An Unsuspected Pregnancy 2.0: A Plantagenet Timeline
Richard II "the accursed"
Richard II "the accursed"
On January 23rd, 1393 Queen Anne of England, the wife of Richard II and a woman often rumored to be infertile, went into labor. Everyone was surprised with the exception of the Queen, who had only just begun preparing to announce to Court that she was with child, although the child decided to come a bit early and as such, had slim odds of survival. The labor was a difficult one yet, after several hours, it proved fruitful when a boy was born and against the odds, survived. The senior line of the House of Plantagenet appeared to be saved but the mood at Court, and of King Richard, soon turned bittersweet as Anne fell extremely ill during the next several weeks with what was believed to be childbed fever. While she recovered by late February, with many crediting it due to the fact her husband was almost constantly near her bedside, it was clear to all that now she truly was infertile and so long as she lived, there would be no more legitimate children for King Richard II.
The boy was named Edward in honor of his deceased uncle, his grandfather, and his great-grandfather. A christening was held in early February, although it was subdued due to Richard’s absence, with him choosing to be at his wife’s bedside, and also due to the fact the birth was totally unexpected. John of Gaunt and Sigismund of Hungary were named the prince’s godfathers, while Philippa de Coucy (a cousin to Richard and wife to one of his favorites) and Margaret of Bohemia were the godmothers. Margaret and Sigismund both used stand-ins at the ceremony.
Reaction to the birth was mixed throughout England and the rest of Europe with the initial feeling being widespread surprise. While in England the birth did boost support for the monarchy, something which was needed in order to maintain stability, abroad there were whispers that Richard, and not Anne, was the infertile one and that the child was conceived by an palace servant who had cuckolded the King. While these rumors were silenced in the lands held by the House of Luxembourg (Anne’s family), they managed to creep into the upper levels of the nobility in France, the Iberian Peninsula, and Scotland where even the monarchs were reportedly suspicious of the origins of Prince Edward. Richard steadfastly denied this however, and staunchly defended his wife and on several instances went to the extent as to order punishment of those spreading the stories in his domain.
Although many in Paris did believe the rumors of Edward’s illegitimacy Charles VI, and then his regents after he fell into insanity, were eager to secure a permanent, lasting peace with England. Negotiations between Richard II and Charles VI followed by Philip the Bold, the Duke of Burgundy (and regent of France) gradually became more and more cohesive. They were finalized by early 1393, where it was agreed that Prince Edward was to be betrothed to the Princess Joan of France. In lieu of a dowry, Philip agreed that France would cede numerous portions of Aquitaine to England in order to secure a lasting peace. This deal proved highly popular in France, were the people were eager to rebuild their lives after the invasions at the hands of Edward III and the Black Prince, but in England it was anything but. Richard’s consistent efforts to promote peace with France were opposed by the nobles, who looked with envy upon the French lands they saw as ripe for the taking, and yet found consistent support amongst the peasants (which was something Richard had hardly enjoyed during his reign due to his tax policies), who saw it as a chance for taxes to be lowered and life to return to normal.
Prince Edward was kept close to his parents during his infancy and his mother proved to be extremely protective of the child, gaining a voice in choosing where, when, and by whom her son would be educated in the future. Furthermore, when Richard left to Ireland in order to reassess his support on the Island in 1394, it was Anne who was left in control of their sonm, although John of Gaunt was given control of the government. It was during this period for an unspecified reason Anne moved herself and her son to Portchester Castle on the southern coast. John of Gaunt reportedly viewed it as paranoia by the Queen, and yet made no effort to stop her, knowing how likely it was Richard would defend her. Ultimately Anne, Prince Edward, and the young boy’s various tutors and guards were to remain at Portchester from early March 1394 until January 1395 when Richard himself, returning from what he believed to be a successful tour of Ireland, came to Portchester to fetch them himself.
During the next few months a lot changed for Prince Edward. He was educated with his second cousin Humphrey, the child of Henry Bolingbroke, starting in late 1395 and the two boys grew extremely close, creating a friendship which would stand the test of time. These happy years were to come to a crashing end however, in 1398 when Henry Bolingbroke and Thomas Mowbray had a feud and accused each other of treason. Richard banished both men, believing by rooting out both of them from his realm the one with the true treason would not be mistakenly allowed to go unpunished. While John of Gaunt stood by Richard during this period it did cause the King to second guess the idea of educating his son alongside a Lancastrian, as he had been during his childhood. Humphrey was sent back to John of Gaunt and instead Richard gained custody of Bolingroke’s eldest son, Henry. Edward idolized Henry and viewed him as somewhat of a mentor. For, during Henry’s stay with the royal family, Edward began to show a new interest in martial skills. Anne, for her part, attempted to quell this new found hobby but was overruled by the King.
