Henry IV of England

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Henry IV
Illuminated miniature, c. 1402[1]
King of England (more...)
Reign	30 September 1399 – 20 March 1413
Coronation	13 October 1399[2]
Predecessor	Richard II
Successor	Henry V
Born	c. April 1367[3] Bolingbroke Castle, Lincolnshire, England
Died	20 March 1413 (aged 45) Jerusalem Chamber, Westminster, England
Burial	Canterbury Cathedral, Kent, England
Spouses	Mary de Bohun ​ ​ (m. 1381; died 1394)​ Joan of Navarre ​ (m. 1403)​
Issue more...	Henry V, King of England Thomas, Duke of Clarence John, Duke of Bedford Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester Blanche Philippa, Queen of Denmark, Norway and Sweden
House	Lancaster
Father	John of Gaunt
Mother	Blanche of Lancaster
Signature

Henry IV (c. April 1367 – 20 March 1413), also known as Henry Bolingbroke, was King of England from 1399 to 1413. Henry was the son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, himself the son of Edward III.^[2]

Henry was involved in the 1388 revolt of Lords Appellant against Richard II, his first cousin, but he was not punished. However, he was exiled from court in 1398. After his father, John of Gaunt, died in 1399, Richard blocked Henry's inheritance of his father's duchy. That year, Henry rallied a group of supporters, overthrew and imprisoned Richard II, and usurped the throne; these actions later contributed to dynastic disputes in the Wars of the Roses (1455-1487).

As king, Henry faced a number of rebellions, most seriously those of Owain Glyndŵr, the last Welsh Prince of Wales, and the English knight Henry Percy (Hotspur), who was killed in the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403. Henry IV had six children from his first marriage to Mary de Bohun, while his second marriage to Joan of Navarre was childless. Henry and Mary's eldest son, Henry of Monmouth, assumed the reins of government in 1410 as the king's health worsened. Henry IV died in 1413, and his son succeeded him as Henry V.

Unlike his forebears, Henry was the first English ruler whose mother tongue was English (rather than French) since the Norman Conquest, over three hundred years before.^[4]