Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 09.djvu/832

* HENBY III. 768 HENRY V. ance ofc free will. The question of the validity of these provisions was suhmitted by both parties to 8aint Louis of France, who in the Mise of Amiens (q.v. ) annulled the provisions (12G4). Leicester and his party refused to be bound by the decision, and took up arms against the King. They defeated him and took him prisoner in the battle of Lewes, on May 14, 12G4. The battle was fol- lowed by an agreement known as the 'Mise of Lewes' (q.v.), more hmuiliating to the King than the Provisions of Oxford. Leicester, being virtual ruler of the country, summoned a Par- liament in. 1205, to which, for the first time in English history, representatives from both bor- ouglis and shires were called. Knights of the shire had been summoned to Parliament as early as 1254. Leicester's .supremacy did not last long. Within a year the powerful Earl of Gloucester deserted his party, and with Prince Edward, the gifted son of the King, who had been taken prisoner at Lewes and succeeded in making his escape, led an overwhelming army against Leicester, who was defeated and slain at Evesham, on August 4. 1265. During the remainder of Henry's reign affairs were imder the control of Prince Edward. The King died on November 16, 1272, and was succeeded by his son. The weakness of Henry and his father had allowed the development of the power of the barons, and in the struggle between the two the modern system of Parliamentary Government arose, marked by the concession of representa- tion to the shires and the boroughs. Statute law dates from the time of Henry III., the Provi- sions of Merton, passed in the twentieth year of Henry's reign, being the first enactment on the English statute book. Consult: Stubbs, Constitu- iional History of Enrjland (Oxford, 1891) ; Pro- thero. Simon de Mont fort (London, 1877) ; Pauli, Simon de Montfort (Tubingen, 1867): Green, Uistorii of the English People (London, 1874). HENBY IV. (1367-1413). King of England from 1300 to 1413. He was the eldest son of John of Gaiuit, fourth son of Edward III., and Blanche, the daughter of Henry. Duke of Lancas- ter, and was born April 3. 13G7, at his father's castle of Bolingbroke in Lincolnshire. He is fre- quently called Henry of Bolingbroke from the name of his birthplace, but to his contemporaries he was more generally known as Henry of Lan- caster. About 1380 he married Mai-y Bohun, one of the heiresses of the Earl of Hereford. He was distinguished for his martial attainments, and became a great favorite with the people of London. From 1387 to 1390 he was one of the leaders of the party opposed to Richard II. (q.v.), being one of the five lords appellants who in 1387 led an army against London and forced Richard to dismiss his unpopular favor- ites. In 1390-91 he was engaged on a crusad- ing expedition in Lithuania with the Teutonic Knights. In 1392 he started on a second expedi- tion to Lithuania, but soon changed his purpose and made a pilgrimage to .Jerusalem. After his return he joined the King's Partv. and was made Duke of Hereford in 1307. In 1398, as a result of the hostility between Henry and the Duke of Norfolk, the former was banished from England for six years, while his rival was exiled for life. Henry's banishment served to increase his popu- larity with the people of London, who chose to re- gard hiiu as a martyr. In 1309 his father died, and Richard, in spite of his promise, confiscated the estates which should have descended to Henry. The latter, profiting by the King's ab- sence in Ireland, landed in England in July, 1399. He was eagerly welcomed by all the discontented, and met with no effectual opposition. Richard on his return from Ireland was deserted by his followers, and soon fell into Henry's hands. The King agreed to abdicate, his resignation was ac- cejjted by Parliament on September 30, 1399, and Henry was chosen King, inaugurating the line of Lancaster. As he was not the nearest' heir in line of descent, and as he did not claim England by right of conquest, he owed his title to Parliament, and he is sometimes called the first constitutional monarch. The first half of his reign was filled with wars. At his ac- cession he showed himself lenient to all his for- mer enemies, merely taking from them the dig- nities which they had won at his expense. An attempt at rebellion in January, 1400, by the lords whom he had degraded was easily put down, ilost of the rebels were put to death. And Richard II. died soon after, possibly murdered. In the same year the Welsh revolted under Owen Glen- dower (q.v.). The Scots, who also began war, were defeated at Homildon Hill (q.v.) in 1402. The French gave aid both to the Scotch and Welsh and harried the English coast, but accom- plished little, on account of their internal dis- sensions. In 1403 the Percy family, dissatis- fied with the rewards bestowed upon them by the new King, rose in rebellion, but were over- thrown in the battle of Shrew'sbury, in w'hich Harry Percy, the famous Hotspur, fell. In 1405 James I., heir to the Scotch throne, was cap- lured while on his way to France, and this brought peace with Scotland. After this date the wars were less dangerous, but Henry suf- fered from an illness which gradually sapped his strength. Another rebellion was put down in 1408. and at the same time a number of suc- cesses were gained over the Welsli. Henry died ilarch 20, 1413. He was brave, naturally merci- ful, devout, and able, but subject to fits of pas- sion. He recognized the authority of Parlia- ment and acted as a constitutional monarch. His reign was stained by enactments against the Lollards, and by persecutions. He was a patron of Gower, Chaucer, and Christine de Pisan. He had four sons and two daughters by his first wife. In 1403 he married Joan of Brittany as a mat- ter of diplomacy, but he gained nothing by this marriage. For the best modern authorities on his reign, consult: Stubbs, Constitutional Histori/ of England (Oxford, 1891) : Pauli, Geschichte von England (Leipzig, 1864-75) : Wvlie, History of Henry IV. (4 vols., London, 1884-08). HENBY V. (1387-1422). King of England from 1413 to 1422. He was the eldest son of Heniy IV. and of ^lary Bohun, and was born August 9, 1387, at Monmouth. In 1309, on the accession of his father to the throne, he became Earl of Chester, DiU-ce of Cornwall, Prince of Wales, Duke of Aquitaine. and Duke of Lan- caster. In his youth he had acquired great mili- tary distinction in operations against Hotspur and Glendower (q.v.), and in 1410 and 1411 he governed in the name of his father, who was ill. In 1412 lie fell into disfavor with his father, and was deprived of his power. At his father's death, March 20. 1413. he became King. He liberated the young Earl of !March from the confinement in which Henry IV. had placed him,