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THE PLANTAGENETS-LANCASTER.

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riage with Margaret of Anjou. The grievous discontents thereby occasioned to a nation that had long looked on itself as rightful lord of France, added to many personal slights that he received from the new queen, and her favourite minister, Suffolk, induced Richard, duke of York, who had hitherto served the king as governor of Normandy, to bring forward his claim to the throne as the representative of the Mortimers. The duke was killed in the struggle; his place, however, was well supplied by his son Edward, and very shortly after the sceptre passed from the feeble descendant of John of Gaunt.

An illegitimate branch of the house of Lancaster, the Beauforts, rendered themselves conspicuous for courage and ability, and were firm supporters of the throne of their relatives. Cardinal Beaufort, John, earl of Dorset and duke of Exeter, Edmund, duke of Somerset, held high offices in the state, and Margaret, the daughter of John, duke of Somerset, was the mother of Henry, earl of Richmond, the first of the Tudor kings.

Beside devices peculiar to each prince, and the well-known symbol of the red rose, the columbine and the collar of SS. belong to the House of Lancaster. The portcullis, adopted by the Tudors, was a device of the Beauforts.

d See p. 65.

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The Portcullis.

They were the descendants of John of Gaunt by Katherine Swinford, but were legitimated by letters patent of Richard II., an act of parliament, and a papal decree. Richard's letters patent (Feb. 9, 1397) were confirmed by Henry IV., (Feb. 10, 1407,) but he of his own authority introduced a restrictive clause, "excepta dignitate regali," which now appears as an interlineation on the Patent Roll, (20 Ric. II. p. 2. m. 6.)

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HENRY, the only son of John of Gaunt, by Blanche, daughter of Henry Grismond, duke of Lancaster, was born at Bolingbroke, in Lincolnshire, in 1366. As Sir Henry of Lancaster, he was celebrated for his skill in martial exercises; he served in Barbary against the Mohammedans, in Lithuania against the pagan tribes on the shores of the Baltic, and made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem. His bold, active, enterprising character contrasted strongly with that of Richard II., and he was a popular favourite, while regarded with jealous dislike by the king. He joined in the proceedings against the duke of Gloucester, and was in consequence created duke of Hereford; but quarrelling soon after with the duke of Norfolk, each accusing the other of expressing treasonable doubts of the king's intention towards them, both were banished.

The duke of Hereford withdrew to France, with a promise that he should not be deprived of his inheritance in the event of his father's death; but he allied himself with his former enemies, the fugitives of the duke of Gloucester's party, and thus perhaps induced the king to revoke the promise he had made. He returned to England, ostensibly to claim his inheritance, but being supported by powerful friends, and feebly opposed by the duke of York, the regent in the absence of the king in Ireland, he was enabled also to seize on the throne, and found a new royal house.

Henry was declared king, Sept. 30, 1399, and he held the sceptre for nearly fourteen years, amid all the difficulties and cruelties that usually attend a flagrant usurpation. His title was not recognised by foreign states, and he had little success in warf; he was repelled with scorn when attempting to form a marriage for his son Henry, with the youthful queen of his predecessor, and personally insulted by her kindred; numerous plots were formed against his life, and most barbarously punished; his parliaments remonstrated vehemently on his bad governments; his finances were throughout his reign in a deplorable condition;

Among other promises made by Henry at his accession, had been one, that he would head an army against France, and lead it farther than his grandfather, Edward III., had ever done. He never performed this promise, but in the year 1411 he sent a considerable body of troops, under the duke of Clarence, to assist the duke of Burgundy against his rival, the duke of Orleans; in the following year he joined the Orleans faction, but the parties wisely effected a temporary agreement, in order to dispense with such dangerous aid.

