Henry Bolingbroke and the Revolution of 1399
Kevin Seger
Just before his banishment in Richard II, Bollingbroke offers an eerily prophetic remark to Richard. He says, “This must my comfort be: / That sun that warms you here shall shine on me” (I.iii.46-47). Bollingbroke goes on to lead a rebellion against, and ultimately usurp Richard. Historically, this shift of power involved many agents working for and against one another over a fraught time period.
Henry Bolingbroke spent most of his exile in Paris. When he learned that Richard had stripped his inheritance, he was spending time with friends in the city. Opposition against Richard had been steadily growing during the last years of his reign, but after John of Gaunt’s death, the King went too far. In Gordon Corrigan’s work, A Great and Glorious Adventure: A Military History of the Hundred Years War, we learn that after Gaunt had died, Richard “extended Henry Bolingbroke’s banishment from ten years to life and confiscated the duchy of Lancaster” (191). This tyrannical action was the final straw for the nobles. If Richard could do this to the duchy of Lancaster, then whose lands would he steal next?
Then, oblivious to the unrest that he had caused within the country, Richard set off for Ireland on a peace mission. Bolingbroke saw his chance. With the help of friends he made during his exile in Paris, Bolingbroke set sail sometime in June 1399 and landed somewhere in the Humber estuary at the end of the month.
As Bolingbroke moved through the countryside, knights and nobles declared their support for his cause and joined him with their forces. Corrigan notes that at this point it seems that Henry is only interested in regaining his Lancastrian heritage (191). He has no intention of deposing Richard. Henry was assured the support of the north when he allied with the earl of Northumberland and his son Harry Percy. In addition, with the defection of the Duke of York, Henry was able to take the Ricardian stronghold at Chester without a fight.
In Ireland, Richard was wasting time. He did not believe that he should take the rebellion seriously. We learn from Holinshed that instead of leaving for England immediately, Richard decided to wait in Dublin for a ship for an additional six weeks before he set sail (499). By the time Richard had landed in Wales, it was clear to his men that he would not win this fight and they b`egan abandoning him. Eventually, Richard decided to give himself up and was taken to London and lodged in the Tower.
On September 29, 1399, Richard’s reign came to an end when he was chided into relinquishing the crown to Henry. Henry was crowned as the fourth King Henry in England’s history on October 13. Richard was dispatched to the Lancastrian stronghold at Pontefract.
Later that year Henry discovered a conspiracy to restore Richard to the throne. In A Great and Glorious Adventure, Corrigan tells us that the three main offenders, Salisbury, Despenser and Huntingdon, were all captured and executed, but it was obvious that as long as Richard lived he was bound to be the focus of those who opposed the new regime (190).
According to Corrigan, only one chronicle actually suggests that Richard was murdered. It claims he was hacked to pieces (192). Other accounts claim that his jailers starved him, that he deliberately starved himself, or that he died of grief. However, as his corpse was moved from Pontefract to London, various stops were made to allow the public to view the body. It is because we know this happened that Corrigan suggests we can disregard the hacked-into-pieces theory (193). In addition, it would have taken a long time for Richard to starve, time Henry and his supporters did not have. So, Corrigan postulates that Richard was killed by suffocation, the usual way a high-born person would be murdered (193). Finally, we can speculate that because Richard’s death would be in Henry’s best interest, he may have been the one to order it.
Despite the lack of legal motive for Henry to usurp the throne, the death of Richard II marked the end of a weak and faltering government. Now that there was a change in leadership, it seemed possible to revive the cause of English France. Many looked to Bolingbroke to be the spark that reignited flame of English conquest, but events would not play out in his favor. The English would be forced to wait until the next great generation before this goal could be achieved.
Henry Bolingbroke spent most of his exile in Paris. When he learned that Richard had stripped his inheritance, he was spending time with friends in the city. Opposition against Richard had been steadily growing during the last years of his reign, but after John of Gaunt’s death, the King went too far. In Gordon Corrigan’s work, A Great and Glorious Adventure: A Military History of the Hundred Years War, we learn that after Gaunt had died, Richard “extended Henry Bolingbroke’s banishment from ten years to life and confiscated the duchy of Lancaster” (191). This tyrannical action was the final straw for the nobles. If Richard could do this to the duchy of Lancaster, then whose lands would he steal next?
Then, oblivious to the unrest that he had caused within the country, Richard set off for Ireland on a peace mission. Bolingbroke saw his chance. With the help of friends he made during his exile in Paris, Bolingbroke set sail sometime in June 1399 and landed somewhere in the Humber estuary at the end of the month.
As Bolingbroke moved through the countryside, knights and nobles declared their support for his cause and joined him with their forces. Corrigan notes that at this point it seems that Henry is only interested in regaining his Lancastrian heritage (191). He has no intention of deposing Richard. Henry was assured the support of the north when he allied with the earl of Northumberland and his son Harry Percy. In addition, with the defection of the Duke of York, Henry was able to take the Ricardian stronghold at Chester without a fight.
In Ireland, Richard was wasting time. He did not believe that he should take the rebellion seriously. We learn from Holinshed that instead of leaving for England immediately, Richard decided to wait in Dublin for a ship for an additional six weeks before he set sail (499). By the time Richard had landed in Wales, it was clear to his men that he would not win this fight and they b`egan abandoning him. Eventually, Richard decided to give himself up and was taken to London and lodged in the Tower.
On September 29, 1399, Richard’s reign came to an end when he was chided into relinquishing the crown to Henry. Henry was crowned as the fourth King Henry in England’s history on October 13. Richard was dispatched to the Lancastrian stronghold at Pontefract.
Later that year Henry discovered a conspiracy to restore Richard to the throne. In A Great and Glorious Adventure, Corrigan tells us that the three main offenders, Salisbury, Despenser and Huntingdon, were all captured and executed, but it was obvious that as long as Richard lived he was bound to be the focus of those who opposed the new regime (190).
According to Corrigan, only one chronicle actually suggests that Richard was murdered. It claims he was hacked to pieces (192). Other accounts claim that his jailers starved him, that he deliberately starved himself, or that he died of grief. However, as his corpse was moved from Pontefract to London, various stops were made to allow the public to view the body. It is because we know this happened that Corrigan suggests we can disregard the hacked-into-pieces theory (193). In addition, it would have taken a long time for Richard to starve, time Henry and his supporters did not have. So, Corrigan postulates that Richard was killed by suffocation, the usual way a high-born person would be murdered (193). Finally, we can speculate that because Richard’s death would be in Henry’s best interest, he may have been the one to order it.
Despite the lack of legal motive for Henry to usurp the throne, the death of Richard II marked the end of a weak and faltering government. Now that there was a change in leadership, it seemed possible to revive the cause of English France. Many looked to Bolingbroke to be the spark that reignited flame of English conquest, but events would not play out in his favor. The English would be forced to wait until the next great generation before this goal could be achieved.