HOUSE OF LANCASTER.

Henry IV., of Bolingbroke.

D. He was the son of John of Gaunt, and grandson of Edward III. B. at Bolingbroke, 1366. M. (1) Mary, daughter of the earl of Hereford; (2) Jane, daughter of the king of Navarre. Dd. at Westminster, March 20, 1413. R. 13½ years (1399 to 1413).

1399. Knights of the Bath first created, at the king’s coronation.

1401. Statute passed for burning heretics. A clergyman, named William Sawtre, burnt for holding the doctrines of the Lollards—the first English martyr.

1402. The Welsh defeated Sir Edmund Mortimer near Knyghton, in Radnorshire (June 12). The Scots invaded England, and were vanquished at Nesbit Moor (June 22). They were again defeated by the Percies at Homildon Hill (Sept. 14).

1403. Rebellion of the Percies. The Percies conspired with Sir Edmund Mortimer and Owen Glendower, the Welsh chief. Hotspur defeated and slain at Shrewsbury (July 21).

“One of the most obstinate and bloody battles recorded in English history.”

1405. James of Scotland, son of Robert III., captured as he was proceeding to France. New conspiracy of Percy, earl of Northumberland, and his friends. Scrope, archbishop of York, one of the conspirators, executed—the first instance in our annals of a prelate undergoing capital punishment.

1407. England visited by a terrible pestilence.

1408. The earl of Northumberland defeated and slain at Bramham Moor, near Tadcaster (Feb. 18).

1410. John Badby, a Lollard, executed for heresy.

In this reign the influence of parliament was considerably increased. The members indulged more freely in liberty of speech, and carried their inquiries into every department of the government.

Henry V., of Monmouth.

D. He was the son of Henry IV. B. at Monmouth, 1388. M. Catherine, daughter of Charles VI. of France. Dd. at Vincennes, Aug. 31, 1422. R. 9½ years (1413 to 1422).

1413. Sir John Oldcastle (commonly called Lord Cobham), one of the Lollards, condemned as a heretic. He escaped into Wales, but was captured and burnt in 1417.

1414. Henry demanded the crown of France; and that unreasonable claim being disregarded, he claimed Normandy, Maine, Touraine, Anjou, Guienne, and other districts, together with the hand of the Princess Catherine, and a large dower.

1415. Negotiations continued. The French finally offered the duchy of Aquitaine and the hand of Catherine, with 800,000 crowns; but these terms were rejected.

WAR WITH FRANCE. Before setting sail for France, Henry detected a conspiracy to place the earl of March on the throne; Richard, earl of Cambridge, and other conspirators executed. Siege and capture of Harfleur (Sept. 22). Henry gained a great victory at AGINCOURT (Oct. 25); the French loss 10,000, the English, 1,600.

1419. Rouen captured by the English, after a siege of nearly six months (Jan. 19). The duke of Burgundy assassinated in the presence of the dauphin: the duke’s son at once joined the English.

1420. Treaty of Troyes (May 21): Henry was to marry Catherine, to govern France in the name of Charles, who was insane, and on his death to succeed him.

1421. The duke of Clarence, the king’s brother, defeated and slain by the dauphin’s troops at Beaugé in Anjou (Mar. 22).

1422. Henry besieged and captured Meaux (May).

Henry VI., of Windsor.

D. He was the son of Henry V. B. at Windsor, 1421. M. Margaret of Anjou. Deposed, March, 1461. Probably murdered in the Tower, May, 1471. R. 38½ years (1422 to 1461).

1422. The duke of Bedford appointed protector of England, and in his absence beyond sea, his brother, the duke of Gloucester. Bedford regent of France. Charles VI. died, and Henry was proclaimed king.

1423. The French and their Scottish allies defeated at Crevant on Yonne by the earl of Salisbury, one of the ablest of the English commanders (July 31).

