Sir Henry Percy - Hotspur
Sir Henry Percy, called Hotspur or Henry Hotspur (1366-1403),
was the son of Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland. In 1388
he participated in the famous battle of Otterburn, or Chevy Chase,
against the Scots; he was captured but later ransomed, and he
returned to his post of Warden of Carlisle and the West Marches.
He
went to Calais in 1391 and served from1393 to 1395 as Governor
of Bordeaux, but by 1398 he was back on the Scottish border. He
and his father joined the cause of Henry of Lancaster. After Henry's
accession as Henry IV, Hotspur was called upon to take command
of the Welsh border. Sent once again to the defence of the Scottish
border, he helped to win in 1402 a notable victory over the Scots
at Homildon Hill, capturing the Scottish leader, Archibald Douglas,
4th Earl of Douglas. A bitter quarrel between Hotspur and Henry
IV ensued when Hotspur refused to turn Douglas over to the King
except in exchange for the ransom of Sir Edmund de Mortimer, Hotspur's
brother-in-law.
In
1403, Hotspur and his father planned with Thomas Percy, Earl of
Worcester, Owen Glendower, and Sir Edmund de Mortimer to dethrone
Henry and crown Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March, the nephew
of Hotspur's wife. Henry IV anticipated the move, and in a battle
near Shrewsbury in 1403 the King was victorious and Hotspur was
slain.
Hotspur
was an important character in Shakespeare's Henry IV.
