97.) Here he fell in love--such love as was in
him--with the beautiful Marie of Berri, whom he would have married had
not the King interfered and prevented it. Henry never forgave Richard
for this step. On the 3rd of February, 1399, John of Gaunt died, and
Henry became Duke of Lancaster. He landed at Ravenspur with Archbishop
Arundel, July 4th, marching at once in open defiance of the Crown,
though his own son was in the royal suite. Had Richard the Second been
the weak and unscrupulous tyrant which modern writers represent him,
that father and son would never have met again. On the 7th of July
Henry reached Saint Albans, where, if not earlier, his uncle of York met
him and went over to his side. Thence he marched to Oxford, where his
brother of Dorset probably joined him. His march Londonward is given in
the last article. From the 3rd of September all the royal decrees bear
the significant words, "with the assent of our dearest cousin Henry Duke
of Lancaster." He commenced his reign on the 29th of September in
reality, when he forced Richard to abdicate; but officially, on the 1st
of October, 1399. His first regnal act was to grant to himself all the
"honours of descent" derived from his father; in other words, to revoke
his own attainder. He was crowned on the 13th of October. A year
later, November 25th, 1400, Archbishop Arundel received him into the
fraternity of Christ Church, Canterbury, which must have been an order
instituted for those who remained "in the world," since a large
proportion of its brethren were married men. From this point there is
no need to pursue Henry's history, further than with respect to such
items of it as bear upon the narrative. In 1404 he refused the request
of the Commons that the superfluous revenues of the priesthood might be
confiscated, and the money applied to military affairs. At this time,
it is said, one-third of all the estates in England was in the hands of
the clergy. For the part that he took with regard to the marriage of
his cousin Constance with Kent, see the article under the former name.
He died of leprosy, at Westminster, March 20th, 1413, aged 46. His
second wife, by whom he had no issue, was Jeanne, daughter of Charles
the Second, King of Navarre, and Jeanne of France; she survived him
twenty-four years. The children of Henry the Fourth, several of whom
are mentioned in the story, were:--1. Henry the Fifth, born at Monmouth
Castle, August 9th, 1387