Kings, Queens, Presidents and First Ladies

101. Gwilym ap Jenkin-[18107] (Jenkins ap Gwrgi⁸⁷, Ann Maelog⁷⁴, Joan verch Rhys⁷⁰, Rhys ap Gruffudd⁶⁷, Mabel FitzRobert⁵⁷, William (Earl)⁵⁰, Robert de Caen (Earl)⁴¹, Henry I (King)²¹, William I "the Conqueror" (King)¹¹, Robert I "The Magnificent" (Duke)⁶, Richard "the Good" II (Duke)³, Richard I "The Fearless" (Duke)², William I "Longsword" (Duke)¹).

102. Nicholas Poyntz-[18220] (Elizabeth la Zouche⁸⁸, Millicent de Cantelupe⁷⁵, Eva de Braose⁷¹, Lord William de Braose "Black Will"⁶⁸, Gracia de Briwere "The Dark"⁵⁸, Beatrice de Vaux⁵¹, Rainald (Earl of Cornwall)⁴⁴, Henry I (King)²¹, William I "the Conqueror" (King)¹¹, Robert I "The Magnificent" (Duke)⁶, Richard "the Good" II (Duke)³, Richard I "The Fearless" (Duke)², William I "Longsword" (Duke)¹) died in 1376.

103. John de Botetourte-[19089] (Sir Otto de Botetourte⁸⁹, John de Botetourte⁷⁶, King Edward I Plantagenet "Longshanks"⁷², King Henry III Plantagenet⁶⁹, King John Plantagenet "Lackland"⁶⁶, King Henry II Plantagenet "Curtmantle"⁵², Queen Matilda Adelaide of England⁴⁵, Henry I (King)²¹, William I "the Conqueror" (King)¹¹, Robert I "The Magnificent" (Duke)⁶, Richard "the Good" II (Duke)³, Richard I "The Fearless" (Duke)², William I "Longsword" (Duke)¹) was born c1333 in Mendleshom, Suffolk, England and died in 1377 in Hamerton, Huntingtonshire, England at age 44.

John married Katherine de Weyland-[19090] [MRIN:6562]. Katherine was born about 1337 and died after 1377.

+ 128 M i. Sir John Knyvet II-[19091] was born about 1358 and died on 12-4-1418 in Mendleshom, Suffolk, England about age 60.

104. Amy (Joan) de Gaveston-[18250] (Margaret de Clare⁹⁰, Joan of Acre⁷⁸, King Edward I Plantagenet "Longshanks"⁷², King Henry III Plantagenet⁶⁹, King John Plantagenet "Lackland"⁶⁶, King Henry II Plantagenet "Curtmantle"⁵², Queen Matilda Adelaide of England⁴⁵, Henry I (King)²¹, William I "the Conqueror" (King)¹¹, Robert I "The Magnificent" (Duke)⁶, Richard "the Good" II (Duke)³, Richard I "The Fearless" (Duke)², William I "Longsword" (Duke)¹) was born about 1-6-1312.

Amy married John de Driby-[18251] [MRIN:6190] in 1334. John was born about 1310 and died after 11-30-1357.

+ 129 F i. Alice de Driby-[18252] was born about 1340 and died on 10-12-1412 about age 72.

105. Baroness Margaret de Audley-[18280] (Margaret de Clare⁹⁰, Joan of Acre⁷⁸, King Edward I Plantagenet "Longshanks"⁷², King Henry III Plantagenet⁶⁹, King John Plantagenet "Lackland"⁶⁶, King Henry II Plantagenet "Curtmantle"⁵², Queen Matilda Adelaide of England⁴⁵, Henry I (King)²¹, William I "the Conqueror" (King)¹¹, Robert I "The Magnificent" (Duke)⁶, Richard "the Good" II (Duke)³, Richard I "The Fearless" (Duke)², William I "Longsword" (Duke)¹) was born about 1318 and died on 9-16-1349 in Tonbridge, Kent about age 31.

Margaret married Sir Ralph de Stafford-[18281] [MRIN:6207] before 7-6-1336. Ralph was born on 9-24-1301 in Tunbridge Castle, Staffordshire, England and died on 8-31-1372 in Tunbridge Castle, Staffordshire, England at age 70.

+ 130 F i. Katherine de Stafford-[18282] was born in 1340 in Tunbridge Castle, Staffordshire, England and died before 12-25-1361.

106. Elizabeth de Bohun-[18072] (Earl William de Bohun⁹², Princess Elizabeth Plantagenet⁸¹, King Edward I Plantagenet "Longshanks"⁷², King Henry III Plantagenet⁶⁹, King John Plantagenet "Lackland"⁶⁶, King Henry II Plantagenet "Curtmantle"⁵², Queen Matilda Adelaide of England⁴⁵, Henry I (King)²¹, William I "the Conqueror" (King)¹¹, Robert I "The Magnificent" (Duke)⁶, Richard "the Good" II (Duke)³, Richard I "The Fearless" (Duke)², William I "Longsword" (Duke)¹) died in 1385.

Elizabeth married Richard FitzAlan-[18071] [MRIN:6096], son of Richard FitzAlan-[18576] and Eleanor of Lancaster-[18584]. Richard was born in 1346 and died in 1397 at age 51.

107. Pernel Butler-[18323] (Alionore de Bohun⁹³, Princess Elizabeth Plantagenet⁸¹, King Edward I Plantagenet "Longshanks"⁷², King Henry III Plantagenet⁶⁹, King John Plantagenet "Lackland"⁶⁶, King Henry II Plantagenet "Curtmantle"⁵², Queen Matilda Adelaide of England⁴⁵, Henry I (King)²¹, William I "the Conqueror" (King)¹¹, Robert I "The Magnificent" (Duke)⁶, Richard "the Good" II (Duke)³, Richard I "The Fearless" (Duke)², William I "Longsword" (Duke)¹) was born in 1327 and died in 1365 at age 38.

