The Lancastrian Kings Vaught-Jasper-Trusty-Molloy, Genealogy Tree The tomb of the founder of the Lancastrian dynasty, Henry IV, in Canterbury Cathedral. The accession of Henry IV sowed the seeds for a period of unrest which ultimately broke out in civil war. Fraught by rebellion and instability after his usurpation of Richard II, Henry IV found it difficult to enforce his rule. His son, Henry V, fared better, defeating France in the famous Battle of Agincourt (1415) and staking a powerful claim to the French throne. Success was short-lived with his early death. By the reign of the relatively weak Henry VI, civil war broke out between rival claimants to the throne, dating back to the sons of Edward III. The Lancastrian dynasty descended from John of Gaunt, third son of Edward III, whose son Henry deposed the unpopular Richard II. Yorkist claimants such as the Duke of York asserted their legitimate claim to the throne through Edward III's second surviving son, but through a female line. The Wars of the Roses therefore tested whether the succession should keep to the male line or could pass through females. Captured and briefly restored, Henry VI was captured and put to death, and the Yorkist faction led by Edward IV gained the throne.

HENRY IV Born: Bolingbroke Castle, Lincolnshire, 3 April 1366, (or 1367). Titles: King of England, Earl of Derby (from 1377), Earl of Northampton and Hereford (from 1384), Duke of Hereford (from 1397), Duke of Lancaster, Earl of Leicester and Earl of Lincoln (from 1399). Crowned: Westminster Abbey, 13 October 1399. Ruled: 30 September 1399-20 March 1413. Married:(1) before 10 February 1381, at Arundel, Sussex, Mary (c1369-94), dau. of Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford: 7 children; (2) 3 April 1402 (by proxy) at Eltham Palace, Kent, Joan (c1370-1437), dau. of Charles II, King of Navarre, and widow of John de Montfort, Duke of Brittany: no children. Died: Westminster Abbey, 20 March 1413, aged 45. Buried: Canterbury Cathedral. Henry Bolingbroke was the first king of the House of Lancaster, but he was still a Plantagenet. Both he and Richard II, whose throne he usurped, were grandsons of Edward III. Henry's father was John of Gaunt, who had been the premier lord in England after the death of Edward III in 1377. Henry had been born at Bolingbroke Castle and was often called Henry Bolingbroke. His mother (whom he scarcely knew, as she died of the Black Death when he was three) was Blanche, the daughter of Henry, duke of Lancaster, and great-great-grandaughter of Henry III. Bolingbroke was initially induced by his uncle, Thomas, duke of Gloucester, to oppose Richard's court favourites and he became one of the Lords Appellant, who effectively governed the country during the late 1380s. However he stepped down from this role a year later in 1389 and in subsequent years appeared as a supporter of the king. In 1390 Henry embarked on the first of his adventures, joining the Teutonic Knights on an expedition to Lithuania in the war over the Polish succession. Two years later Henry undertook a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, though his greater triumph was the grand journey he took through the courts of Europe on both the outward and return trips, where he was treated regally and evidently held in high esteem. At this time of his life Henry was still comparatively handsome, although he was rather short. He had inherited the Plantagenet red hair which, when he grew a beard, gave him a rather fiery appearance. In later life Henry developed a very severe form of eczema, to the extent that many believed he was suffering from leprosy, something he could have caught in his early travels. It is quite possible that the malady was stress-connected considering the difficult life Henry later led as king. Henry was a good man for the king to have on his side, but Richard II did not seem to appreciate this. In 1398 Richard delighted in banishing Henry into exile on the grounds of past treasonable acts. The banishment was originally for ten years. In February 1399 Henry succeeded his father as Duke of Lancaster. King Richard chose to deprive Henry of his estates and extend the sentence to life. Henry invaded England in July and within six weeks Richard submitted to him. Henry succeeded in convincing Parliament of his eligibility to the throne (Edmund Mortimer, earl of March, had a prior claim, but he was only seven years old). Nevertheless it was an uneasy succession. For all that nearly everyone welcomed Henry over Richard, those who had supported Richard became