[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"$f17qxzm3sqrj0u":3,"$f8kw1wa56tc25":12},{"slug":4,"title":5,"subtitle":6,"excerpt":7,"coverUrl":8,"publishedAt":9,"contentHtml":10,"substackUrl":11},"on-this-day-the-coronation-of-henry","On this day: the coronation of Henry IV","13 October 1399: A shaky claim, a king made to watch, and a challenge nobody answered","Today, 13 October 1399, on the feast of St Edward the Confessor, Henry of Bolingbroke was crowned Henry IV at Westminster. If you remember the OTD post from a couple of weeks ago, you saw this coming!","https:\u002F\u002Fsubstackcdn.com\u002Fimage\u002Ffetch\u002F$s_!1egM!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\u002Fhttps%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc015c441-1f94-4dee-b397-a64f918db069_960x1147.jpeg","2026-10-13T18:12:47.000Z","\u003Cp>Today, 13 October 1399, on the feast of St Edward the Confessor, Henry of Bolingbroke was crowned Henry IV at Westminster. If you remember the \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fsubstack.com\u002Fhome\u002Fpost\u002Fp-217817031\">OTD post from a couple of weeks ago,\u003C\u002Fa> you saw this coming! It was two weeks after Richard II abdicated the throne of England… he may have been forced, but we really can’t be sure.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cfigure>\u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fsubstackcdn.com\u002Fimage\u002Ffetch\u002F$s_!1egM!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\u002Fhttps%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc015c441-1f94-4dee-b397-a64f918db069_960x1147.jpeg\">\u003Cimg src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fsubstackcdn.com\u002Fimage\u002Ffetch\u002F$s_!1egM!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\u002Fhttps%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc015c441-1f94-4dee-b397-a64f918db069_960x1147.jpeg\" alt=\"\" \u002F>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cfigcaption>\u003Cem>Henry IV, painted around 1402, three years into his reign, in the records of the Duchy of Lancaster, the inheritance Richard tried to take from him.\u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Ffigcaption>\u003C\u002Ffigure>\u003Cp>Exactly one year earlier, on the same feast day, Henry was forced to leave England, according to chronicler Adam of Usk (who was contemporary and in London). King Richard II had had his cousin exiled for 10 years. This was due to an argument with the Duke of Norfolk, with each man accusing the other of treason. Also, Richard II no doubt hadn’t forgotten that Henry was one of the Lords Appellant, who took over the government and had some of the king’s influential friends executed. (\u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fmegloveshistory.substack.com\u002Fp\u002Fon-this-day-4-january-1400\">Read about that here\u003C\u002Fa>!) Soon enough, Henry’s father, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, died. Instead of Henry inheriting the dukedom of Lancaster, Richard took the lands for himself and made Henry’s exile permanent. Obviously Henry and his friends (the other lords) were not ok with this… if the king could decide to make a nobleman forfeit his lands and extend exiles permanently, which of them would be next?! So, Henry returned, this time with an army and the support of the other lords. Richard II was imprisoned in the Tower of London and abdicated the throne. \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fsubstack.com\u002Fhome\u002Fpost\u002Fp-217817031\">Read all about that part in the post about it HERE\u003C\u002Fa>.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Henry of Bolingbroke decided he was the rightful next king of England. He said it was due to his inheritance from Henry III, not from Edward III. There’s a bit of tangled politics here. \u003Cstrong>\u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fclaude.ai\u002Fartifact\u002F5VKmeEQNi8dkJgLE2ePSFV\">I made a family tree HERE to help keep this straight.\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fstrong> So, Richard was the grandson of Edward III through his first son, but Richard had no children. If one were to go by the tradition of primogeniture, the next in line would be the next male from the line of Edward III’s second son, Lionel of Clarence… that leads to Edmund Mortimer, a seven-year-old great-great-grandson (through Philippa of Clarence) of Edward III. Henry of Bolingbroke was a grandson of Edward III through his third son, John of Gaunt. HOWEVER, there was a rumor that the line leading to Richard becoming king in the first place was a bit skewed. It was said that back when Henry III was on the throne, Edward I (the Hammer of the Scots) was not actually Henry III’s eldest son, but Edmund Crouchback, who was passed over due to mental weakness. If that rumor were true, Henry of Bolingbroke, who was descended not only from Edward III but also from Edmund Crouchback (through the female line), had a better claim. Adam of Usk, who was on the committee that looked into it, says they checked the chronicles: Edward came first, then Margaret (who became Queen of Scotland), then Edmund.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Therefore, the committee in 1399 found that the rumor was false, so Henry couldn’t use it explicitly. However, he didn’t want to admit that Lionel’s line came first either, because he would be admitting to usurping the throne over Edmund Mortimer. So, in Parliament on 30 September, he claimed the crown in deliberate vagueness. This is from the Parliament roll: \u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cblockquote>\u003Cp>“… as I that am descended by right line of the blood coming from the good lord King Henry the Third…” \u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fblockquote>\u003Cp>Because he never said how, anyone who wanted to believe the Crouchback story still could. He also had two more reasons: that God had sent him the crown (“through that right that God of his grace hath sent me”) and that he had an army (“with help of my kin and of my friends”). So, three reasons… blood, God, and force.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>The night before Henry’s coronation, 46 knights were made in the Tower. It makes me feel really bad for Richard. Adam of Usk wrote:\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cblockquote>\u003Cp>On the eve of his coronation, in the Tower of London and in the presence of Richard late king, king Henry made forty-six new knights, amongst whom were his three sons, and also the earls of Arundel and Stafford, and the son and heir of the earl of Warwick; and with them and other nobles of the land he passed in great state to Westminster.