Pernel married Baron Gilbert Talbot IV-[18324] [MRIN:6230] before 9-8-1352. Gilbert was born about 1332 in Eccleswall, Herefordshire and died on 4-24-1387 in Roales, Spain about age 55.

108. Henry V Lancaster-[20078] (Mary de Bohun⁹⁴, Princess Elizabeth Plantagenet⁸¹, King Edward I Plantagenet "Longshanks"⁷², King Henry III Plantagenet⁶⁹, King John Plantagenet "Lackland"⁶⁶, King Henry II Plantagenet "Curtmantle"⁵², Queen Matilda Adelaide of England⁴⁵, Henry I (King)²¹, William I "the Conqueror" (King)¹¹, Robert I "The Magnificent" (Duke)⁶, Richard "the Good" II (Duke)³, Richard I "The Fearless" (Duke)², William I "Longsword" (Duke)¹) was born in 1387 and died in 1422 at age 35.

General Notes: born Sept. 16, 1387, Monmouth, Monmouthshire, Wales
died Aug. 31, 1422, Bois de Vincennes, Fr.

King of England (1413–22) of the House of Lancaster, son of Henry IV. As victor of the Battle of Agincourt (1415, in the Hundred Years' War with France), he made England one of the strongest kingdoms in Europe.

Henry was the eldest son of Henry, earl of Derby (afterward Henry IV), by Mary de Bohun. On his father's exile in 1398, Richard II took the boy into his own charge, treated him kindly, and knighted him in 1399. Henry's uncle, Henry Beaufort, bishop of Winchester, seems to have been responsible for his training, and, despite his early entry into public life, he was well educated by the standards of his time. He grew up fond of music and reading and became the first English king who could both read and write with ease in the vernacular tongue. On Oct. 15, 1399, after his father had become king, Henry was created earl of Chester, duke of Cornwall, and prince of Wales, and soon afterward, duke of Aquitaine and Lancaster. From October 1400 the administration of Wales was conducted in his name, and in 1403 he took over actual command of the war against the Welsh rebels, a struggle that absorbed much of his restless energy until 1408. Thereafter he began to demand a voice in government and a place on the council, in opposition to his ailing father and Thomas Arundel, archbishop of Canterbury. The stories of Prince Henry's reckless and dissolute youth, immortalized by Shakespeare, and of the sudden change that overtook him when he became king, have been traced back to within 20 years of his death and cannot be dismissed as pure fabrication. This does not involve accepting them in the exaggerated versions of the Elizabethan playwrights, to which the known facts of his conduct in war and council provide a general contradiction. Probably they represent no more than the natural ebullience of a young man whose energies found insufficient constructive outlet. The most famous incident, his quarrel with the chief justice, Sir William Gascoigne, was a Tudor invention, first related in 1531.

Henry succeeded his father on March 21, 1413. In the early years of his reign his position was threatened by an abortive Lollard rising (January 1414) and by a conspiracy (July 1415) of Richard of York, earl of Cambridge, and Henry, Lord Scrope of Masham, in favour of Edmund Mortimer, earl of March. On each occasion Henry was forewarned and the opposition was suppressed without mercy. Neither incident long distracted him from his chief concern: his ambitious policy toward France. Not content with a demand for possession of Aquitaine and other lands ceded by the French at the Treaty of Calais (1360), he also laid claim to Normandy, Touraine, and Maine (the former Angevin holdings) and to parts of France that had never been in English hands. Although such demands were unlikely to be conceded even by the distracted government of France under King Charles VI, Henry seems to have convinced himself that his claims were just and not a merely cynical cover for calculated aggression. Yet if “the way of justice” failed, he was ready to turn to “the way of force”; and warlike preparations were well advanced long before the negotiations with Charles, initiated during the reign of Richard II, were finally broken off in June 1415.

Henry V's true genius is revealed in the planning and execution of his subsequent campaigns for the conquest of France. Before hostilities began, his diplomatic skill was exerted in an effort to secure the support or at least the neutrality of John the Fearless, duke of Burgundy. His attempts to deprive France of maritime assistance show an awareness of the importance of sea power unusual in medieval kings, and after the Battle of the Seine (August 1416), England's naval mastery of the Channel was not seriously disputed. At home, Henry turned to the systematic financing of his projected invasion, partly through large-scale borrowing, partly through parliamentary taxation, the generosity of which reflects his success in arousing national enthusiasm for the war. Henry began the struggle with the wholehearted support of the magnates and the backing of a united nation. His military strategy was conceived with equal ability. It stands in marked contrast with the haphazard and spasmodic operations of the English in France in the previous century. His main objective, to which the winning of battles was largely irrelevant, was the systematic reduction of the great towns and fortresses of northern France. These, kept as headquarters of permanent English garrisons, would become focal points for the subjection of the surrounding countryside; behind the soldiers were to come administrators and tax collectors, who would make the war pay for itself. Despite the forethought and grasp this plan displayed, its execution took longer than Henry had anticipated. It absorbed his energies for seven years and brought him to an early grave.

His first campaign brought the capture of Harfleur (September 1415) and the great victory of Agincourt (Oct. 25, 1415). This resounding triumph made Henry the diplomatic arbiter of Europe: it won him a visit (1416) from the Holy Roman emperor Sigismund, with whom he made a treaty of alliance at Canterbury (1416) and whose influence was used to detach Genoa from its naval alliance with France. The cooperation of the two rulers led directly to the ending of the papal schism through the election of Martin V (1417), an objective that Henry had much at heart. Thereafter he returned to the long, grim war of sieges and the gradual conquest of Normandy. Rouen, the capital of northern France, surrendered in January 1419, and the murder of Duke John of Burgundy in September 1419 brought him the Burgundian alliance. These successes forced the French to agree to the Treaty of Troyes on May 21, 1420. Henry was recognized as heir to the French throne and regent of France, and Catherine, the daughter of Charles, was married to him on June 2. He was now at the height of his power: but his triumph was short-lived. His health grew worse at the sieges of Melun and Meaux, and he died of camp fever at the château of Vincennes in 1422.