concerned for their own lives and estates. Within months of his succession Henry found his life threatened in a rebellion organized by the earls of Kent, Salisbury and Huntingdon. Henry's retribution upon the earls and their supporters was swift and violent. It is likely that in its aftermath Henry also ordered the murder of the king who was starved to death, though the guilt of this continued to haunt Henry for the rest of his life. Within a few months Henry faced a further revolt, this time in Wales, where Owain Glyn Dwr was declared prince in September 1400. Although the initial revolt was swiftly put down by Henry, Owain was not caught and several years of guerilla warfare followed. Support for Owain grew, not only amongst the Welsh, but amongst the English barons who had their own axes to grind. Key amongst these were the marcher lords, the Mortimers, who believed that their heir, Edmund, was the rightful king of England. This heir's uncle, also called Edmund, was won over to the Welsh cause and married Glyn Dwr's daughter. Owain also found support from Henry Percy, the son of the earl of Northumberland. Young Percy, better known as Hotspur, was a vain and intolerant individual who never believed he had received just recognition for his border successes against the Scots. Moreover his wife was Mortimer's sister. In 1403 Hotspur threw in his lot with Glyn Dwr and Mortimer. Henry reacted quickly, before Hotspur and Mortimer could combine forces, and confronted Hotspur at the battle of Shrewsbury on 21 July 1403. Hotspur was killed and his uncle, the earl of Worcester, was captured and executed. Hotspur's father, Henry, earl of Northumberland, was spared, but he continued to plot against the king. By 1405 it became evident that Mortimer and Percy were planning to overthrow Henry and share England between them. Both Thomas Mowbray, the Earl Marshal of England, and Richard Scrope, archbishop of York, became involved in the plot. The rebel army was defeated and this time Henry showed no mercy, though there was a great outcry when the archbishop was executed. Although the earl of Northumberland escaped to Scotland, he died in February 1408. Soon after Edmund Mortimer died during the siege of Harlech and the Welsh rebellion faded away. At last by 1408 Henry felt reasonably safe. Two years earlier he had taken James I of Scotland captive when the young heir to the throne was being sent to France for safety. James remained at the court of the English king for the next seventeen years and, with him as hostage, England's relationship with Scotland remained stable. More over threats from France diminished as the French became riven by its own civil war. Unfortunately for Henry his physical constitution gave way and for several years, between 1406 and 1409, there were concerns for his life. In addition to the stress of keeping his throne amid widespread opposition, Henry had struggled to sustain the administration and finance of England. Henry placed considerable demands upon his treasury, and Parliament often argued against him. Henry remained moderate throughout, careful to avoid a confrontation that might cost him his throne. He relied increasingly on his council to help him run his government. However, it became evident that his illness was taking its toll and that Henry was finding it difficult to govern. By 1409 his son, Prince Henry, was made chancellor in place of the king's favoured Thomas Arundel, archbishop of Canterbury. Arundel returned in 1411 amidst a quarrel between the King and his council, in which it seems it had been proposed that Henry abdicate in favour of his son. Henry refused. Rumours abounded that Prince Henry was going to take the throne by force, but that never happened. He had little time to wait. Henry's strange wasting disease took his life in March 1413, two weeks before his forty-sixth birthday. The valiant knight of twenty years earlier had been worn out by the stress of government and ill health. Nevertheless he had established a united kingdom, and passed on the throne to his son, Henry V, who would become one of England's best-known kings. Henry had desired that he be buried at Canterbury Cathedral rather than Westminster Abbey. There is a story that while a ship bore his coffin down the Thames a storm erupted and the king's body was washed overboard. The sailors later substituted another body. When Henry's tomb at Canterbury was opened in 1832, the simplicity of the remains suggested that the story may have been true. Henry IV King of England is the 20th great grandfather of the Molloys.

