1399 - 1413
Born: c.30 May 1366,
Bolingbrooke Castle, Lincolnshire
Acceded: 13 October 1399, Westminster Abbey, London, England
Died: 20 March 1413, Westminster Abbey, London, England
Interred: Canterbury Cathedral, Canterbury, Kent
King Henry IV was the first of the 3 kings of
the House of Lancaster. It was claimed that he was not a very
attractive character. He was a solid looking man with a good
head for business.
He knew how to win a throne by striking down
a feeble adversary and he knew how to keep it by making tactful concessions
to the right people. The crown which he won was no joy to him;
Shakespeare's "Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown" was applied, most
rightly to Henry IV.
His reign was divided into 2 halves.
During the first the king was harassed by rebellions; during the second by
constant ill health and the ambitions of his heir. These 2 divisions
can be studied in dramatic form in the two parts of William Shakespeare's
King Henry the Fourth.
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