Henry's character is by no means wholly admirable. Hard and domineering, he was intolerant of opposition and could be ruthless and cruel in pursuit of his policy. His lack of chivalrous qualities deprives him of any claim to be regarded as “the typical medieval hero.” Yet contemporaries united in praising his love of justice, and even French writers of his own day admired him as a brave, loyal, and upright man, an honorable fighter, and a commanding personality in whom there was little of the mean and the paltry. Although personally lacking in warmth, he had the capacity to inspire devotion in others, and he possessed high qualities of leadership. His piety was genuine, and on his deathbed he expressed a last wish that he might live to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem in a new crusade. In respect of ability, he must rank high among English kings. His achievement was remarkable: it has been rightly observed that “he found a nation weak and drifting and after nine years left it dominant in Europe.” The tragedy of his reign was that he used his great gifts not for constructive reform at home but to commit his country to a dubious foreign war. His premature death made success abroad unlikely and condemned England to a long, difficult minority rule by his successor.

Henry married Katherine of France-[20082] [MRIN:6826]. Katherine was born in 1401 and died in 1437 at age 36.

109. Edward Plantagenet "Black Prince"-[18651] (King Edward Plantagenet III⁹⁵, King Edward Plantagenet II⁸², King Edward I Plantagenet "Longshanks"⁷², King Henry III Plantagenet⁶⁹, King John Plantagenet "Lackland"⁶⁶, King Henry II Plantagenet "Curtmantle"⁵², Queen Matilda Adelaide of England⁴⁵, Henry I (King)²¹, William I "the Conqueror" (King)¹¹, Robert I "The Magnificent" (Duke)⁶, Richard "the Good" II (Duke)³, Richard I "The Fearless" (Duke)², William I "Longsword" (Duke)¹) was born on 6-15-1330 in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England and died on 6-8-1376 in Westminster, England at age 45.

General Notes: born June 15, 1330, Woodstock, Oxfordshire, Eng.
died June 8, 1376, Westminster, near London

Also called Edward Of Woodstock, Prince D'aquitaine, Prince Of Wales, Duke Of Cornwall, Earl Of Chester son and heir apparent of Edward III of England and one of the outstanding commanders during the Hundred Years' War, winning his major victory at the Battle of Poitiers (1356). His sobriquet, said to have come from his wearing black armour, has no contemporary justification and is found first in Richard Grafton's Chronicle of England (1568).

Edward was created Earl of Chester (March 1333), Duke of Cornwall (February 1337)—the first appearance of this rank in England—and Prince of Wales (May 1343); he was Prince of Aquitaine from 1362 to 1372. His first campaign was served under his father in northern France (1346–47), and at the Battle of Crécy (Aug. 26, 1346) he won both his spurs and the famous ostrich plumes and with them the mottoes used by himself and subsequent princes of Wales, homout; ich dene (“Courage; I serve”; the words are here spelled as Edward himself wrote them; later variants include houmout and ich dien or ich diene). One of the original Knights of the Garter, he was sent to France with independent command in 1355, winning his most famous victory over the French at Poitiers on Sept. 19, 1356. The French king John II,brought captive to England, was treated by the prince with a celebrated courtesy, but he was obligated to pay a ransom of 3,000,000 gold crowns and to negotiate the treaties of Brétigny and Calais (1360) by which Aquitaine was ceded to the English.

Edward married his cousin Joan, the divorced and widowed Countess of Kent, in October 1361. He was created Prince of Aquitaine in July 1362 and left England in 1363 to take up his duties. His powers and his opportunities were great, but his rule was a failure, and he himself was largely to blame. His court at Bordeaux, that of a foreign conqueror, was extravagant; the 13 sénéchaussées into which the principality was divided administratively followed their earlier French pattern and allowed local French loyalties to subsist; his relations with the many bishops were unfriendly, while the greater nobles, Arnaud-Amanieu, sire d'Albret, Gaston II, Count de Foix, and Jean I, Count d'Armagnac, were hostile. He summoned several estates, or parliaments, but always to levy taxes. In 1367 he undertook to restore Peter the Cruel of Castile to his throne, and though he won a classic victory at Nájera on April 3, 1367, the campaign ruined his health, his finances, and any prospect of sound rule in Aquitaine, where, in 1368, the nobles and prelates appealed against him to Charles V of France as suzerain. Edward's reply to the French king's citation to answer the appellants before the parlement of Paris in May 1369 is well known—he would appear with 60,000 men at his back. He had, however, alienated the towns and peasantry as well as the nobles; and by March 1369 more than 900 towns, castles, and strong places had declared against him. Relying on mercenaries whom he could not afford to pay, he was powerless to quell the revolt, and the terrible sack of Limoges (October 1370) merely redounded to his discredit. He returned to England a sick and broken man in January 1371 and formally surrendered his principality to his father in October 1372, alleging that the revenues of the country were insufficient to defray his expenses. He had no successor as Prince of Aquitaine.

Edward's position in England, where, throughout his life, he was heir apparent, was that of a typical 14th-century magnate. The registers of his household from 1346 to 1348 and from 1351 to 1365 have survived and add to what is known of him from the chroniclers and from his biographer, the herald of Sir John Chandos. In one important respect all of these sources paint the same picture, that of a man constantly living beyond his means. His generosity, however, extended to his tenants as well as to his knightly companions, and faithful service was rewarded, as in 1356 when the ferry of Saltash was granted to William Lenche, who had lost an eye at Poitiers.

The prince visited Chester in 1353 and again in 1358. Cheshire furnished many of his archers, who wore a rudimentary uniform of a short coat and hatof green and white cloth with the green on the right. Despite his title, however, Edward did not visit Wales.