HENRY V   Born: Monmouth Castle, 16 September 1387. Titles: King of England; Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, Earl of Chester and Prince of Aquitaine (from October 1399); Duke of Aquitaine and Duke of Lancaster (from November 1399). Crowned: Westminster Abbey, 9 April 1413. Ruled: 20 March 1413-31 August 1422. Married:: 2 June 1420, at Troyes Cathedral, France, Katherine (1401-37), dau. of Charles VI, King of France: I son (Henry VI). Died: Bois-de-Vincennes, France, 31 August 1422, aged 34. Buried: Westminster Abbey.   Henry was the son of Henry IV and from his youth demonstrated his abilities as a resourceful and valiant soldier. Even though he was only fifteen, Henry fought alongside his father in the war against the Welsh rebels under Owain Glyn Dwr, and later against the English rebels, Henry "Hotspur" Percy and Edmund Mortimer. By the time he was eighteen Henry was heavily involved in working with his father's council of administrators. The young king was so admired that, when his father grew weak from a wasting disease, there was a call for the father to abdicate in his son's favour. This did not happen, and it is not proven that the prince wanted it to happen, but it is evident that in the king's final years he and his son disagreed over several matters. Chief amongst these was England's involvement in France. Henry IV had chosen to press again England's claims to French territories, and an opportunity had arisen in 1407 when civil war broke out in France during one of Charles VI's increasing bouts of insanity, between two factions - the Burgundians and the Armagnacs. Henry IV supported the latter but Prince Henry supported the Burgundians. Their dispute was never resolved, and the king's supporters used it as an opportunity to discredit the prince. However when Henry IV died in 1413, and Prince Henry became king, these disputes were rapidly resolved. Henry was quick to forget old grievances, even to the point of granting the last Plantagenet king, Richard II, a proper state burial at Westminster. Henry focused his intentions single-mindedly on regaining the lands in France and galvanized Parliament into total support. His initial negotiations with the French proved fruitless - not surprisingly considering Henry's wish to have the whole of the old Angevin Empire restored. When negotiations ceased, Henry invaded on II August 1415. He successfully besieged Harfleur and then, on 25 October, confronted the French army at Agincourt. Although the French outnumbered the English three-to-one, their rash tactics against the English and Welsh longbow men proved disastrous. The flower of French chivalry died on that day. It is reported that the French lost some six thousand men compared to four hundred English. Although Agincourt was a major victory, it was not decisive because France did not immediately fall to Henry. But his success had caused the French to be extremely wary of Henry, and it earned Henry tremendous support in England. He also succeeded in gaining Sigismund, the Holy Roman Emperor, as his ally and together they won the support of John, duke of Burgundy. Starting again in August 1417, Henry pursued his campaign through Normandy, which fell to him in the spring of 1419. A few months later the duke of Burgundy was murdered, and Henry found that his own claim on the French throne was now supported by all Burgundians in total defiance of the Armagnac party, adherents of the Dauphin, Charles. Henry signed the Treaty of Troyes with the Burgundians in May 1420, which recognized him as the heir to the French throne. To seal the alliance Henry married Katherine, daughter of the French king. Henry brought his bride back to England in February 1421 and spent the next few months in a triumphant tour of the land. It was soured slightly by the news of the death of his brother, Thomas, duke of Clarence, at the battle of Bauge in France in March. By June Henry was back in France, continuing his battle for the kingdom. The Dauphin's stronghold at Meaux fell to him in May 1422 after a long siege. Unfortunately Henry had become very ill during the winter, almost certainly with dysentery, and his health worsened during the summer. He died on 31 August 1422, aged only thirty-four. It was a cruet blow of fate. Less than six weeks later the French king died. Like Moses, Henry was in sight of his kingdom but was denied entry into it. Nevertheless Henry bequeathed to his infant son a kingdom greater than any since the days of Henry II.   Our image of Henry is probably drawn mostly from his portrayal by Laurence Olivier in the film version of Shakespeare's Henry V, but Olivier's own portrayal was based on a painting of Henry that shows a rather humourless, determined young man with a hard face, an over-large nose, thin eyebrows and a clipped monkish haircut. Although Henry's reign had been the shortest of any English king since the Norman conquest (even Richard I's was three months longer), it was one of the most successful. No other king gained such united support from his barons and no other king regained so much territory and held it. There is no way of knowing how Henry would have maintained his two kingdoms had he lived and his reign might have ended in failure, like Edward III's. But Henry was also a tireless administrator who, despite the pressure of his military campaigns, continued to respond to petitions from England and meet the needs and demands of his court. His ability to hold together his parliament despite the immense strain upon the treasury of his campaigns is further testimony to his abilities. Henry also remained fond of and on good terms with his step-mother, Joan of Navarre, even though she was accused of witchcraft in 1417 and imprisoned at Pevensey Castle. His ability to handle all of these eventualities and triumph in them all was remarkable. His early death was a tragic loss to England. His wife, Katherine, subsequently formed a romantic alliance with Owain Tudor, and most probably married in secret. By him she had four or five children, and died giving birth to the last in 1437. By her son Edmund, she was the grandmother of Henry VII. Henry V King of England is the 19th great grand uncle of the Molloy's. Their common ancestors are Henry IV King of England and Mary De Bohun.

