Statue of Harry Hotspur in Alnwick, Northumberland, unveiled in 2010
Sir Henry PercyKG (20 May 1364 – 21 July 1403), nicknamed Hotspur or Harry Hotspur, was an English knight who fought in several campaigns against the Scots in the northern border and against the French during the Hundred Years' War. The nickname "Hotspur" was given to him by the Scots as a tribute to his speed in advance and readiness to attack. The heir to a leading noble family in northern England, Hotspur was one of the earliest and prime movers behind the deposition of King Richard II in favour of Henry Bolingbroke in 1399. He later fell out with the new regime and rebelled, and was slain at the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403 at the height of his fame.
During the next few years Percy's reputation continued to grow. Although not 30, he was sent on a diplomatic mission to Cyprus in June 1393 and appointed Lieutenant of the Duchy of Aquitaine (1394–98) on behalf of John of Gaunt, Duke of Aquitaine.[2] He returned to England in January 1395, taking part in Richard II's expedition to Ireland, and was back in Aquitaine the following autumn. In the summer of 1396, he was again in Calais.[3]
Percy's military and diplomatic service brought him substantial marks of royal favour in the form of grants and appointments,[4] but despite this, the Percy family decided to support Henry Bolingbroke, the future Henry IV, in his rebellion against Richard II. On Henry's return from exile in June 1399, Percy and his father joined his forces at Doncaster and marched south with them. After King Richard's deposition, Percy and his father were "lavishly rewarded" with lands and offices.[3]
Under the new king, Percy had extensive civil and military responsibility in both the East March towards Wales, where he was appointed High Sheriff of Flintshire in 1399, and in the north toward Scotland. In north Wales, he was under increasing pressure as a result of the rebellion of Owain Glyndŵr. In March 1402, Henry IV appointed Percy royal lieutenant in north Wales, and on 14 September 1402, Percy, his father, and the Earl of Dunbar and March defeated a Scottish force at the Battle of Homildon Hill. Among others, they made a prisoner of Archibald Douglas, 4th Earl of Douglas.[1]
Rebellion, death and exhumation
In spite of the favour that Henry IV showed the Percys in many respects, they became increasingly discontented with him. Among their grievances were:
The king's failure to pay the wages due them for defending the Scottish border
The king's favour towards Dunbar
The king's demand that the Percys hand over their Scottish prisoners
The king's failure to put an end to Owain Glyndŵr's rebellion through a negotiated settlement
The king's increasing promotion of his son's (Prince Henry) military authority in Wales
The king's failure to ransom Henry Percy's brother-in-law, Sir Edmund Mortimer, whom the Welsh had captured in June 1402[5]
Spurred by these grievances, the Percys rebelled in the summer of 1403 and took up arms against the king. According to J. M. W. Bean, it is clear that the Percys were in collusion with Glyndŵr. On his return to England shortly after the victory at Homildon Hill, Henry Percy issued proclamations in Cheshire accusing the king of 'tyrannical government'.[3]
Joined by his uncle, Thomas Percy, Earl of Worcester, Percy marched to Shrewsbury, where he intended to do battle against a force there under the command of the Prince of Wales. The army of his father, however, was slow to move south, and it was without the assistance of his father that Henry Percy and Worcester arrived at Shrewsbury on 21 July 1403, where they encountered the king with a large army. The ensuing Battle of Shrewsbury was fierce, with heavy casualties on both sides but, when Henry Percy himself was struck down and killed, his own forces fled.[3]
The circumstances of Percy's death differ in accounts. The chronicler Thomas Walsingham stated in his Historia Anglicana that "while he led his men in the fight rashly penetrating the enemy host, [Hotspur] was unexpectedly cut down, by whose hand is not known". Another account states that Percy was struck in the face by an arrow when he opened his visor for a better view.[6] This is the view taken by Alnwick Castle, home of Hotspur's descendants and place where a statue of him is exhibited. The legend that he was killed by the Prince of Wales seems to have been given currency by William Shakespeare, writing at the end of the following century. The Earl of Worcester was executed two days later.[7]
Shortly after Henry died in battle, his uncle was executed. An attainder was issued and the family's property, including Wressle Castle in the East Riding of Yorkshire (above), was confiscated by the Crown.[8]
King Henry, upon being brought Percy's body after the battle, is said to have wept. The body was taken by Thomas Neville, 5th Baron Furnivall, to Whitchurch, Shropshire, for burial. However, when rumours circulated that Percy was still alive, the king "had the corpse exhumed and displayed it, propped upright between two millstones, in the market place at Shrewsbury".[3] That being done, Percy was subjected to posthumous execution. The king dispatched Percy's head to York, where it was impaled on the Micklegate Bar (one of the city's gates). His four-quarters were separately displayed in London, Newcastle upon Tyne, Bristol, and Chester before they were finally delivered to his widow. She had the body buried in York Minster in November of that year.[9] In January 1404, Percy was posthumously attainted, declared guilty of high treason, and his titles and lands were declared forfeit to the Crown.[citation needed]
Sometime after 3 June 1406, Elizabeth Mortimer married, as her second husband, Thomas de Camoys, 1st Baron Camoys, by whom she had a son, Sir Roger Camoys.[13] Thomas Camoys distinguished himself as a soldier in command of the rearguard of the English army at the Battle of Agincourt on 25 October 1415.[14]
Henry Percy, 'Hotspur', is one of Shakespeare's best-known characters. In Henry IV, Part 1, Percy is portrayed as the same age as his rival, Prince Hal, by whom he is slain in single combat. In fact, he was 23 years older than Prince Hal, the future King Henry V, who was a youth of 16 at the date of the Battle of Shrewsbury.
One of England's football clubs, Tottenham Hotspur F.C., is named after Hotspur, who lived in the region and whose descendants owned land in the neighbourhood of the club's first ground in the Tottenham Marshes. He was also well known for having a highly favoured enjoyment of watching cockfighting, hence the club's badge symbol.[15][16][17]
A 14-foot (4.3 m) statue of Henry Percy was unveiled in Alnwick by the Duke of Northumberland in 2010.[18]
Sean Connery portrayed Hotspur with Robert Hardy as Prince Hal. The 1960 production was part of a BBC series An Age of Kings, a synthesis of Shakespeare's histories, with the episodes (3 & 4) featuring Hotspur first broadcast in summer 1960.
Pugh, T. B. (1988). Henry V and the Southampton Plot of 1415. Alan Sutton. ISBN0-86299-541-8
Richardson, Douglas (2011). Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, ed. Kimball G. Everingham. Vol. I (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)ISBN1-4499-6637-3
Richardson, Douglas (2011). Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, ed. Kimball G. Everingham. Vol. III (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)ISBN1-4499-6639-X
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