Anne of Bohemia, Queen of England
Large swathes of England began to back Bolingbroke who proclaimed he only sought to end the tyranny of Richard by replacing him with his young son and setting up a regency council. He moved from Western England towards London while in the meantime Queen Anne, who did not trust Bolingbroke, moved Edward and herself back to Portchester where she had sought refuge during Richard II’s earlier absence. On September 23rd, 1399 Richard II was captured upon returning from Ireland and was taken by Bolingbroke’s men to London. Upon hearing this news Anne panicked, fearing for the life of both her son as well as her husband, and fled with Prince Edward and a group of tutors, guards, and loyalists, across the channel to Holland where she then began a trek across much of the Holy Roman Empire in order to get to her brothers’ domains. By April 1400 Anne and Edward arrived at the Court of her brother, the King of Bohemia and found him sympathetic, but little else. Therefore in the summer of 1400 they departed for the Kingdom of Hungary. Anne was to fall victim to the plague before they escaped Bohemia however, and Edward (now under the guardianship of his tutors) was devastated. The group continued their trek, with Anne’s body in tow, until they reached the court of Sigismund of Hungary, Edward’s uncle and godfather. Anne was buried in a private ceremony and within several weeks Sigismund assumed guardianship over his nephew. Sigismund had no sons, and so he took it upon himself to treat Edward as if he were his. The finest tutors were made available and it was resolved by Sigismund and several nobles within the Holy Roman Empire that Edward would sit on the throne of England once he reached the age of majority. For, many nobles expected rewards from the vast Lancaster estates which would undoubtedly be confiscated by Edward upon any potential victory.
In England meanwhile Richard II was brought to London and taken before Parliament, where he had next to no support. Parliament declared Richard a traitor and pressured the King to give up his crown, something which he initially resisted. Finally in late November, after weeks of hard treatment, Richard finally surrendered. He was placed before Parliament where he abdicated and declared his son to be illegitimate for, while Henry showed every indication of setting up a regency prior to Edward’s flight, afterward there were not even a thought that Edward would be placed on the throne. Reportedly, according to the Lancastrian version of events, after Richard II abdicated the nobles begged Bolingbroke to take the crown, wishing to avoid a child ruler such as Prince Edward or the young Mortimer heir. Bolingbroke consented and on December 8th, 1399 he was crowned King Henry IV. While many had hoped replacing Richard would bring about a peaceful century for England in the 1400’s, it would prove to cause anything but.
Reaction to Henry’s usurpation would be mixed. The Houses of Holland, Mortimer, and Montacute opposed the new King and plotted against him. The Beauforts, although initially supportive of their half-brother’s successes, were soon angered when Henry declared they were barred from the line of succession. Henry did have the backing of the majority of the remaining small houses however, and soon received international recognition from France, who saw the senior line of the House of Plantagenet as now linked to the Holy Roman Empire and ulikely to support French interests in the event of their restoration. Ambassadors arrived in London sent by Louis, the brother of Charles VI, and it was swiftly negotiated that instead of Edward marrying Princess Joan, Henry (the eldest son of the King) was to marry Isabella, the eldest daughter of the Charles VI. The dowry would still be lands in Aquitaine, and upon hearing this Henry IV swiftly accepted and moved to have the two married by 1403.
While Henry viewed his deal with France as a foreign policy victory, it lost him support amongst some of the lesser nobility which had put him on the throne in the first place. Just as they had been annoyed by Richard’s refusal to wage war with France, they too became annoyed with Henry’s similar response and many people, of all classes, came to view Henry as an extension of Richard. Taxes remained high, as did lawlessness, while public order continued to decline. In early 1400 Wales began to revolt when a small lord with strong blood, by the name of Owen Glendower, declared himself to be the true Prince of Wales. He garnered widespread support amongst the Welsh people and by the early summer of 1400 his small band of raiders had become an army. Castles surrendered to him and the whole region seemed as though it would soon follow. Henry IV refused to send an army to fight the rebels in the area however, because he felt sending his men would only weaken his support in London and give his enemies within England a chance to depose him and restore Richard II, who remained weak but still alive in Pontefract Castle.
