Tenth Episode of Siggie presenting her take on the history of the monarchs of England in the context of her favorite topic….herself. Here she discusses the volatile reign of the usurper Henry IV of the House of Lancaster (a cadet branch of the House of Plantagenet), and that of his son Henry V, who had a great victory in battle against France and claimed the French crown.

Now we come to the House of Lancaster, which because Richard II was the last of the Plantagenets, 

we could say that the House of Lancaster is kind of an extension of the House of Plantagenet.

King Henry IV from the House of Lancaster reigned from 1399 to 1413. Some family strife,

as we noted in the last episode… Richard II disinherited his cousin Henry, but Henry forcefully took

back his inheritance and he also took the throne. It was a shaky and turbulent reign with lots of rebellions, lots of

attempts to depose him by supporters of King Richard II. And here’s where it gets

kind of funny. Despite the fact that Richard II was dead, his death had not been made public. So people are like, oh yeah, 

yeah! I’m rebelling  against King Henry IV in the name of Richard II, who we’d like to reinstate, but uh you know we’re the

last to know that he’s gone. King Henry V, the son of King Henry IV, of the House of Lancaster…  Kind of weird that it was

a different house considering it’s father and son. King Henry V reigned from 1413 to 1422. I heard rumors that he was quite

the playboy. He was known as, you know… Well, he was known in certain circles as as liking the women, liking the ladies a

little bit too much, maybe. He kept the 100 Years War going and he’s best known for winning the Battle of Agincourt despite the English being greatly outnumbered by a huge French army. Henry was actually named heir to the French throne. He made English the official language of England’s government as opposed to French or Latin.

(Stay tuned for Episodes 11 and 12: “The Wars of the Roses.”)