, was in Spain to pursue his interests there. Richard was on his own to rule as he saw fit. He relied heavily on the advice of his mature advisors, with whom Woodstock and others took exception. There was palpable fear among the gentry that the inconsistent and narcissistic King would strengthen the Crown at their expense. Lords Woodstock, Richard Fitzalan, Thomas Beauchamp, and Thomas Mowbray resolved to impeach Richard II’s allies. Known to history as the Lords Appellant, the aristocrats invoked a procedure called an appeal for treason. With his father away on business, Henry joined forces with the group. In late 1386, the Lords Appellant established a commission to run the government for one year. The Appellants launched an offensive against the King’s forces in 1387 at Radcot Bridge. Under the leadership of Thomas Woodstock, the Appellant forces defeated Richard’s men. In 1388, the Appellants executed eight of Richard II’s supporters for “supporting the King’s struggle for absolute power.” A year later, Richard II regained power and dismissed the Appellants. He elevated Henry’s status to Duke of Hereford. As did other young men of his social class, Henry Bolingbroke conducted military campaigns on the Continent in search of wealth and glory. Henry participated in a “crusade” to the duchy of Lithuania. In 1390, he spent a year there during the unsuccessful siege of Vilnius. Henry ventured to the Holy Land in 1392-1393 as a crusader, where he gained the reputation as a seasoned warrior. During the years of his mature reign (1390 to 1399), Richard II brought the decades-long military campaigns in France to a halt. The King’s program to reduce the hostilities and minimize the expense of supplying forces in France flew in the face of England’s aggressive young aristocrats. The war in France was their ticket to fame and fortune. The Duke of Lancaster’s return to England successfully tempered the discontent with Richard’s reign and policies for several years. Nonetheless, underlying tensions bubbled to the surface in 1398. Bolingbroke and Thomas Mowbray had a falling-out. The two former Appellants planned a duel of honor to settle their dispute. With Gaunt’s blessing, Richard interceded and banished both Henry and Mowbray from the Kingdom, thereby avoiding bloodshed. The King’s action effectively eliminated the flashpoint but did nothing to address the ingrained discontent. Political division among the ruling class persisted. While Richard II had his supporters, Henry Bolingbroke aligned with those increasingly distrustful of Richard’s rule. John of Gault died of natural causes in February 1399. Richard acted to annul cousin Henry’s vast Lancastrian inheritance. He extended Henry’s banishment from ten years to a lifetime punishment. The gentry not aligned with Richard believed that the Crown had overstepped its bounds and put their fortunes and families at risk. Shortly after that, Richard chose to travel to Ireland to address a military matter there. With Richard’s reign out of favor, and Richard out of the country, Henry of Bolingbroke used the window of opportunity to his advantage. He returned to England and amassed the political currency and military might sufficient to reclaim his Lancaster inheritance. The aristocracy supported Henry in the rightness of his claim. Once back in England with significant political support, Henry overstepped his rightful claim to the Lancaster title and wealth. He confronted Richard II upon the man’s return from Ireland. Richard abdicated the Throne without a fight. Henry Bolingbroke received the English Crown on 13 October 1399 as Henry IV. He imprisoned Richard at Pontefract Castle in West Yorkshire. On 14 (or possibly 17) February 1400, one year after John of Gaunt, Richard II’s protector died, Richard perished under mysterious circumstances. In January 1400, a group of Richard’s supporters concocted a plan to kill new King Henry IV on the January 6th celebration of the Epiphany. The Epiphany Rising failed when Henry received advance word of the plot and escaped. The conspirators paid for the rebellion with their lives. The threat to his life convinced Henry IV that a living former King's supporters were a threat to his reign and life. Historical speculation, for which there is some evidence, although it is not conclusive, is that Henry IV ordered Richard’s death by starvation. The cousins and former childhood playmates were thirty-three years old. Next up: Henry IV - The Price of Power
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