Henry’s worst fears would prove to be true when, several months later, news reached London that Henry Percy, John Montacute, and the House of Holland had assembled an army and were marching south to restore the senior line of the House of Plantagenet to the throne. Panic gripped the Court for a period until, with clarity; Henry IV laid out his plan for dealing with the rebels. He understood under no circumstances should the Welsh and English rebels link up and furthermore that they two groups had entirely different goals. With his eldest son, also named Henry, the King marched north with a band of men and whatever nobles remained in support of him. In the meantime he ordered the death of Richard II in a move, he thought, would weaken the support for the rebel cause as Prince Edward was halfway across Europe. Richard II died on October 3rd, 1400 with the public cause being a broken heart (which he supposedly had after hearing of Anne’s death in Bohemia), when in reality his demise was almost certainly caused by starvation and neglect. He was given a private funeral and his remains were interred at Pontefract.
While Henry IV though killing Richard would weaken the rebel cause, it proved to do the exact opposite. Cult-like devotion to Richard arose throughout much of Northern England and many called for his immediate canonization as a martyr. Henry Percy saw his ranks swell larger the further south he and his allies went. Yet, although he was blessed with plenty of men, they were untrained and uneducated, and on some level more of a hindrance than an asset. If this wasn’t bad enough, none of the messengers that had been sent to Owen Glendower had returned. It appeared for him that the fight would be close, but he would likely lose. Therefore his attitude upon hearing Henry IV’s forces were already at Birmingham in early winter 1401, was anything but optimistic. Regardless of his feelings however, he knew there was no returning to the status quo either way the battle went.
The First Battle of Shropshire occurred on January 17th, 1401 amidst cold rains and dismal conditions and proved to be one of the biggest blood baths in English history. Early in the morning the two armies met for battle, and the fighting continued throughout most of the day. It was the first time the English longbow was wielded by both sides and the result was devastation. Although the rebels did exceptionally well throughout the early hours of fighting, a reckless charge by Prince Henry at about noon led the rebel lines to break and caused Percy’s men, and Percy himself, to retreat back towards the north, hoping that Henry IV would prove to be too preoccupied to pursue, a hope which would prove true.
The First Battle of Shropshire
The Welsh rebels had heard Percy’s pleas, but had arrived too late to be an asset in the First Battle of Shropshire, however, they discovered Henry’s forces were demoralized and weak after only narrowly winning a victory against the English rebels. The weather dampened the English spirits even further and, although they outnumbered the Welsh, Owen was confident that with the element of surprise hecould strike a victory where the English rebels had only so recently failed. Under the cover of darkness Owen and his men launched a surprise attack on the English camp with such ferocity one contemporary veteran said they were “more animal than man”. The English were caught off guard and were slaughtered, with Henry IV and his heir fleeing the field with their core group of troops just as dawn broke on January 21st, 1401. Just 4 days after one of the narrowest royal victories in English history, there came a crushing defeat. As Henry and his entourage returned to London, he sent out what remained of his cavalry divisions and ordered them to track down the ringleaders of the English rebellion as he returned to London to gather a new army and crush, or so he thought, the now victorious Welsh rebels.
All of the English rebel leaders proved to take flight rather than face the punishment of Henry with the exception of John Montacute who denied involvement, having smartly declined to attend the Battle of Shropshire viewing that his presence would’ve been damning in the event of defeat. He assisted Henry Percy in returning to his lands in the North while he also helped the Hollands flee to the Netherlands, where they began a long trek to Hungary to be with their half-nephew and, in their view, rightful King.
The Welsh victory caused widespread shock throughout the Continent. Not only did Welsh students and workers in London return to Wales to fight for their homeland, but men from Ireland, Brittany, and Scotland soon joined them as well. Cornwall arose, declaring Owen as the rightful “King” of Wales and Cornwall while men in Ireland began to plot to overthrow the English lords there, plotting which would prove crucial to Irish history.
Ecclesiastic matters would be the issue forefront in Henry IV’s mind during the next few months however, and not Ireland. With the Great Schism continuing to drag on, the Church was becoming more and more political and corrupt. At the behest of Sigismund, the Pope in Rome Boniface IX officially excommunicated Henry IV and stated that his subjects ought not to feel any loyalty towards the “most vile and treacherous usurper”. The French, having already conducted a treaty with Henry were eager to counter the Roman excommunication by pressuring the Pope in Avignon, Benedict XIII, to declare the overthrow of Richard II “just and necessary”. England, it appeared, had now shifted from the pro-Roman faction to pro-Avignon, leaving the Holy Roman Empire, Portugal, Poland, and Scandinavia as the remaining supporters of the Roman Pope.
Within England reaction to the switch would be mixed, many people held a deep resentment of France and by treating with it and following its Pope; they believed Henry IV was betraying English interests. Few English rose up however, with the memory of the recent defeat of Percy (who had followed the Hollands into exile shortly after returning to Northumberland) and the ongoing troubles with the Welsh. The Irish however, already disillusioned with the new King were pushed over the edge and proved to become a major thorn in the side of the English.
