Henry IV (c. April 1367 – 20 March 1413), also known as Henry Bolingbroke (having been born at Bolingbroke Castle), was King of England from 1399 to 1413, Lord of Ireland and duke of Aquitaine. Henry was the son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster and a grandson of King Edward III.
When Henry came of age, he was involved in the 1388 revolt of the Lords Appellant against his first cousin, King Richard II. Henry was later exiled from England in 1397. After Henry's father died in 1399, Richard blocked Henry's inheritance to the holdings of the House of Lancaster. So, Henry rallied Lancastrian supporters, imprisoned Richard II and formally deposed him, usurping the throne. These actions later contributed to dynastic disputes in the Wars of the Roses (1455–1487).
Henry was the first English ruler whose mother tongue was English (rather than French) since the Norman Conquest, over 300 years earlier. He was also the first monarch to come from the House of Lancaster. As king, he faced a number of rebellions, most seriously those of Owain Glyndŵr, the last Welshman to claim the title of 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 produced no surviving children. 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.
Henry was born at Bolingbroke Castle, in Lincolnshire, to John of Gaunt and Blanche of Lancaster. His epithet "Bolingbroke" was derived from his birthplace. Gaunt was the third surviving son of King Edward III. Blanche was the daughter of the wealthy royal politician and nobleman Henry, Duke of Lancaster. Gaunt enjoyed a position of considerable influence during much of the reign of his own nephew, King Richard II. Henry's elder sisters were Philippa, Queen of Portugal, and Elizabeth, Duchess of Exeter. He also had five younger half-siblings: a sister, Catherine, later Queen of Castile, born of John of Gaunt's second marriage to Constance of Castile and four children born to Gaunt's mistress, Katherine Swynford. Swynford was originally the governess to Henry's sisters and later became his father's third wife. Her children were later legitimised and were given the surname Beaufort.
Henry's relationship with his stepmother Katherine Swynford was amicable, but his relationship with the Beauforts varied. In his youth, he seems to have been close to all of them, but rivalries with Henry and Thomas Beaufort caused trouble after 1406. Ralph Neville, 4th Baron Neville, married Henry's half-sister Joan Beaufort. Neville remained one of his strongest supporters, and so did his eldest half-brother John Beaufort, even though Henry revoked Richard II's grant to John of a marquessate. Katherine Swynford's son from her first marriage, Thomas, was another loyal companion. Thomas Swynford was Constable of Pontefract Castle, where Richard II is said to have died.
One of Gaunt's esquires, Thomas Burton, was appointed Henry's tutor in December 1374, and a Gascon named William Montendre was made his instructor in military matters in 1376. It was likely Hugh Herle who taught Henry to read and write in English and French and some Latin as well; Herle served as Henry's chaplain for many years. By 1381–1382, Henry is recorded riding, hunting, and travelling with his father, as well as jousting and observing official events. He later became an active and highly successful jouster. He was besieged with King Richard and others in the Tower of London during the Peasants' Revolt in 1381 and narrowly escaped being murdered when the rebels stormed the tower. He was saved by a man named John Ferrour of Southwark, who participated in the Epiphany Rising against Henry, by then king of England, nearly twenty years later and was pardoned.
Henry had a close relationship with his father, but he did not participate much in public affairs while Gaunt was present in England. He accompanied Gaunt to negotiations with the French in Calais in November 1383. He took part in Richard's Scottish campaign with his father's forces in 1385, and he may have also served in an earlier incursion into Scotland by Gaunt. He was summoned to parliament for the first time in October 1385.
In his youth, Henry joined crusading expeditions; contemporaries remarked that he "never lost a battle", and John Gower described him as "full of knighthood and all grace".
Henry experienced a more inconsistent relationship with King Richard II than his father had. First cousins and childhood playmates, they were admitted together as knights of the Order of the Garter in 1377, but Henry participated in the Lords Appellants' rebellion against the king in 1387. After regaining power, Richard did not punish Henry, although he did execute or exile many of the other rebellious barons. In fact, Richard elevated Henry from Earl of Derby to Duke of Hereford.
Henry spent all of 1390 on a "reise", which were annual crusading expeditions organized by the Teutonic Order that attracted knights from all over Europe, who would serve for one winter-campaign as volunteers and then return home. Henry was supporting the unsuccessful siege of Vilnius (capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania) by Teutonic Knights as one such volunteer, together with a retinue of 70 to 80 household knights. During this campaign, he bought captured Lithuanian women and children and took them back to Königsberg to be converted, even though Lithuanians had already been baptised by Polish priests for a decade by then.
Henry's second expedition to Lithuania in 1392 illustrates the financial benefits to the Order of these guest crusaders. His small army consisted of over 100 men, including longbow archers and six minstrels, at a total cost to the Lancastrian purse of £4,360. Despite the efforts of Henry and his English crusaders, two years of attacks on Vilnius proved fruitless. In 1392–93 Henry undertook a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, where he made offerings at the Holy Sepulchre and at the Mount of Olives. Later he vowed to lead a crusade to "free Jerusalem from the infidel", but he died before this could be accomplished.
The relationship between Henry and Richard had a second crisis. In 1398, a remark about Richard's rule by Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk, was interpreted as treason by Henry, who reported it to the king. The two dukes agreed to undergo a duel of honour (called by Richard) at Gosford Green near Caludon Castle, Mowbray's home in Coventry. Yet before the duel could take place, Richard decided to banish Henry from the kingdom (with the approval of Henry's father, John of Gaunt), although it is unknown where he spent his exile, to avoid further bloodshed. Mowbray was exiled for life.
John of Gaunt died in February 1399. Without explanation, Richard cancelled the legal documents that would have allowed Henry to inherit Gaunt's land automatically. Instead, Henry would be required to ask Richard for the lands.
After some hesitation, Henry met the exiled Thomas Arundel, former archbishop of Canterbury, who had lost his position because of his involvement with the Lords Appellant. Sailing from Boulogne, Henry and Arundel returned to England while Richard was on a military campaign in Ireland. With Arundel as his advisor, Henry began a military campaign, confiscating land from those who opposed him and ordering his soldiers to destroy much of Cheshire. Henry initially announced that he intended to reclaim his rights as Duke of Lancaster, though he quickly gained enough power and support to have himself declared King Henry IV, imprison Richard (who died in prison, most probably forcibly starved to death), and bypass Richard's heir-presumptive, Edmund de Mortimer, 5th Earl of March.
Henry's 13 October 1399 coronation at Westminster Abbey may have been the first time since the Norman Conquest that the monarch made an address in English. Henry was also the first king to be anointed with the Virgin Mary's sacred oils.