He appears to have shared the interests of his class—jousting, falconry, hunting, gaming. He was literate and conventionally pious, substantially endowing a religious house at Ashridge (1376). He had the customary fine presence of the Plantagenets and shared their love of jewels. The Black Prince's ruby in the present imperial state crown may or may not have been given to him by King Peter of Castile after the Battle of Nájera, but he would certainly have prized it, as a connoisseur. Similar artistic interest is shown inhis seals, adorned with their ostrich feathers, and in the elegant gold coins that he issued as Prince of Aquitaine.

The last five years of the prince's life are obscure. Some contemporaries suggest that he supported the Commons when political discontent culminated in the Good Parliament of April 1376; but he knew he was dying, and he was probably seeking the best means to ensure the succession of his second—but only surviving—son, Richard of Bordeaux (afterward Richard II). Edward was buried at Canterbury, where his tomb with his accoutrements, restored and renovated, still stands.

Edward married Joan Maid of Kent-[18652] [MRIN:6400]. Joan was born in 1328 and died in 1385 at age 57.

136 M i. King of England Richard Plantagenet II-[18682] was born on 1-6-1367 in Bordeaux, Gascony, died on 2-14-1400 in Pontefract Castle at age 33, and was buried in Westminster Abbey, London.

General Notes: born January 6, 1367, Bordeaux [now in France]
died February 1400, Pontefract, Yorkshire [now in West Yorkshire], England

king of England from 1377 to 1399. An ambitious ruler, with a lofty conception of the royal office, he was deposed by his cousin, Henry Bolingbroke (Henry IV), because of his arbitrary and factional rule.

Richard was the younger and only surviving son of Edward, the Black Prince,and his wife, Joan of Kent. Because his father died prematurely in 1376, Richard succeeded his grandfather Edward III as king in June 1377.

The king's early years were overshadowed by the Hundred Years' War, a prolonged struggle with France. The heavy cost of the war led to the introduction in 1377 of a novel, and highly regressive, tax, the poll tax. In November 1380 Parliament granted permission to impose the tax for the third time at a flat rate much higher than before. The tactless attempts the government made in the following year to enforce collection of the tax led to the outbreak of the Peasants' Revolt. Richard's role in ending the Revolt was rightly acclaimed, but it should not be supposed that he was influential in making policy. Almost certainly, the confrontation with the rebels at Smithfield was engineered by a hard-line group of his counselors.

In the years after the Revolt, Richard's interest in the affairs of state intermittently increased. According to the chronicler Thomas Walsingham, a contemporary of Richard's, the choice of Anne of Bohemia, the daughter of the Holy Roman emperor Charles IV, as his bride in 1381 was very much Richard's own. By 1383 his personal initiative showed in the choice of his friends and counselors, including two figures of particular importance—Sir Simon Burley, his former tutor, and Burley's ally, Sir Michael de la Pole, chancellor from 1383. Richard was also on close terms with some ambitious younger men, notably Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford, and the knights Ralph Stafford and James Berners. These younger men were deeply jealous of the power and prestige of John of Gaunt, the duke of Lancaster. Their repeated criticism of the duke and their involvement in an attempt on his life led to an atmosphere of rancour and suspicion at court. By 1385 Richard's relations with the higher nobility were quickly deteriorating.

In October 1386 there was a major crisis in Parliament. In the wake of Lancaster's departure for Spain in July with a large fleet to pursue his claim to the Castilian throne, the French planned an invasion of England. De la Pole, hastily organizing the coastal defences, sought an unprecedentedly large grant of taxation from Parliament. The massive scale of his demand provoked resistance, and the House of Commons clamoured for his resignation. Richard, stung by the Commons' effrontery, retorted that he would not remove one scullion from his kitchen at their behest. Eventually, however, he had to give way. De la Pole was replaced as chancellor and put on trial, and a commission of government was appointed to hold office for a year.

Richard reacted to the Commons' assault by retreating to the Midlands to rally his supporters. At Shrewsbury and Nottingham in August he received vigorous reaffirmation of his rights from the royal courts. News of the judges'opinions frightened the king's critics, who reacted by bringing an accusatio, or formal appeal, against his allies of treason. The Lords Appellant, as they were now called—the duke of Gloucester and the earls of Warwick, Arundel, Nottingham, and Derby—mobilized their retinues in self-defense. Richard dispatched his friend Robert de Vere southward with an armed force, but de Vere was defeated at Radcot Bridge on December 20, 1387. A few days laterLondon was occupied by the Appellants. Richard returned to his capital humiliated.

In the aptly named “Merciless Parliament” that followed, the Appellants purged the court. Two of Richard's main allies were executed, and others were dismissed from office. By the following spring, however, the Appellant tide had subsided. At a council meeting at Westminster on May 3, 1389, Richard formally resumed responsibility for government. He dismissed the Appellants' ministers and appointed new officers of his own. At the same time, he published a manifesto promising better governance and an easing of the burden of taxation.

Richard's mature kingship

In a five-year period beginning in 1389, Richard went some way toward honouring his promises. Taxes fell sharply following a truce with the French in 1389, and from 1389 to 1391 no demands for a tax on “moveable” property were made. Richard also showed greater circumspection in his patronage. Previously he had concentrated favour on just a few, but he now rewarded a wider circle, though each in smaller measure.

Yet the seeming moderation of Richard's rule was matched by a strong emphasis on the reassertion of royal authority. Richard was determined never again to suffer a humiliation of the kind inflicted upon him by the Appellants. Accordingly, in the 1390s he developed a program to strengthen the material foundations of his rule. In a novel initiative he built up a large baronial-style affinity, whose members wore the king's badge of the white hart. At the same time, he attracted to the central offices of government a corps of hard-working ministers deeply committed to his cause, notably John Waltham, the treasurer (1391–95), and Edmund Stafford, the chancellor (1396–99). Richard also sought to enhance the dignity and mystique of his monarchy. He encouraged lofty new forms of address—for example, “your highness” or “your majesty,” instead of “my lord.” He also elaborated the ceremony and protocol of his court, making the rebuilt Westminster Hall the focus of a grand monarchical cult. He stressed the quasi-religious dimension to his kingship, and solemn crown-wearings in Westminster Abbey formed an increasingly important part of his kingly ritual.

