Henry IV. Henry IV, also known as Henry Bolingbroke, was King of England from 1399 to 1413.
He asserted the claim of his grandfather King Edward III, a maternal grandson of Philip IV of France, to the Kingdom of France. Henry was the son of John of Gaunt and Blanche of Lancaster.
John enjoyed a position of considerable influence during much of the reign of his cousin King Richard II, whom Henry eventually deposed. Henry founded the Lancaster branch of the House of Plantagenet.
He was the first King of England since the Norman Conquest whose mother tongue was English rather than French. One of Henry IV's elder sisters, Philippa of Lancaster, married King John I of Portugal, and the other, Elizabeth of Lancaster, was the mother of John Holland, 2nd Duke of Exeter.
His younger half-sister Katherine of Lancaster, the daughter of his father's second wife, Constance of Castile, was queen consort of the King of Castile. He also had four natural half-siblings born of Katherine Swynford, originally his sisters' governess, then his father's longstanding mistress and later third wife. These four illegitimate children were given the surname Beaufort from their birthplace at the Chateau de Beaufort in Champagne, France. Henry's relationship with his stepmother, Katherine Swynford, was a positive one, but his relationship with the Beauforts varied. In youth he seems to have been close to all of them,
He asserted the claim of his grandfather King Edward III, a maternal grandson of Philip IV of France, to the Kingdom of France. Henry was the son of John of Gaunt and Blanche of Lancaster.
John enjoyed a position of considerable influence during much of the reign of his cousin King Richard II, whom Henry eventually deposed. Henry founded the Lancaster branch of the House of Plantagenet.
He was the first King of England since the Norman Conquest whose mother tongue was English rather than French. One of Henry IV's elder sisters, Philippa of Lancaster, married King John I of Portugal, and the other, Elizabeth of Lancaster, was the mother of John Holland, 2nd Duke of Exeter.
His younger half-sister Katherine of Lancaster, the daughter of his father's second wife, Constance of Castile, was queen consort of the King of Castile. He also had four natural half-siblings born of Katherine Swynford, originally his sisters' governess, then his father's longstanding mistress and later third wife. These four illegitimate children were given the surname Beaufort from their birthplace at the Chateau de Beaufort in Champagne, France. Henry's relationship with his stepmother, Katherine Swynford, was a positive one, but his relationship with the Beauforts varied. In youth he seems to have been close to all of them,
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