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fblockquote>\u003Cp>Only Adam of Usk ever says that Richard was made to watch, but as he was in London and visited Richard in the Tower that autumn, I’m inclined to believe it. Also, some of the men who were named knights would have definitely stung Richard… Arundel and Warwick were sons of some of the Lords Appellant that Richard had punished in 1397. Arundel’s father was executed, and Warwick’s father was sentenced to life in prison; now those sons were being knighted by the man who replaced him, right in front of him. Side note, these knights are traditionally counted as the first Knights of the Bath. They had a ritual bath and kept vigil the night before, hence the name. I think it’s kind of funny that in one primary source, Froissart says, \u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cblockquote>\u003Cp>the duke [meaning Henry of Bolingbroke] bathed, and on the morrow confessed himself, as he had good need to do…\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fblockquote>\u003Cp>… even the chronicler knew Henry had a good deal to confess!\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Next was the coronation itself. The people were asked for their consent; according to Froissart, the Archbishop of Canterbury asked from all corners of the platform (on which Henry sat on the throne) whether those present agreed to Henry being crowned. They all shouted “Ay!” That fits his shaky claim too… Henry made sure that everyone was seen to say yes. Then, Henry was \u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cblockquote>\u003Cp>stripped of all his royal state before the altar, naked to his shirt, and was then anointed… on the head, the breast, the two shoulders, before and behind, on the back and hands.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fblockquote>\u003Cp>Next, St Edward’s crown was placed on Henry’s head.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>After the coronation was the banquet. Here’s what Adam of Usk says about what happened:\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cblockquote>\u003Cp>While the king was in the midst of the banquet, sir Thomas Dymock, knight, mounted in full armour on his destrier… entered the hall… And he caused proclamation to be made by a herald at the four sides of the hall that, if any man should say that his liege lord here present and king of England was not of right crowned king of England, he was ready to prove the contrary with his body, then and there… And the king said: ‘If need be, sir Thomas, I will in mine own person ease thee of this office.’\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fblockquote>\u003Cp>Now, the King’s Champion was a hereditary role that came with the manor of Scrivelsby in Lincolnshire. Dymock inherited the role through his mother; his father had done this same thing at Richard’s coronation in 1377. Usually, this was just ceremonial; however, it was a bit different this time. Everyone at the feast knew that there actually was someone with a better claim, Edmund Mortimer. Froissart added that nobody answered the challenge.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>So, Henry IV made sure everyone said yes to his being made King of England. He had a champion ready to fight anyone and everyone who said no. He made his cousin and former king Richard watch. However, a crown taken this way is never going to be quite safe…\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>The night before his coronation, Henry knighted his own sons and his allies’ sons in front of Richard. Less than three months later, a few dissenting lords plotted “to strike down the king and his sons and replace him with the recently deposed Richard II” (\u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fmegloveshistory.substack.com\u002Fp\u002Fon-this-day-4-january-1400\">read about the Epiphany Rising here\u003C\u002Fa>). Obviously, these lords read the room wrong. The plot failed, but it showed Henry that as long as Richard was alive, his crown would never be safe. By February 1400, Richard was dead at Pontefract Castle.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch3>\u003Cstrong>Thanks so much for reading! I’d love to hear what you think, so tell me in the comments: Is Henry IV a usurper or the rightful heir?\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fh3>\u003Cp>\u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fmegloveshistory.substack.com\u002Fp\u002Fon-this-day-the-coronation-of-henry\u002Fcomments\">\u003Cspan>Leave a comment\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch3>\u003Cstrong>And if you’re enjoying these stories, subscribe to Meg Loves History so you don’t miss the next one. 💛\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fh3>\u003Cp>\u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fmegloveshistory.substack.com\u002Fsubscribe?\">\u003Cspan>Subscribe now\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fmegloveshistory.substack.com\u002Fp\u002Fon-this-day-the-coronation-of-henry?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share\">\u003Cspan>Share\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Sources:\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cul>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>Adam of Usk, \u003Cem>Chronicon Adae de Usk, A.D. 1377–1421\u003C\u002Fem>, ed. and trans. E. Maunde Thompson (1904), pp. 182–189\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cem>Rotuli Parliamentorum\u003C\u002Fem> iii, pp. 422–423 (Henry’s claim to the crown, 30 September 1399)\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>Jean Froissart, \u003Cem>Chronicles of England, France, Spain, and the Adjoining Countries\u003C\u002Fem>, trans. Thomas Johnes, vol. 2 (1848), Book IV, ch. 116\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003C\u002Ful>\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Image:\u003C\u002Fstrong> Illuminated initial showing Henry IV, from the records of the Duchy of Lancaster, c. 1402. The National Archives, DL 42\u002F1. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (\u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fcommons.wikimedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FFile:Illumination_of_Henry_IV_(cropped).jpg\">https:\u002F\u002Fcommons.wikimedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FFile:Illumination_of_Henry_IV_(cropped).jpg\u003C\u002Fa>).\u003C\u002Fp>","https:\u002F\u002Fmegloveshistory.substack.com\u002Fp\u002Fon-this-day-the-coronation-of-henry",{"persons":13,"places":14,"events":15,"institutions":16,"groups":17,"titles":18,"houses":19,"sources":20,"artifacts":21,"librarySections":22},2709,7446,1661,1781,1942,129,107,98,3,6537]