The highly assertive nature of his kingship revealed itself in his first expedition to Ireland. In 1394–95 he led a substantial force there to buttress the position of the English administration. The native Irish were overawed bythe presence of an English king, and the local chieftains, or “High Kings,” all attended the court in Dublin to submit to his authority. In letters of submission made for the penitent chieftains, Richard articulated his politicalvision. Rebellion and disobedience were to be rewarded with appropriate punishment, the rebel Irish were to enter into the king's obedience, and all Irish, of whatever status, were to perform their accustomed obligations to him.

The exalted notions that Richard articulated in Ireland formed the background for his dramatic reassertion of royal authority two years later in England. In July 1397 Richard ordered the arrest of the senior Appellants—Gloucester, Arundel, and Warwick. The first two were imprisoned and executed, and the last exiled to the Isle of Man. In letters thathe sent to foreign rulers shortly afterward, Richard justified his actions in terms of his political beliefs. He said that the lords' earlier rebellion and disobedience called for “an avenging punishment” that would “thresh the traitors out even to the husk,” and that the destruction and ruin of their persons would bring to his subjects a “peace” that would last forever. By peace, Richard meant not only the absence of war but also “unity,” the foundation of a strong realm.

But Richard's peace was illusory. In reality, his entourage was riddled with factions and feuds. In January 1398 a quarrel broke out between Henry Bolingbroke, Lancaster's son, and the king's former ally, Thomas Mowbray (Duke of Norfolk and Earl of Nottingham). Mowbray apparently warned Bolingbroke of a plot by some of the king's intimates to destroy the Lancastrian inheritance. Bolingbroke reported the conversation to the king, who ordered that the conflict created by this betrayal of confidence be settledby a trial by combat. A day was set for the adversaries to meet, but at the last moment Richard, fearful of Bolingbroke's possible victory, cancelled the engagement and gave judgment himself. Bolingbroke was sentenced to exile for 10 years, and Mowbray for life.

In February 1399 Lancaster died, and Richard took possession of his inheritance. Three months later, his coffers replenished with Lancastrian gold, Richard set off again for Ireland; the settlement of 1395 was in danger of unraveling, and his personal attention was required. While he was away, his cousin Bolingbroke returned from exile. Landing in Yorkshire, the duke met the earl of Northumberland and quickly won his support. Then he begana triumphant march across central and western England. Richard was slow to return from Ireland. By the time he reached Wales in mid-July, popular support for him had melted away, and in the meantime York, “the keeper of the realm,” had ceased resistance. Around August 15 Richard surrendered to Northumberland at Conway. Northumberland took him under guard to Bolingbroke at Flint; from there he was taken to Chester and later to London.

In September Bolingbroke summoned a Parliament in his adversary's name, and a committee was appointed to draft articles of deposition. On September 29, after a series of meetings in the Tower of London, Richard was induced to lay aside his crown. On the following day the king's statement of abdication was read in Parliament and approved. The assembly also assented to the articles of deposition, because abdication alone, as an act that could be rescinded, was insufficient. When the proceedings were concluded, Richard was taken from the Tower to Leeds and later to Pontefract. In January 1400 a group of his former courtiers, led by the earl of Salisbury, plotted to restore him to the throne. Their rebellion was crushed, but it convinced Bolingbroke, by now Henry IV, that he could nolonger allow Richard to live. Sometime in February the former king was put to death; by what means is not known. After a requiem mass at St. Paul's Cathedral, the body was obscurely interred at King's Langley, England. Earlyin Henry V's reign Richard was given honourable burial in the tomb that he had made for himself in Westminster Abbey.

Character and ideas

Richard articulated a radically new vision of kingship in England, rejecting the tradition of warrior monarchy epitomized by Edward III. Richard's kingship owed much to the ideas of the 13th-century writer Giles of Rome. Giles argued that all personal honour and privilege flowed from the king, whom the subjects should obey. Richard said the same about honour in hispatents of ennoblement, and he and his ministers likewise emphasized the need for obedience. Giles's influence on the king overlapped with that of Roman law. In the deposition articles, the king was alleged to have cited the Roman legal principle that “the laws were in his mouth...or alternatively in his breast.” However, Richard's political outlook also owed much to his religion. He was a man of deep piety who saw government as a burden placed on him by God. He believed it his duty to ensure the acceptability of his government to God. In order to win such acceptability, he took firm action against the English heresy of Lollardy. Indeed, the epitaph on his tomb expressed the pride that he took in “suppressing the heretics and scattering their friends.” He was devoted to the saints and delighted in reports of miracles, because they strengthened his faith. He showed particular devotion to the cult of St. Edward the Confessor, whose reputation for “peace” validated Richard's own search for “peace.” He also was strongly devoted to two other saints, St. Edmund and St. John the Baptist. All three saints are shown as his sponsors on that icon of Ricardian kingship, the Wilton Diptych.

Richard was a tall, vigorous man, handsome with fair hair, highly self-conscious, and much preoccupied with his self-image. There are indications that he had the characteristics of a narcissistic personality. The very public way in which he achieved his ends in and after 1397 can best be understood in terms of the narcissist's craving for recognition and outward success.

Richard married Anne de Bohemia-[18683] [MRIN:6415], daughter of King/Emperor Charles de Bohemia IV-[18686] and Unknown, in 1-1382 in Westminster. Anne was born in 1366 and died in 1394 at age 28.

