Alnwick Castle - Northumberland - 140804

Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, 4th Baron Percy, titular King of Mann, KG, Lord Marshal (10 November 134120 February 1408) was the son of Henry de Percy, 3rd Baron Percy, and a descendant of

Henry III of England Henry III (1 October 1207 – 16 November 1272), also known as Henry of Winchester, was King of England, Lord of Ireland, and Duke of Aquitaine from 1216 until his death in 1272. The son of John, King of England, King John and Isabella of Ang ...

. His mother was Mary of Lancaster, daughter of

Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster Henry, 3rd Earl of Leicester and Lancaster ( – 22 September 1345) was a grandson of King Henry III of England (1216–1272) and was one of the principals behind the deposition of King Edward II (1307–1327), his first cousin. Origins He wa ...

, son of Edmund, Earl of Leicester and Lancaster, who was the son of Henry III.

Life

Henry Percy was originally a follower of

Edward III of England Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring royal authority after t ...

, for whom he held high offices in the administration of northern England. At a young age, he was made Warden of the Marches towards Scotland in 1362, with the authority to negotiate with the Scottish government. In February 1367, he was entrusted with the supervision of all castles and fortified places in the Scottish marches. He went on to support King Richard II, was formally created an Earl on Richard's coronation in 1377, and was briefly given the title of Marshal of England. Between 1383 and 1384, he was appointed Admiral of the Northern Seas. After Richard elevated his rival Ralph Neville to the position of Earl of Westmorland in 1397, Percy and his son, also Henry and known as "Hotspur", supported the rebellion of Henry Bolingbroke, who became King as Henry IV. On King Henry IV's coronation, Henry Percy was appointed Constable of England and granted the lordship of the

Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...

. Percy and Hotspur were given the task of subduing the rebellion of

Owain Glyndŵr Owain ap Gruffydd (28 May 135420 September 1415), commonly known as Owain Glyndŵr (Glyn Dŵr, , anglicised as Owen Glendower) was a Welsh people, Welsh leader, soldier and military commander in the Wales in the late Middle Ages, late Middle ...

, but their attempts to make peace with the Welsh rebels did not meet with the king's approval.

Rebellion

In September 1402 the Percys took part in the Battle of Homildon Hill, which led to the capture of many Scots nobles. Henry did not want them to be ransomed, leading to another quarrel. In 1403 the Percys turned against Henry IV in favour of Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March, and then conspired with Owain Glyndŵr against Henry. The Percy rebellion failed at the

Battle of Shrewsbury The Battle of Shrewsbury was fought on 21 July 1403, waged between an army led by the Lancastrian King Henry IV and a rebel army led by Henry "Harry Hotspur" Percy from Northumberland. The battle, the first in which English archers fought ea ...

, where Hotspur was killed. Since the earl did not directly participate in the rebellion, he was not convicted of treason. However, he lost his office as Constable. In 1405 all three parties signed the Tripartite Indenture, which divided England up between them. Glyndŵr was to be given

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, and a substantial part of the west of England, Northumberland was to have received the north of England, as well as

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

, and

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

. The Mortimers were to have received the rest of southern England, below the river Trent.Trevor Royle, ''The Wars of the Roses; England's First Civil War'', Abacus, 2009, p. 95 Later in 1405 Percy supported Richard le Scrope,

Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers the ...

, in another rebellion, after which Percy fled to Scotland, and his estates were confiscated by the king. In 1408 Percy invaded England in rebellion once more and was killed at the Battle of Bramham Moor. His severed head was subsequently put on display at London Bridge.

Marriages and issue

In 1358, he married Margaret Neville (12 February 133912 May 1372), daughter of Ralph Neville, 2nd Baron Neville de Raby, and Alice de Audley. They had four sons ( Harry "Hotspur" Percy, Thomas, Ralph, and Alan) and one daughter (Margaret). In 1381, he married Maud Lucy (134318 December 1398), daughter of Sir Thomas de Lucy, 2nd Baron Lucy, and Margaret de Multon, and thus sister and heiress of Anthony Lucy, 3rd Baron Lucy (died 1368), of Cockermouth Castle, Cumbria, which estate he inherited on condition that he and his

heirs male A male heir (sometimes heirs male)—usually describing the first-born son (primogeniture) or oldest surviving son of a family—has traditionally been the recipient of the residue of the estate, titles, wealth and responsibilities of his father in ...

should bear the arms of Lucy (''Gules, three lucies hauriant argent'') quarterly with their own.Daniel Lysons and Samuel Lysons, 'Cockermouth', in Magna Britannia: Volume 4, Cumberland (London, 1816), pp. 40-45 http://www.british-history.ac.uk/magna-britannia/vol4/pp40-45 They had no issue.

In literature and media

Northumberland is a major character in Shakespeare's '' Richard II'', ''

Henry IV, part 1 ''Henry IV, Part 1'' (often written as ''1 Henry IV'') is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written no later than 1597. The play dramatises part of the reign of King Henry IV of England, beginning with the Battle of H ...

'', and '' Henry IV, part 2.'' His position as a character in the Shakespearean canon inspired the character of

Lord Percy Percy This article lists the characters in the four series and three special episodes of the British sitcom ''Blackadder''. ''Blackadder'' was notable for featuring actors playing many repeating characters across different eras of history, with Rowa ...

, heir to the duchy of Northumberland in the historical sitcom ''

The Black Adder ''The Black Adder'' is the first series of the BBC sitcom ''Blackadder'', written by Richard Curtis and Rowan Atkinson, directed by Martin Shardlow and produced by John Lloyd. The series was originally aired on BBC1 from 15 June 1983 to 20 Ju ...

'', set during the very late Plantagenet era. The novel ''Lion of Alnwick'' by Carol Wensby-Scott is the first volume of the Percy Saga trilogy which retells the story of "the wild and brilliant Percy family" and relates a fictionalised account of the lives of the 1st Earl of Northumberland and his son Henry "Hotspur" Percy. The other novels in the trilogy, ''Lion Dormant'' and ''Lion Invincible'' tell the story of his other descendants and their role in the English War of the Roses. Henry Percy and his son Hotspur are also essential characters in Edith Pargeter's novel, ''A Bloody Field by Shrewsbury'' which recounts the events leading up to the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403. He is a major character in '' My Lord John'' by

Georgette Heyer Georgette Heyer (; 16 August 1902 – 4 July 1974) was an English novelist and short-story writer, in both the Regency romance and detective fiction genres. Her writing career began in 1921, when she turned a story conceived for her ail ...

Ancestry

References

Sources

* Rymer, Thomas ''Foedera'', The Hague, 173

*Beltz, G.F. ''Memorials of the most noble Order of the Garter, from its foundation to the present time'' London 184

* James William Edmund Doyle, Doyle, J.W.E, ''The Official Baronage of England'' London 188

* Jean Froissart, ''Chronicles'' *