Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland
2nd Earl of Northumberland
1393 CE to 1455 CE
Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland (February 3,1393 – May 22, 1455) is an English nobleman and military commander in the lead up to the Wars of the Roses.
He is the son of Henry "Hotspur" Percy, and the grandson of Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland.
His father and grandfather are killed in different rebellions against Henry IV in 1403 and 1408 respectively, and the young Henry spends his minority in exile in Scotland.
Only after the death of Henry IV in 1413 is he reconciled with the Crown, and in 1416 he is created Earl of Northumberland.
In the following years, Northumberland occasionally serves with the king in France, but his main occupation is the protection of the border to Scotland.
At the same time, a feud with the Neville family is developing, particularly with Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury.
This feud becomes entangled with the conflict between the Duke of York and the Duke of Somerset over control of national government.
The conflict culminates in the first battle of the Wars of the Roses, at St Albans, where both Somerset and Northumberland are killed.
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A Council of Regency is set up in April 1454, headed by the Duke of York, who still remains popular with the people, as Lord Protector.
York soon asserts his power with ever-greater boldness (although there is no proof that he had aspirations to the throne at this early stage).
He imprisons Somerset and backs his Neville allies (his brother-in-law, the Earl of Salisbury, and Salisbury's son, the Earl of Warwick), in their continuing feud with the Earl of Northumberland, a powerful supporter of Henry.
Henry recovers in 1455 and once again falls under the influence of those closest to him at court.
Directed by Henry's queen, the powerful and aggressive Margaret of Anjou, who emerges as the de facto leader of the Lancastrians, Richard is forced out of court.
Margaret builds up an alliance against Richard and conspires with other nobles to reduce his influence.
An increasingly thwarted Richard (who fears arrest for treason) finally resorts in 1455 to armed hostilities.
Richard leads a small force toward London and is met on May 22, 1455, by Henry's forces at St. Albans, north of London.
The relatively small First Battle of St. Albans is the first open conflict of the civil war.
Richard's aim is ostensibly to remove "poor advisors" from King Henry's side.
The result is a Lancastrian defeat.
Several prominent Lancastrian leaders, including Somerset and Northumberland, are killed.
The Yorkists after the battle find Henry hiding in a local tanner's shop, abandoned by his advisors and servants, apparently having suffered another bout of mental illness. (He had also been slightly wounded in the neck by an arrow.)
York and his allies regain their position of influence.
With the king indisposed, York is again appointed Protector, and Margaret is shunted aside, charged with the king's care.
For a while, both sides seem shocked that an actual battle had been fought and do their best to reconcile their differences, but the problems that caused conflict soon reemerge, particularly the issue of whether Richard the Duke of York, or Henry and Margaret's infant son Edward, will succeed to the throne.
Margaret refuses to accept any solution that will disinherit her son, and it becomes clear that she will only tolerate the situation for as long as the Duke of York and his allies retain the military ascendancy.
Later in the year, the late Somerset’s twelve-year-old niece, Margaret Beaufort, will make a second marriage to Edmund Tudor, earl of Richmond and half-brother to Henry VI.