The Royal House of Lancaster - A Family History

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The Royal House of Lancaster - A Family History

Updated March 17, 2013

8 minute read

The Royal House of Lancaster ruled England by way of three monarchs for 72 years, from 1399 until 1471.

The house was a branch of the Plantagenet Dynasty ( 1154 - 1399) and was descended from King Edward III and Phillipa of Hainhault's son, John of Gaunt and his wife Blanche of Lancaster, who married in 1359.

They had eight children and their third born child and first son was Henry Bolingbroke, the future King Henry IV who became the first monarch of the House of Lancaster.

HENRY IV

Henry of Bolingbroke was born on the 13th of April 1386 at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire. He was the third child and first born son of John of Gaunt and Blanche of Lancaster.

Henry was not in line to become successor to the throne at the time of his birth, but after King Richard II was deposed becouse his political policies were considered unprecedented on the 22nd of September 1399, and due to the fact that he became king when only ten years old and his regent was Henry's father John of Gaunt, Henry of Bolingbroke was first choice to become king. He was crowned king on the 13th of October of that same year.

His first wife was Mary de Bohun, whom he married in 1380 and with whom he had seven children.

He was widowed on the 4th of June 1394.

His second marriage was to Joan of Navarre, whom he married in 1403 and she became his queen consort. They had no children.

In the latter few years of his life Henry was to suffer from continuing attacks of what is thought to have been epilepsy.

These attacks became more frequent and severe and probably resulted in a weakened heart.

He died from a fatal attack on the 20th of March 1413 at the Palace of Westminster, London at the age of 46.

He was interred at Trinity Chapel, in Canterbury Cathedral, the first and only British monarch to be buried there.

Mary de Bohun was born in 1368, the second daughter of Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford and Lady Joan Fitzalan.

Her elder sister Eleanor had married Thomas of Woodstock, who in an effort to keep his sister - in - law's inheritance for his self, encouraged the young Mary to become a nun.

His brother, John of Gaunt, had Mary abducted from the convent and hastily married to his son Henry.

Mary married Henry when she was just 12 years old. John of Gaunt had planned that the marriage go unconsummated until Mary was 16, but the young couple had different plans, resulting in Mary giving birth to their first child, a boy, at the age of only 14.

Their second son was born two years later when Mary was just 16, this second son was to become the future King Henry VI.

At the time of their marriage Henry was not in line for the throne of England and Mary never became queen as she died five years before her husband took the crown.

They had seven children during their 14 years of marriage.

Mary died in child birth with her seventh child at Peterborough Castle, Northamptonshire on June the 4th 1394 at the age of 26.

She was interred at the St Mary de Castro Church in Leicester.

Henry and Mary were married on the 27th of July 1380 at Arundel Castle in Sussex.They had seven children.

Their first son, Edward, lived for only a few days and was interred at Monmouth Castle in Wales.

Their six other children were;

Henry of Monmouth, Prince of Wales. 1386 - 1413.

Thomas, Duke of Clarence. 1387 - 1421.

John, Duke of Bedford. 1389 - 1435.

Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester. 1390 - 1447.

Blanche of England. 1392 - 1409.

Philippa of England. 1394 - 1430.

An article about the siblings of Henry V can be found here the-siblings-of-king-henry-v

Joan of Navarre was the second wife of Henry Bolingbroke, they were married on the 7th of February 1403 at Winchester Cathedral.

Joan was born at Pamplona in Navarre in 1370, the daughter of King Charles of Navarre and Joan of France.

She was the widow of John, the fifth Duke of Brittany with whom she'd had nine children.

She became Queen Consort to King Henry IV on the day of her marriage and was crowned two weeks later on the 26th of February.

In 1419 she was charged, tried and then imprisoned for trying to poison King Henry where she was incarcerated at Pevensey Castle, Sussex for four years.

When she was released she lived out the rest of her life at Nottingham Castle.

She died at Havering, London on the 10th of June 1437 at the age of 67, and was interred at Trinity Chapel in Canterbury Cathedral, Kent, beside King Henry.

HENRY V

Henry of Monmouth became King Henry V upon the death of his father in March 1413.

He was crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey on the 9th of April of that same year.

He was born on the 16th of September 1386 to his 16 year old mother, Mary and his 21 year old father Henry Bolingbroke, at Monmouth Castle in Wales.

When he was 14 years old in 1420, he married Catherine of Valois daughter of King Charles VI of France and Isabelle of Bavaria.

They were married for only 2 years before Henry's death in 1422.

They had one son, Henry, born at Windsor Castle on the 6th of December 1421.

King Henry died on the 31st of August 1422 in Chateau de Vincennes in France at the age of 34.

He was Buried at Westminster Abbey.

Queen Catherine was widowed at the age of only 21.

She went on to marry nobleman Owen Tudor in a secret ceremony sometime in 1431.

They had five children before she died on the 3rd of January 1437 in London, at the age of 35.

She was interred at Westminster Abbey.

HENRY VI

King Henry VI became king of England upon the death of his father on the 31st of August 1422, at the age of just nine months old.