1424. The duke of Bedford gained a great victory over the French at Verneuil (Aug. 17).

1428. Orleans besieged by the English; one of the first sieges in which cannon were found to be of importance.

1429. The French, endeavouring to intercept supplies for the English army, were defeated at Rouvrai (the Battle of Herrings, Feb. 12). SIEGE RAISED BY JOAN OF ARC (May). The English defeated at Patay (June 18). Charles VII. crowned at Rheims.

1430. Joan of Arc captured at the siege of Compiègne, and burnt, the next year, at Rouen for sorcery and witchcraft.

1435. Treaty of Arras: the duke of Burgundy withdrew from the English alliance. Death of Bedford.

1436. Paris recovered by Charles VII. Richard, duke of York, became regent of France, but was recalled the next year, and succeeded by Richard Beauchamp, earl of Warwick. He died in 1439, and York became regent a second time.

1440. John Beaumont created viscount, being the first of that title in England.

1441. Eleanor Cobham, duchess of Gloucester, prosecuted for witchcraft and treason, and condemned to do public penance.

1445. Maine and Anjou, the keys of Normandy, ceded to the queen’s father on her marriage with Henry.

1447. Death of the duke of Gloucester,—said by most historians to have been assassinated. Death of his rival, Cardinal Beaufort. Edmund Beaufort, duke of Somerset, succeeded the duke of York as regent in France.

1449. Normandy conquered by the French. The duke of York appointed lieutenant of Ireland.

1450. The duke of Suffolk, the king’s chief minister, banished for five years: he was intercepted, and beheaded at sea. Jack Cade’s insurrection. Cade taken and slain.

This rising was thought by some to have been instigated by the friends of the duke of York, who, as far as hereditary succession alone was concerned, had a better right to the throne than Henry. Richard was descended from Lionel, duke of Clarence, second son of Edward III., and Henry from John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, the fourth son. Henry, however, was unquestionably lawful sovereign of England.

1451. Guienne conquered by the French.

1452. Talbot, the veteran earl of Shrewsbury, one of the greatest commanders of the age, recovered Bordeaux, and other places in Guienne.

1453. Talbot defeated and slain at Chatillon in Perigord (July 20). Final loss of Guienne. The king became insane. Birth of the Prince of Wales.

1454. York appointed protector; but a few months after, the king partially recovered, and revoked the duke’s commission.

1455. BEGINNING OF THE WARS OF THE ROSES.

The Yorkists defeated the Lancastrians at St. Alban’s: the duke of Somerset was slain, and the king fell into the hands of the Yorkist faction (May 22). Renewal of his illness. York made protector a second time, and with such powers as to give the protectorate a revolutionary character.

This was the first battle in what were called the “Wars of the Roses”—a name applied to them because the emblem of the Lancastrians was a red, and that of the Yorkists a white rose. Several causes combined to bring about the struggle. The principal were—1, the feeble and unwarlike character of the king; and 2, the resolute determination of the queen and the Somerset family that Henry should retain the crown, and that the succession should vest in his son.

1456. Recovery of the king and removal of the protector.

1458. Hollow reconciliation of the Yorkist and Lancastrian factions.

1459. Renewal of the Civil War. The Lancastrians, under Lord Audley, defeated by the Yorkists, under the earl of Salisbury, at Bloreheath (Sept. 23).

1460. The Lancastrians, under the duke of Buckingham, defeated at Northampton by the Yorkists, under the earl of Warwick (July 10). The duke of York defeated and slain by the queen’s forces at Wakefield Green (Dec. 31).

1461. Edward, earl of March (son and heir of Richard), defeated the Lancastrians, under the earl of Pembroke, at Mortimer’s Cross (Feb. 2). Margaret defeated the Yorkists under the earl of Warwick at St. Alban’s (Feb. 17). Edward a few days after reached London, and was acknowledged king (Mar. 4).

In the early part of this reign it was enacted that county members must be elected by freeholders whose estates were worth at least 40s. a year.