HENRY VI Born: Windsor Castle, 6 December 1421. Titles: King of England and France; Duke of Cornwall (from birth). declared king of France, II October 1422. Crowned England: Westminster Abbey, 6 November 1429, and again at St Paul's Cathedral, 6 October 1470. Crowned France: Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris, 16 December 1431. Ruled: I September 1422-4 March 1461 (deposed), restored 3 October 1470-11 April 1471 (deposed again). Married: 22 April 1445 at Titchfield Abbey.- Margaret (1429-82), dau. of Rene, Duke of Anjou and King of Naples: I son. Died: (Murdered): Tower of London, 21 May 1471, aged 49. Buried: Chertsey Abbey, Surrey, but removed to Windsor Castle in 1485.   Henry VI is a prime example of the wrong king at the wrong time, and that made for a very tragic reign. Henry was the son of the strong, charismatic Henry V whose single-mindedness in recovering the former Norman territories in France had led to him being recognized as heir to the French throne. Henry, however, died before he could benefit from his efforts. His son was almost nine months old when Henry died. Six weeks after inheriting the English throne, young Henry was also declared king of France with the death of Charles VI, his grandfather. Had Henry V lived he would have had the strength of character to take advantage of the situation, but with only an infant king, the new empire required something special to unite it. That something special was not there. In fact the empire soon became a victim of the same tensions that had threatened both thrones for as long as there had been kings: inter-dynastic rivalries, and hatred and suspicion of court favourites.  Although Henry was officially king of France, he never had much opportunity to rule it. In France Charles VI's nineteen-year-old son was also declared king as Charles VII. He held most of the southern provinces while Henry's regent, his uncle, John, duke of Bedford, governed the northern provinces for England. The battle for France dragged on, lacking the relentless drive and power of Henry V. Bedford endeavoured to consolidate the gains the English had made so that the benefits could be ploughed back to the crown and thus reduce the drain of the war on the English treasury. However this meant that any final victory was perpetually deferred. Neither Bedford nor the rather weak-willed Charles VII had sufficient skill to conclude the battle. The key to the fighting centred around Orleans which came under siege in 1427. This was the period of Joan of Arc who galvanised the French into action. Although she was only seventeen she led an army into Orleans and raised the siege in May 1429. The spirit of victory was restored to the French and a wave of national pride engulfed the country as they regained lands from the English along the Loire Valley. Charles was crowned king of France in June 1429. This concerned Bedford who urged on the coronation of young Henry. He was crowned king of England in November 1429, but it was another two years before he was crowned as king of France in 1431. He was the only king ever to be formally crowned in both countries. However, although it had been hoped this would instil a similar nationalistic fervour in the English, it achieved nothing. The French were gaining the upper hand and the English were losing all of the lands Henry V had gained. In 1435 the Duke of Burgundy, in whose name the English had first invaded France, reached an agreement with Charles VII known as the Treaty of Arras. From then on the English cause in France was lost; Charles entered Paris in 1436. Apparently when Henry learned of Burgundy's defection he cried. Although he retained the title of king of France, it held no authority. The conflict would continue for another eighteen years until the death of England's dashing champion John Talbot, earl of Shrewsbury, at Castillon in 1453. With that defeat England's Hundred Years' War with France came to an end. The only French territory remaining in English hands was Calais.  Henry did not declare himself of age until November 1437, just before his sixteenth birthday. Until then the protector of England had been his uncle, Humphrey, duke of Gloucester. No one seemed to like Gloucester, and he was not trusted with full regency powers, which had remained with Bedford until his death in 1435. The result was constant wrangles in Parliament as Gloucester endeavoured to exercise his authority. At times even the young king interceded to calm matters, although no one took much notice of young Henry. During his upbringing he had been told to behave himself and not believe himself to have absolute authority. By the time he took the reins of government he was already a pawn of the most powerful statesmen and was too weak