The country was ruled by a regent council until the king would come of age.

Henry grew up a studious, religious and pious young man, which left him totally unsuited for the tasks that lay ahead of him.

He suffered from bouts of meloncholy and temporary bouts of insanity, making him an unpredictable and unstable man.

At the age of 23 he married Margaret of Anjou on the 23rd of April 1445 at Titchfield in Hampshire.

They had one son, Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales, born on the 13th of October 1453.

By the time his son was born, Henry had suffered a complete mental breakdown, becoming totally unaware of everything around him, leaving the running of the country to Richard, Earl of Warwick and George,Duke of Clarence.

Their son Edward died at the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471 at the age of 17.

Due to his inherent benevolence and further depression over the death of his son , Henry was eventually imprisoned in the Tower of London, where he died - or some say murdered - on the 22nd of May 1471.

He was buried in St Georges Chapel, Windsor Castle.

This saw the collapse of the House of Lancaster and paved the way for a new royal dynasty, that of the Royal House of York by way of the newly crowned King Edward VI.

However, for all Henry's incompetence he did leave the country three lasting legacies.

He founded both Eton College and King's College, Cambridge, as well as completing the building of Syon Abbey at Twickenham Park, Middlesex, originally undertaken by his father.

ETON COLLEGE CHURCH

Margaret of Anjou was born on the 23rd of March 1430 at Pont - a - Mousson, Lorraine, France.

She was the daughter of Rene I of Naples and Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine.

By all accounts she was a beautiful, gregarious and passionate woman when she arrived in England in order to marry King Henry VI in the spring of 1445.

On realising her new husband's shortcomings, Margaret set about running the country in his place.

She was the cause and principle figure in a series of dynastic civil wars known as the War of the Roses, between the Royal Houses of York and Lancaster.

It was Margaret's decision in 1455 to form a Great Council without Yorkist representation, that went on to spark thirty years of civil war that decimated the nobility of the time and caused the deaths of thousands of men including her only son Edward.

Throughout her marriage Margaret found herself living with a man who had more interest in religion and education than in her.

After the birth of her son in 1453 rumours were rife about who the father of the prince really was, considering the King to be neither interested nor even physically capable of sexual relations.

These facts pleased Yorkist leaders, as to deny the young prince his royal lineage would pave the way for a Yorkist to be next inline for the throne.

However, so fervent was Margaret's desire to be a good Queen in the place of her inept husband and her pride in the name of the Royal House of Lancaster patently obvious, that these unfounded rumours were eventually quashed.

With the subsequent death of both her son and husband in a matter of days and a new Yorkist King upon the throne of England, Margaret slipped into a decline.

She was arrested and first imprisoned in Wallingford Castle, before being moved to the Tower of London.

However her life was spared when the French King Louis XI, ransomed his country's former subject, enabling her to spend her last seven years in relative peace and harmony in her homeland of France.

She died on the 25th of August 1482 at the age of 52 and was buried at Angers Cathedral beside her parents.

However, even in death Margaret was unable to rest in peace, as it is believed that her tomb was ransacked and her remains were scattered by French revolutionaries during the civil unrest of 1789.

Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales, was born on the 13th of October 1453 at the Palace of Westminster in London, amid much speculation as to his lineage.

He was invested as the Prince of Wales at Windsor Castle in 1454.

Edward married Anne Neville at the age of 17 on the 13th of December 1470 at Angers Cathedral, France.

Anne was the daughter of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick and Anne de Beauchamp.

The Prince of Wales along with his mother and new bride, the new Princess of Wales, arrived back in England after the couple's marriage celebrations amid great civil unrest.

Under his mother's influence, the inexperienced prince rode into battle under the banner of the House of Lancaster at the Battle of Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire, where he was killed on the 4th of May 1471 aged just 17.

Rumour has it that the young prince was probably singled out and murdered by Yorkist supporters of the Duke of Clarence.

He was buried at Tewkesbury Abbey in the town where he fell.

Anne Neville was born at Warwick Castle on the 11th of June, 1456.

During her short life she was to became Princess of Wales by one husband and Queen Consort by another.

Anne was widowed within months of marrying the young Edward, Prince of Wales at the age of only 15.

Within the year she had married Richard, Duke of York and within another year she had given birth to a son, Edward of Middleham, born at Middleham Castle, Wenslydale.

Her husband became King Richard III in 1483 and she became his Queen consort and their son, Prince of Wales, after his investiture at York Minster in the same year.

Their son was known to be a sickly child and his life was cut short at the age of 11, when he died in April of 1484, leaving King Richard III without an heir.

Anne died of tuberculosis soon after her son on the 16th of March 1485, at the age of 28.

It is said her husband was heartbroken at the death of his queen so soon after the death of their son and openly wept for her at her funeral which was held at Westminster Abbey.

Mercifully his grief was shortlived, as just four months later King Richard III was to fall at the Battle of Bosworth Field on August the 22nd of the same year.

For some reason Anne's final resting place was never marked at the time of her death and it was'nt until 1960 that an inscribed, brass plaque befitting her status as a former Queen of England was placed upon her tomb.