It was early fall 1401 when the House of MacCarthy in southern Ireland, the self-proclaimed Kings of Desmond, began to stir up trouble against the English lords. The plague had annihilated English settlers just decades prior, while the rural Irish escaped largely unscathed, and there was great discontent in Ireland stemming from Henry’s usurpation of the throne. While Tadhg MacCarthy had sworn allegiance to Richard II, he felt no ounce of loyalty towards Henry IV and therefore began to attack the lands of the English to his north. He was deeply inspired by Owen Glendower’s victory in the Second Battle of Shropshire, and developed a type of proto-nationalism amongst both himself and his subjects. With relative ease the Irish overran the English earldoms of Desmond and Ormond. The native Celts liberated by Tadhg proved highly loyal and the more land he retook from the English, the greater his support grew. He faced little opposition as Henry IV was occupied in Britain and the English lords were highly outnumbered. What started as a quest for more land grew into something greater within months however. The Pope in Rome was delighted by Tadhg’s actions, seeing him to be following his orders of taking up arms against Henry IV, and as a result declared him to be the “King of the Irish”. He was soon recognized by the O’Briens and the Dempseys and within the span of a year, by late 1402, he controlled the lower half of Ireland and therefore turned his eyes towards the Pale and Dublin.
Tagdh I "the Great" MacCarthy
During these times of troubles for England, Prince Edward in exile (as he had started to be called), continued to mature and grew to be a great favorite of Sigismund. He mastered martial skills and, upon the arrival of the Hollands and Henry Percy, began to learn more in depth English history and western languages. Edward’s English allies had less than pure motives, and yet remained loyal to the Prince nonetheless. The boy was given firsthand sight of war when he and Sigismund ventured north along with Sigismund’s armies and imprisoned his other uncle, the King of Bohemia. Although Sigismund only held control briefly he showed his nephew how to lead armies and how to gain power.
Upon hearing of the revolt in Ireland Henry IV was furious, but knew he could do little. Instead he focused on fighting the Welsh and rebuilding his armies. Cornwall had risen in favor of Owen after his victory at Shropshire and it appeared as though the Welsh were looking to sack and occupy Shrewsbury in order to force England into submission. On top of all this, there where whispers of Scottish, Breton, Irish, and even English renegades of the side of Glendower. Knowing something must be done Henry eventually resolved to send Prince Henry and a small force to keep the rebels at bay while a larger strategy was devised. Prince Henry on the other hand, ambitious and independent, ignored his father’s orders and instead of patrolling the border, moved to Cornwall where he began to burn the countryside and inflict terror upon the local populace. The small bands of rebel forces in the area were rounded up and executed while the people fled in terror from the heir to the throne. While it was effective in quelling the rebellion in Cornwall, it only served to strengthen the resolve in Wales and many people fleeing Cornwall joined the forces of Glendower. Henry IV would remark that the Welsh were like a hydra “for if thou cut of one head or seize one castle, three more arise in its place”.
Another trouble arose for the English when, with Henry Percy absent, the House of Douglas launched raids into English lands in the north. There was panic amongst both the rich and the poor there and many fled south, England had not seen such terrible times since the Anarchy, for it was surrounded on all sides by enemies. Ireland and Wales sought independence, Scotland wanted more land in the north, and in Hungary Edward Plantagenet was a threat which would one day blossom into an army. Henry remained in London however, stubbornly clinging onto control and refusing to admit he had made a mistake by seizing the throne for himself. Things only got worse however, when the French crown announced Isabella Valois was to remain in Paris until it was safe enough in England to ensure her safety. News of the anti-French sentiment throughout the English nation had leaked over the Channel, and as a result there were many in the French government who looked greedily at the English lands in Aquitaine. Little action could be taken by them however, for the nation was near a civil war and the reins of control were being fought over between the Duke of Burgundy and the Duke of Orleans.
Throughout England during this period of Lancastrian rule, the general outlook of society became even more negative than it had been during the Black Death. Although Henry IV was the King, he had little control outside of his hereditary lands and those of his followers. Many common people believed God had inflicted the Welsh, Scots, and Irish upon the realm due to Henry’s usurpation of the throne and these feelings were reinforced by renegade priests who remained loyal to the Roman Papacy and urged widespread disobedience to the Crown. Tax revenues began to decline, as did the overall population of England, a trend (unfortunately) which would be seen throughout multiple other periods caused in large part by this one for England’s future was to be bloody, not just in the reign of Henry IV, but over the next century with only brief periods of reprieve from bloodshed, debt, war, and disease.
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, Paris being burnt to the ground 