willed to exert any power. This was not because he did not believe he should, it was mostly because he was not interested. People are not simply born kings, they have to be them, and Henry had no will to govern. As a result he invested power and authority in the hands of those he most trusted and, as Henry was amazingly naive, these tended to be the least scrupulous of people. Amongst them was William de la Pole, earl of Suffolk, and grandson of Michael de la Pole who had been one of RICHARD II’s court favourites. Although de la Pole ingratiated himself into Henry's affections, and became his steward in 1435, he had good intentions since he was a peacemaker at heart. However, his solution for peace effectively meant the loss of France, and his chief opponent in this was Humphrey of Gloucester who was in favour of continuing the war of conquest. In other times, history might have been on the side of Suffolk, but in the years so soon after Henry V's great victories and with so many lives and resources expended, the English nation was not for sacrificing France. Nevertheless, because of his closeness to the king, Suffolk was able to plot his course for some years. It was through Suffolk's negotiations that Henry married Margaret of Anjou in 1444 with terms that should have brought peace. What many did not know until later was that one of the terms in order to extend the truce was that Henry would surrender Maine, to which he agreed. There was uproar when the truth was known to the extent that Henry no longer felt safe in London. Margaret of Anjou together with the Earl of Suffolk convinced Henry that his uncle was plotting an uprising. Humphrey of Gloucester was arrested and confined at Bury St Edmunds in February 1447, where he died a week later. Many believed that he was murdered, probably on Suffolk's orders. Suffolk, realising his unpopularity, switched from peacemaker to warmonger and invaded Brittany in 1449. This brought the conflict into Normandy, which the French conquered by September 1450. Suffolk could not escape the loss of Normandy. Even before the war was concluded, Suffolk was arrested and impeached. Henry, hoping to save his life, had him banished, but his ship was intercepted at Dover and Suffolk was executed. Suffolk and his allies now became the scapegoat for all that had gone wrong both in France and with the mismanagement of English affairs. This was the main cause for the revolution led by John Cade in May 1450 which followed much the same course as the Peasants' Revolt of seventy years earlier, except that Henry VI did not show the bravery of the young Richard 11. The revolt ran its course over the next two months before Cade's death. His rebellion was an opportunity to purge government, but Henry took little action. Instead he created further polarisation by appointing Edmund Beaufort, the Duke of Somerset (and Henry V's first cousin), as his closest adviser. Somerset had once been a good soldier, but his role as lieutenant of France had coincided with the loss of most of the English lands, and he was regarded as the focal point for English failure. He was also the sworn enemy of Richard, duke of York (who was Henry V's second cousin). York had been effectively banished to Ireland in 1447, because of his sympathy for Humphrey of Gloucester. However in August 1450 he returned to England, supported by his army, and demanded his place on the Council. The next few years were tense ones as the rivalry between Somerset and York grew: a rivalry that would erupt into the Wars of the Roses. Somerset had the upper hand to begin with, because of his direct link with the king, but matters changed after August 1453 when the king became afflicted by the first bouts of mental decline that would darken his later years. This was almost certainly inherited from his grandfather, the king of France, who also had bouts of imbecility. Exactly what was wrong with Henry is not certain, but he lost all memory and reason and would sit for weeks devoid of expression or awareness in a deep melancholia. The depression may have been triggered by the loss of France. It came just two months before the birth of Henry's first (and only) son, Edward. The king gave no sign of acknowledging the child and when, eighteen months later, Henry's reason returned, he had no idea where the child came from, believing it must have been born of the Holy Ghost.  