Henry IV of England

Henry IV (3 April 1367 – 20 March 1413) was a King of England. He was born at Bolingbroke Castle, in Lincolnshire, and so he was often called Henry Bolingbroke.

Henry's father, John of Gaunt, was the third son of King Edward III and had a lot of power in the reign of King Richard II.

Henry and Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk, argued in 1398. Richard ordered Henry to live outside England for ten years with the approval of Henry's father, John of Gaunt, but Thomas de Mowbray was exiled from England for life.

The next year John of Gaunt died, and Richard would not allow Henry to inherit Gaunt's land. Instead, Henry had to ask for the lands from Richard.

Henry met with the exiled Thomas Arundel, former Archbishop of Canterbury. Both of them returned to England while Richard was on a military campaign in Ireland.

With Arundel as his advisor, Henry began a military campaign, took land from those who opposed him and ordered his soldiers to destroy much of Cheshire.

Henry gained enough power and support to have himself declared King Henry IV. He sent King Richard to prison and is believed to have been killed there. Henry bypassed Richard’s seven-year-old heir presumptive, Edmund de Mortimer.

Henry was crowned on 13 October 1399. It was the first time since the Norman Conquest in 1066 that the monarch made a public speech in English. Henry consulted with Parliament frequently but was sometimes at odds with it, especially over religious matters.

On Arundel's advice, Henry was the first English king to allow the burning of heretics, mainly to suppress the Lollard movement.

William Shakespeare wrote two plays about the Henry's life: Henry IV, Pt. 1 and Henry IV, Pt. 2.