Henry Percy, 1st earl of Northumberland

Henry Percy, 1st earl of Northumberland (born November 10, 1341—died February 20, 1408, Bramham Moor, near Tadcaster, Yorkshire, England) was an English statesman, leading figure during the reigns of England’s Richard II and Henry IV. He and his son Sir Henry Percy, the celebrated “Hotspur,” are commemorated in William Shakespeare’s play Henry IV, Part I.

Son of the 3rd Baron Percy of Alnwick (died 1368), he led English troops in France by the age of 18 and was a warden of the Scottish marches two years later. In 1376 he became marshal of England and was created earl of Northumberland at Richard II’s coronation in 1377. He served Richard in numerous capacities—military, diplomatic, and administrative—but after 1398 he supported the duke of Hereford (afterward Henry IV) and took a prominent part in Richard’s abdication.

Henry IV’s success in gaining the crown was largely owed to Northumberland’s support, and the earl remained an important member of the privy council. The Scottish wars in 1400–03, however, gradually turned the two Percys, father and son, against the king; they complained of inadequate funds and rewards in prosecuting the wars and of being deprived of ransoms for their Scottish prisoners. The earl made an alliance with the Welsh leader Owain Glyn Dŵr, raised a large force, and with his brother and son issued a manifesto declaring that Henry had acquired his crown by fraud. In the ensuing rebellion, his son Hotspur was slain at the Battle of Shrewsbury (July 21, 1403), and his brother, the earl of Worcester, was captured and beheaded. Northumberland took no part in the battle, having reached the scene too late with his troops. He retired northward but afterward met the king and repledged his oath of fealty.

By February 1405 he was again in league with Owain Glyn Dŵr and other disaffected nobles, and the rebellion was again renewed—and again crushed by the king’s army. Northumberland fled to Scotland and then to Holland, but in the summer of 1407 he was again in Scotland and, raising a force, moved southward in February 1408. His troops were defeated and he himself slain at the Battle of Bramham Moor.