Richard of York was made "Protector of the Realm" in March 1454 and promptly had Somerset arrested and imprisoned in the Tower. However, a year later, when Henry recovered, the king had Somerset released and York dismissed. York's entreaties to the king were ignored and the inevitable conflict broke out at St Albans on 22 May 1455. The battle was brief and Somerset was killed. That should have been an end of any hostilities, because Henry seemed prepared to be reconciled to Richard of York. When another bout of madness struck Henry in November 1455, Richard was again made protector but was again dismissed in February 1456. With Henry scarcely able to govern, his queen, Margaret, took up his cause. She despised the arrogant haughtiness of York and encouraged the new duke of Somerset, Henry Beaufort, against him. By 1458 the flames of war were being fanned across England between the Yorkists, supported by Richard Neville, earl of Salisbury, and his son, also Richard Neville, earl of Warwick, on the one side, and the Lancastrians, under the figurehead of Henry VI, but really led by Margaret of Anjou, supported by Somerset and Henry Percy, the third earl of Northumberland. With the battle of Ludlow in 1459 the Wars of the Roses began in earnest. At that battle the Yorkists were routed and Richard of York fled to Wales and then Ireland, while his supporters sought refuge in Calais. The following year the Calais element defeated the Lancastrians at Northampton, and Richard of York returned to England. He now formally placed his claim to the throne before Parliament in September 1460. The following month his right was acknowledged and he was declared the heir to the throne, in place of Henry's son Edward. Henry, his mind failing rapidly, agreed, but Margaret of Anjou was not so easily pacified. She raised a further army in the north and met the Yorkists at Wakefield on 30 December. York was killed in the battle, whilst Salisbury was captured and murdered. Margaret marched on London, defeating the earl of Warwick at St Albans early in 1461. Warwick managed to recruit another army, together with York's son, Edward, and they marched into London in triumph in March 1461. Edward declared himself king (as Edward IV). His forces marched north, following the retreating army of Henry and Margaret, and the two clashed at Towton near Tadcaster in Yorkshire. There, in the middle of a snowstorm, the Lancastrian army was defeated. Henry and Margaret fled to Scotland, where they were given refuge by the young king James III. Henry bought support from the Scots by granting them Berwick, but the military aid he was given proved useless in the abortive battle at Carlisle. Edward was soon after crowned king of England. He outsmarted every move made by Margaret of Anjou, including her alliance with France, to try and regain the crown and, after three years, Henry became an embarrassment to the Scots. He was smuggled out of Scotland and spent a year in refuge in northern England, until he was betrayed and captured by English forces in July 1465 and imprisoned in the Tower of London. Had Henry been of the same arrogant disposition Of Edward II and Richard II, both of whom had been murdered in prison, Henry might have expected his days to be numbered. But following an amazing reversal in the fortunes of Edward IV, Henry suddenly found himself removed from the Tower on 3 October 1470 and reinstated as king. The earl of Warwick had changed his allegiance to Henry and even went so far, two months later, as to marry his daughter Anne to the king's son, Edward. Henry's 'readeption', as it was known, was not to last for long. Edward IV returned with an army in April and defeated and killed Warwick. The king was again captured and imprisoned. His wife's army arrived too late to save him. She and her supporters were defeated at Tewkesbury on 4 May 1471, where the young Prince Edward was killed. Margaret was also imprisoned in the Tower and on that same night, 21 May, Henry was stabbed to death. Just who killed him was never revealed, though his body was displayed in its coffin the next day as if he had died naturally, so as to avoid any later rebellion to restore him. Margaret of Anjou remained in prison, first at the Tower, then Windsor and finally Wallingford, before being released to return to her father's estates at Angers in 1475. Her appearance had become as wretched as Henry's, exhausted by years of trial and tribulation. Had she been the queen of a stronger king, they would have made a remarkable pair and doubtless ruled with considerable effect, but Margaret had the misfortune to be married to a king who began weak and sank into mental decline. He should have been a younger brother and left government to John, duke of Bedford, who was much more able. Henry was more a scholar than a statesman. Although his reign led to the Wars of the Roses, he and his queen may best be remembered as the founders of King's College (1441) and Queen's College (1448) at Cambridge. Henry VI King of England and the Molloys are 1st cousins 20 times removed. Their common ancestors are Henry IV King of England and Mary De Bohun.