Richard next married Isabella de France-[18684] [MRIN:6416], daughter of Emperor/King Charles de France VI-[18685] and Unknown, on 11-4-1396. Isabella was born in 1389 and died in 1409 at age 20.

113. Duke Lionel of Clarence-[18454] (King Edward Plantagenet III⁹⁵, King Edward Plantagenet II⁸², King Edward I Plantagenet "Longshanks"⁷², King Henry III Plantagenet⁶⁹, King John Plantagenet "Lackland"⁶⁶, King Henry II Plantagenet "Curtmantle"⁵², Queen Matilda Adelaide of England⁴⁵, Henry I (King)²¹, William I "the Conqueror" (King)¹¹, Robert I "The Magnificent" (Duke)⁶, Richard "the Good" II (Duke)³, Richard I "The Fearless" (Duke)², William I "Longsword" (Duke)¹) was born on 11-29-1338 in Antwerp and died on 10-17-1368 in Alba, Itlay at age 29.

General Notes: born Nov. 29, 1338, Antwerp
died Oct. 17, 1368, Alba, Italy

Also called (1346–62) Earl Of Ulster second surviving son of King Edward III of England and ancestor of Edward IV.

Before he was four years of age Lionel was betrothed to Elizabeth (d. 1363), daughter and heiress of William de Burgh, earl of Ulster (d. 1333), and he entered nominally into possession of her great Irish inheritance. Having been named as his father's representative in England in 1345 and again in 1346, Lionel was created earl of Ulster and joined (in 1355) an expedition into France, but his chief energies were reserved for the affairs of Ireland. Appointed governor of that country, he landed at Dublin in September 1361. In November 1362 he was created duke of Clarence and in the following year his father made an abortive attempt to secure for him the succession to the crown of Scotland.

His efforts to secure an effective authority over his Irish lands were only moderately successful, and after holding a parliament at Kilkenny, which passed the celebrated Statute of Kilkenny in 1366, he threw up his task in disgust and returned to England. At Milan, on May 28, 1368, he married Violante, only daughter of Galeazzo Visconti, lord of Pavia, who brought him a rich dowry. Several months were then spent in festivities, during which Lionel was taken ill and died at Alba.

His only child, Philippa (1355–81), a daughter by his first wife, married in 1368 Edmund Mortimer (1352–81), 3rd earl of March, and through this union Clarence became an ancestor of Edward IV.

Lionel married Elizabeth de Burgh-[18455] [MRIN:6298]. Elizabeth died in 1363.

Lionel next married Yolande Visconte-[18657] [MRIN:6402]. Yolande was born c1353 and died in 1386 at age 33.

114. Duke John of Lancaster "of Gaunt"-[18463] (King Edward Plantagenet III⁹⁵, King Edward Plantagenet II⁸², King Edward I Plantagenet "Longshanks"⁷², King Henry III Plantagenet⁶⁹, King John Plantagenet "Lackland"⁶⁶, King Henry II Plantagenet "Curtmantle"⁵², Queen Matilda Adelaide of England⁴⁵, Henry I (King)²¹, William I "the Conqueror" (King)¹¹, Robert I "The Magnificent" (Duke)⁶, Richard "the Good" II (Duke)³, Richard I "The Fearless" (Duke)², William I "Longsword" (Duke)¹) was born in 3-1340 in Abbey of St. Bavon, Ghent, Belgium and died on 2-3-1399 in London at age 58.

General Notes: born March 1340, Ghent
died Feb. 3, 1399, London

Also called (1342–62) earl of Richmond, or (from 1390) duc (duke) d'Aquitaine English prince, fourth but third surviving son of the English king Edward III and Philippa of Hainaut; he exercised a moderating influence in the political and constitutional struggles of the reign of his nephew Richard II. He was the immediate ancestor of the three 15th-century Lancastrian monarchs, Henry IV, V, and VI. The term Gaunt, a corruption of the name of his birthplace, Ghent, was never employed after he was three years old; it became the popularly accepted form of his name through its use in Shakespeare's play Richard II.

Through his first wife, Blanche (d. 1369), John, in 1362, acquired the duchy of Lancaster and the vast Lancastrian estates in England and Wales. From 1367 to 1374 he served as a commander in the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453) against France. On his return he obtained the chief influence with his father, but he had serious opponents among a group of powerful prelates who aspired to hold state offices. He countered their hostility by forming a curious alliance with the religious reformer John Wycliffe. Despite John's extreme unpopularity, he maintained his position after the accession of his ten-year-old nephew, Richard II, in 1377, and from 1381 to 1386 he mediated between the King's party and the opposition group led by John's younger brother, Thomas Woodstock, earl of Gloucester.

In 1386 John departed for Spain to pursue his claim to the kingship of Castile and Leon based upon his marriage to Constance of Castile in 1371. The expedition was a military failure. John renounced his claim in 1388, but he married his daughter, Catherine, to the young nobleman who eventually became King Henry III of Castile and Leon.

Meanwhile, in England, war had nearly broken out between the followers of King Richard II and the followers of Gloucester. John returned in 1389 and resumed his role as peacemaker.

His wife Constance died in 1394, and two years later he married his mistress, Catherine Swynford. In 1397 he obtained legitimization of the four children born to her before their marriage. This family, the Beauforts, played an important part in 15th-century politics. When John died in 1399, Richard II confiscated the Lancastrian estates, thereby preventing them from passing to John's son, Henry Bolingbroke. Henry then deposed Richard and in September 1399 ascended the throne as King Henry IV.

John married Katherine Swynford-[18464] [MRIN:6303] on 1-13-1396. Katherine was born in 1350 and died on 5-10-1403 at age 53.

• Mistress: Katherine was John's mistress before their marriage in 1396 and their children were later legitimized by the Pope.

139 M ii. Cardinal Henry Beaufort of Winchester-[18401] was born c1374 and died on 4-11-1447 in Winchester Castle, Hampshire, England at age 73.

