However, Henry’s reign was far from stable. Rebellions, such as the uprising of the Percy family and the Welsh revolt led by Owain Glyndŵr, plagued his early years. His usurpation set a dangerous precedent: if one king could be overthrown, so could another. The legitimacy crisis he created would haunt his successors, particularly during the Wars of the Roses, when Lancastrian and Yorkist claimants fought bitterly for the throne.
Legacy of a Conflict
The clash between Richard II and Henry IV was more than a personal feud—it was a fundamental contest over the nature of kingship. Richard represented the medieval ideal of divine monarchy, elevated above the law. Henry embodied a new model, where kings ruled with and sometimes at the mercy of Parliament and political necessity.
Their conflict reshaped English history. It began the slow decline of Plantagenet supremacy, disrupted the stability of the realm, and ushered in an age of political realism. In the end, neither Richard's absolutism nor Henry’s ambition brought peace. But their legacies echo in the centuries of English constitutional evolution, the drama of Shakespeare’s histories, and the enduring tension between power and legitimacy. shutdown123