==Life==
==Life==
Henry Percy was originally a follower of [[Edward III of England]], 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 was given the title of [[Marshal of England]] in December 1376{{sfn|Bean|2005}} although he would give that up in 1377. However he was in place as Marshal for the coronation of King [[Richard II of England|Richard II]] in 1377{{sfn|Bean|2005}} where he was formally created an Earl on Richard’s.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=787}}
Henry Percy was originally a follower of [[Edward III of England]], 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. was given the title of [[Marshal of England]] in December 1376{{sfn|Bean|2005}} although he would give that up in 1377. he in Marshal the coronation of King [[Richard II of England|Richard II]] in 1377{{sfn|Bean|2005}} where he was formally created an Earl.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=787}}
Between 1383 and 1384, he was appointed [[Admiral of the North|Admiral of the Northern Seas]]. After Richard elevated his rival [[Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland|Ralph Neville]] to the position of [[Earl of Westmorland]] in 1397, Percy and his son, also [[Henry Percy (Hotspur)|Henry]] and known as “Hotspur”, supported the rebellion of [[Henry IV of England|Henry Bolingbroke]], who became King as Henry IV.
Between 1383 and 1384, he was appointed [[Admiral of the North|Admiral of the Northern Seas]]. After Richard elevated his rival [[Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland|Ralph Neville]] to the position of [[Earl of Westmorland]] in 1397, Percy and his son, also [[Henry Percy (Hotspur)|Henry]] and known as “Hotspur”, supported the rebellion of [[Henry IV of England|Henry Bolingbroke]], who became King as Henry IV.
English noble (1341–1408)
Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, 4th Baron Percy, titular King of Mann, KG,[1] Lord Marshal (10 November 1341 – 20 February 1408), was an English statesman and a leading political figure during the reigns of Richard II and Henry IV. One of the most powerful noblemen in northern England, he played a decisive role in the deposition of Richard II and the accession of Henry IV.[2]
He was the son of Henry de Percy, 3rd Baron Percy, and a descendant of Henry III of England. His mother was Mary of Lancaster, daughter of Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster, son of Edmund, Earl of Leicester and Lancaster, who in turn was the son of Henry III.
Henry Percy was originally a follower of Edward III of England, 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. As a supporter of John of Gaunt he was given the title of Marshal of England in December 1376 although he would give that up in 1377. He and Gaunt were the center of events that led to the London riots of 1377 where with Gaunt he had to take refuge with the Black Prince‘s widow Joan of Kent in Kennington. As Marshal he had an important role in the coronation of King Richard II in 1377 where he was formally created an Earl.
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. Percy and Hotspur were given the task of subduing the rebellion of Owain Glyndŵr, but their attempts to make peace with the Welsh rebels did not meet with the king’s approval.
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, 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, and a substantial part of the west of England, Northumberland was to have received the north of England, as well as Northamptonshire, Norfolk, Warwickshire, and Leicestershire. The Mortimers were to have received the rest of southern England, below the river Trent.[6]
Later in 1405 Percy supported Richard le Scrope, Archbishop of York, 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
[edit]
In 1358, he married Margaret Neville (12 February 1339 – 12 May 1372), daughter of Ralph Neville, 2nd Baron Neville de Raby, and Alice de Audley.[7] They had four sons (Harry “Hotspur” Percy, Thomas, Ralph, and Alan) and one daughter (Margaret).
.svg)
In 1381, he married Maud Lucy (1343 – 18 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 should bear the arms of Lucy (Gules, three lucies hauriant argent) quarterly with their own.[8] They had no issue.
Northumberland is a major character in Shakespeare’s Richard II, Henry IV, part 1, and Henry IV, part 2.
His position as a character in the Shakespearean canon inspired the character of Lord Percy Percy, heir to the duchy of Northumberland in the historical sitcom The Black Adder, set during the very late Plantagenet era.
Lion of Alnwick is a novel by Carol Wensby-Scott and the first volume of the Percy Saga trilogy. The work offers a fictionalized retelling of the history of the “wild and brilliant” Percy family, focusing on the lives of Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, and his son Henry “Hotspur” Percy. The subsequent volumes, Lion Dormant and Lion Invincible, recount the lives of other members of the family and their involvement in the Wars of the Roses.
Henry Percy and his son Hotspur also appear as principal characters in Edith Pargeter’s novel A Bloody Field by Shrewsbury, which narrates the events leading up to the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403.
He is a major character in My Lord John by Georgette Heyer.
| Ancestors of Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland |
|---|
- ^ Shaw, Wm. A. (1971). The Knights of England: A Complete Record from the Earliest Time to the Present Day of the Knights of All the Orders of Chivalry in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and of the Knights Bachelors. Vol. 1. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company. p. 3. OCLC 247620448.
- ^ “Henry Percy, 1st earl of Northumberland”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 31 August 2025.
- ^ Trevor Royle, The Wars of the Roses; England’s First Civil War, Abacus, 2009, ISBN 978-0-349-11790-4 p. 95
- ^ Burke, Bernard (1866). A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire. pp. 393, 424.
- ^ 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
- Rymer, Thomas Foedera, The Hague, 1739 [1]
- Bean, J. M. W. (26 May 2005). “Percy, Henry, first earl of Northumberland”. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.)
- Beltz, G.F. Memorials of the most noble Order of the Garter, from its foundation to the present time London 1841 [2]
- Doyle, J.W.E, The Official Baronage of England London 1886 [3]
- Jean Froissart, Chronicles
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 19 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 787–788.
- Towson, Kris Henry Percy, first earl of Northumberland : ambition, conflict and cooperation in late mediaeval England St Andrews PhD Thesis, 2005.
- Rose, Alexander Kings in the North – The House of Percy in British History. Phoenix/Orion Books Ltd, 2002, ISBN 1-84212-485-4 (722 pages paperback)