General Notes: born c. 1374
died April 11, 1447, Winchester, Hampshire, Eng.

Cardinal and bishop of Winchester and a dominant figure in English politics throughout the first 43 years of the 15th century. From about 1435 until 1443 he controlled the government of the weak King Henry VI.

Beaufort's father was John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, son of King Edward III, and his mother was Catherine Swynford. During the reign of his cousin King Richard II, he became chancellor of Oxford University (1397) and bishop of Lincoln (1398).

With the accession of his half brother, Henry IV, in 1399, Beaufort was guaranteed a prominent place in politics. In 1403 he became chancellor of England and a royal councillor. In the following year he was appointed bishop of Winchester, one of the richest sees in the country. He then resigned his chancellorship and led the opposition within the council to Henry IV's chief minister, Thomas Arundel, archbishop of Canterbury. When Beaufort's nephew and political ally became king as Henry V in 1413, Beaufort again received the chancellorship. In order to climb still higher, the ambitious bishop sought a position with the papacy. Pope Martin V made him a cardinal and papal legate in 1417, but the king, fearing that Beaufort would be an all too effective spokesman for papal policies, soon forced him to resign these ecclesiastical offices.

Upon the accession of the infant Henry VI in 1422, however, Beaufort's talents were allowed to flourish. Already wealthy, he enriched himself further by lending money to the insolvent crown at high interest rates. Beaufort's financing of the state solidifed his power; there was little his enemies could do against the man on whom the solvency of the government depended. Beaufort was made cardinal of St. Eusebius and papal legate in 1426, a move for which he was continually attacked by his uncle, Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, who criticized him for simultaneously holding high positions in church and state. But Beaufort survived Gloucester's sniping, and with the support of the young Henry VI, by the mid-1430s the government was firmly back in his hands. In 1435 and 1439 he attempted without success to negotiate an end to the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453) between England and France, and in 1443 he retired from politics. Beaufort was arrogant, self-serving, and greedy to the point of rapacity, but his political and financial acumen were unrivaled in the England of his time. His career is authoritatively recounted in L.B. Radford's Henry Beaufort (1908).

Henry married Alice FitzAlan-[18400] [MRIN:6272], daughter of Richard FitzAlan-[18071] and Elizabeth de Bohun-[18072]. Alice was born about 1373.

140 M iii. Duke of Exeter Thomas Lancaster-[18668] was born c1377 and died in 1427 at age 50.

+ 141 F iv. Joan de Beaufort-[18508] was born in 1379 in Beaufort Castle, Anjou, France and died on 11-13-1445 in Howden, Yorkshire, England at age 66.

John next married Constance de Pedro (Castile)-[18658] [MRIN:6403], daughter of King Pedro Castile I-[18659] and Unknown, in 1371. Constance died in 1394.

142 F i. Katherine Lancaster-[18660] was born about 1372 and died in 1418 about age 46.

Katherine married King Enrique Castile III-[18661] [MRIN:6405]. Enrique was born in 1379 and died in 1406 at age 27.

John next married Blanche de Lancaster-[18662] [MRIN:6406]. Blanche was born in 1345 and died in 1369 at age 24.

Philippa married John of Portugal I-[18664] [MRIN:6407]. John was born in 1357 and died in 1433 at age 76.

144 F ii. Elizabeth Lancaster-[18665] was born in 1363 and died in 1426 at age 63.

Elizabeth married Duke of Exeter John de Holland-[18666] [MRIN:6408]. John was born c1352 and died in 1400 at age 48.

145 M iii. King Henry Bolingbroke Lancaster IV-[18667] was born on 4-2-1367 in Bolingbroke Castle, Lincolnshire, England, died on 3-20-1413 in Westminster Abbey, London at age 45, and was buried in Canterbury Cathedral.

General Notes: born , April 3, 1366, Bolingbroke Castle, Lincolnshire, Eng.
died March 20, 1413, London

Also called (1377–97) Earl of Derby, or (1397–99) Duke of Hereford, by name Henry Bolingbroke, or Henry of Lancaster king of England from 1399 to 1413, the first of three 15th-century monarchs from the House of Lancaster. He gained the crown by usurpation and successfully consolidated his power in the face of repeated uprisings of powerful nobles. At the same time he was unable to overcome the fiscal and administrative weaknesses that contributed to the eventual downfall of the Lancastrian dynasty.

Henry was the eldest surviving son of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, by his first wife, Blanche. Before becoming king he was known as Henry Bolingbroke, and he received from his cousin the titles earl of Derby (1377) and duke of Hereford (1397). During the opening years of the reign of King Richard II (ruled 1377–99), Henry remained in the background while his father ran the government. When Gaunt departed for an expedition to Spain in 1386, Henry entered politics as an opponent of the crown. He and Thomas Mowbray (later 1st duke of Norfolk) became the younger members of the group of five opposition leaders—known as the lords appellants—who in 1387–89 outlawed Richard's closest associates and forced the King to submit to their domination. Richard had just regained the upper hand when Gaunt returned to reconcile the King to his enemies. Bolingbroke then went on crusades into Lithuania (1390) and Prussia (1392). Meanwhile, Richard had not forgiven his past enmity. In 1398 the King took advantage of a quarrel between Bolingbroke and Norfolk to banish both men from the kingdom. The seizure of the Lancastrian estates by the crown upon John of Gaunt's death (February 1399) deprived Henry of his inheritance and gave him an excuse to invade England (July 1399) as a champion of the nobility. Richard surrendered to him in August; Bolingbroke's reign as King Henry IV began when Richard abdicated on Sept. 30, 1399.