Beside procuring the removal of various obnoxious officers of the royal household, the Commons asserted their privileges with vigour, and succeeded in establishing their exclusive right of imposing taxes, and also of controlling the public expenditure.

his great friends the Perciesh abandoned him; the Welsh foiled his attacks in person, and the Irish very

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Arms of Percy, earl of
Northumberland.

h Henry, lord Percy of Alnwick, served in France and in Flanders in the wars of the latter part of the reign of Edward III. He was rewarded with the office of marshal, and, acting in that capacity at the coronation of Richard II., he was created earl of Northumberland. Being also warden of the east marches, he was engaged in frequent hostilities with the Scots, and in 1378 captured Berwick, which he committed to the care of Sir Matthew Redman. Apprehending an attempt at its surprise, the earl directed Redman to admit no one without an order from himself; John of Gaunt passed that way, and was refused entry, of which he bitterly complained to the king; and when some time after a plot for seizing the place was discovered, he charged the earl with treason, and endeavoured to procure his condemnation; the accusation, however, was disbelieved, and Northumberland was employed in negotiating a treaty of peace with France. He was subsequently reconciled to John of Gaunt (who was his kinsman by marriage), and warmly espoused the cause of his son, Henry of Lancaster; he thus became an object of suspicion to Richard II., was summoned to court, and not appearing, his estates were forfeited; the king, however, went on his second expedition to Ireland without seizing them, and Henry landed, and became king, mainly by the aid of Northumberland, who received vast grants, such as the Isle of Man, the justiceship of Chester, and many castles in Wales, while the Isle of Anglesey was bestowed on his son Hotspur. They together defeated the Scots at Homildon, in 1402, and captured the earl of Douglas, but either repenting of the part they had acted against Richard, or offended at the refusal of Henry to allow them to treat for the liberation of their kinsman, Sir Edmund Mortimer, from the hands of Glyndwr, they resolved to dethrone the usurper. It is probable, however, that meaner motives also actuated them. Henry's grants had been large, but he had left them to conduct the Welsh and Scottish wars on their own resources; and Henry Percy complains, in a letter dated June 26, 1403, remaining among the Privy Council Records, that "£20,000 and more" was owing to his father and himself on that account. The great difficulty of Henry's reign, as is abundantly evident from the same class of documents, was want of money; their claim was left unpaid, and they took up arms. Their enterprise miscarried; young Percy was killed at Shrewsbury, but the earl obtained a pardon; he soon after joined Archbishop Scrope's rising, was in consequence obliged to flee to Scotland, and subsequently to Wales, and being after a while induced to return to Eng. land, was defeated and killed at Bramham-moor, near Leeds, Feb.

nearly threw off the English yoke; and he was at variance with his eldest son, who manifested some desire to depose him. At length, worn out by repeated attacks of epilepsy, he died March 20, 1413, and was buried at Canterbury.

Henry was twice married: first, to Mary de Bohun, youngest daughter and coheiress of Humphrey, earl of Hereford; and secondly, to Joan of Navarre, who survived him till 1437. His issue, who were all by his first

19, 1408. His body was quartered and the portions set up in London, Lincoln, Berwick, and Newcastle; but after a few months they were taken down by permission of Henry, and delivered to his friends for burial.

The earl's son, Henry, was, when quite young, associated with his father in the charge of the Scottish marches, and there his wellknown appellation of Hotspur was acquired. In 1385 he was sent to succour Calais, and made many daring incursions into Picardy; afterwards served at sea, then killed the earl of Douglas at Otterburn, but was himself captured, through pursuing his advantage too far. He soon obtained his freedom, and in 1389 passed over to Calais, and thence into Britanny, being retained as the king's soldier at the rate of £100 per annum. He joined Henry, and received from him the wardenship of the east marches, the justiceship of North Wales, and the Isle of Anglesey, but afterwards fell in arms against him at Shrewsbury. His son Henry, after many years of exile in Scotland, was restored to his title and estates in 1414, and was killed fighting on the Lancastrian side at the first battle of St. Alban's, in 1455.

Thomas Percy, the younger brother of the earl, served in France under the Black Prince, and was seneschal of the Limousin. He was afterwards made admiral of the north sea, and captain of Calais. He was also admiral of the fleet that conveyed the earl of Buckingham's troops to Britanny in 1380. His fleet was dispersed by a storm, and his own ship disabled; while in that condition. it was attacked by a Spanish vessel of greatly superior force, but Sir Thomas captured his opponent by boarding, carried his prize into port, and sold it, with the money replaced the equipment which the troops he had on board had lost, and led them in gallant order to join the earl. He afterwards became steward of the household to Richard II., and was created earl of Worcester, but treacherously forsook him on his return from Ireland, and received from Henry IV. the lieutenancy of Wales. He joined in the fatal enterprise of his brother and nephew, and being taken at Shrewsbury, was beheaded the day after.

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