Henry IV used his descent from King Henry III (ruled 1216–72) to justify his usurpation of the throne. Nevertheless, this claim did not convince those magnates who aspired to assert their authority at the crown's expense. During the first five years of his reign, Henry was attacked by a formidable array of domestic and foreign enemies. He quashed a conspiracy of Richard's supporters in January 1400. Eight months later the Welsh landowner Owen Glendower raised a national rebellion against oppressive English rule in Wales. Henry led a number of fruitless expeditions into Wales from 1400 to 1405, but his son, Prince Henry, had greater success in reasserting royal control over the region. Meanwhile, Glendower encouraged domestic resistance to Henry's rule by allying with the powerful Percy family—Henry Percy, earl of Northumberland, and his son Sir Henry Percy, called Hotspur. Hotspur's brief uprising, the most serious challenge faced by Henry during his reign, ended when the King's forces killed the rebel in battle near Shrewsbury, Shropshire, in July 1403. In 1405 Henry had Thomas Mowbray, duke of Norfolk, and Richard Scrope, archbishop of York, executed for conspiring with Northumberland to raise another rebellion. Although the worst of Henry's political troubles were over, he then began to suffer from an affliction that his contemporaries believed to be leprosy—it may have been congenital syphilis. A quickly suppressed insurrection, led by Northumberland in 1408, was the last armed challenge to Henry's authority. Throughout these years the King had to combat border incursions by the Scots and ward off conflict with the French, who aided the Welsh rebels in 1405–06.

To finance these military activities, Henry was forced to rely on parliamentary grants. From 1401 to 1406 Parliament repeatedly accused him of fiscal mismanagement and gradually acquired certain precedent-setting powers over royal expenditures and appointments. As Henry's health deteriorated, a power struggle developed within his administration between his favorite, Thomas Arundel, archbishop of Canterbury, and a faction headed by Henry's Beaufort half brothers and Prince Henry. The latter group ousted Arundel from the chancellorship early in 1410, but they, in turn, fell from power in 1411. Henry then made an alliance with the French faction that was waging war against the Prince's Burgundian friends. As a consequence, tension between Henry and the Prince was high when Henry became totally incapacitated late in 1412. He died several months later, and the Prince succeeded as King Henry V.

• Titles: King of England - 30 September 1399 to 20 March 1413
Earl of Northampton and Hereford
Duke of Hereford
Duke of Lancaster
Earl of Leicester
Earl of Lincoln

Henry married Mary de Bohun-[18688] [MRIN:6419], daughter of Earl Humphrey de Bohun VIII-[18075] and Princess Elizabeth Plantagenet-[18076], before 2-10-1381 in Arundel, Sussex, England. Mary was born c1369 and died in 1394 at age 25.

122. Thomas de Holand II-[18979] (Countess Joan of Kent "The Fair Maid"⁹⁹, Earl Edmund of Woodstock⁸³, King Edward I Plantagenet "Longshanks"⁷², King Henry III Plantagenet⁶⁹, King John Plantagenet "Lackland"⁶⁶, King Henry II Plantagenet "Curtmantle"⁵², Queen Matilda Adelaide of England⁴⁵, Henry I (King)²¹, William I "the Conqueror" (King)¹¹, Robert I "The Magnificent" (Duke)⁶, Richard "the Good" II (Duke)³, Richard I "The Fearless" (Duke)², William I "Longsword" (Duke)¹) was born about 1350 in Upholland, Lancashire, England and died on 4-25-1397 in Arundel Castle, Sussex, England about age 47.

Thomas married Alice FitzAlan-[18578] [MRIN:6364], daughter of Richard FitzAlan-[18576] and Eleanor of Lancaster-[18584], on 4-10-1364. Alice was born in 1352 in Arundel, Sussex, England and died on 5-17-1416 at age 64.

+ 146 M i. Earl Edmund of Holland III-[18579] was born on 1-6-1382 in Brockenhurst, Kent, England and died on 9-15-1408 in Isle de Brehant, Cotes-Du-Nord, France at age 26.

147 F ii. Margaret of Holland-[19063] was born in 1385 and died on 12-31-1440 at age 55.

124. Alice FitzAlan-[18578] (Eleanor of Lancaster¹⁰⁰, Earl Henry Plantagenet⁸⁶, Earl Edmund Plantagenet "Crouchback"⁷³, King Henry III Plantagenet⁶⁹, King John Plantagenet "Lackland"⁶⁶, King Henry II Plantagenet "Curtmantle"⁵², Queen Matilda Adelaide of England⁴⁵, Henry I (King)²¹, William I "the Conqueror" (King)¹¹, Robert I "The Magnificent" (Duke)⁶, Richard "the Good" II (Duke)³, Richard I "The Fearless" (Duke)², William I "Longsword" (Duke)¹) was born in 1352 in Arundel, Sussex, England and died on 5-17-1416 at age 64.

Alice married Thomas de Holand II-[18979] [MRIN:6364], son of Earl Thomas de Holand I-[18978] and Countess Joan of Kent "The Fair Maid"-[18977], on 4-10-1364. Thomas was born about 1350 in Upholland, Lancashire, England and died on 4-25-1397 in Arundel Castle, Sussex, England about age 47.

125. Henry de Beaumont-[18585] (Eleanor of Lancaster¹⁰⁰, Earl Henry Plantagenet⁸⁶, Earl Edmund Plantagenet "Crouchback"⁷³, King Henry III Plantagenet⁶⁹, King John Plantagenet "Lackland"⁶⁶, King Henry II Plantagenet "Curtmantle"⁵², Queen Matilda Adelaide of England⁴⁵, Henry I (King)²¹, William I "the Conqueror" (King)¹¹, Robert I "The Magnificent" (Duke)⁶, Richard "the Good" II (Duke)³, Richard I "The Fearless" (Duke)², William I "Longsword" (Duke)¹) was born in 1340 and died on 6-25-1369 at age 29.

Henry married Margaret De Vere-[18586] [MRIN:6368] about 1360. Margaret was born about 1344 and died on 6-15-1398 about age 54.

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