War For The Throne: The Battle of Shrewsbury 1403

Campaign Chronicles

by John Barratt

The opening years of the fifteenth century saw one of the most bitterly contested political and military convulsions in the history of the British Isles, a conflict that is too-often overlooked by military historians. Henry IV, who had overthrown and probably murdered his predecessor Richard II, fought a protracted and bloody campaign against the most powerful nobles in the land. This war is the subject of John Barratt's gripping study.The Percy family, the 'Kings of the North', and their most famous leader Sir Henry Percy - 'Hotspur', whose fiery nature and military prowess were immortalized by Shakespeare - stood out against Henry's rule. And the beleaguered king also had to contend with a range of other unrelenting opponents, among them Owain Glyn Dwr, who led the Welsh revolt against English supremacy. In this graphic account of the first, deeply troubled years of Henry IV's reign, John Barratt concentrates on the warfare, in particular on the set piece pitched battles fought at Homildon Hill, Pilleth and Shrewsbury. His story brings to life the embittered politics and the personal and family enmities that gave rise to armed conflict. And he describes in vivid detail the tactics and fighting methods of the day, which were dominated by the devastating power of the English longbow.

Genres: Medieval

160 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2010

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

War for the Throne explores the 1403 Battle of Shrewsbury, fought between the rebels led by Henry ‘Hotspur’ Percy and the royal army under the recently-crowned usurper king, Henry IV. John Barratt’s volume is focused on placing the battle in the context of the Welsh rebellion led by Owen Glendower and the resistance to Henry IV led by the northern Percy lords. This is an interesting, well-written book and worth looking at. It isn’t perfect – the diagrams of the battle are hard to decipher, least of all due to an unfortunate font choice, and at one stage Barratt confuses the fates of the Lord Appellants, Thomas, Duke of Gloucester and the Earl of Warwick. One more downside is that, while there is a bibliography, there is no in-text referencing at all and which makes it hard to track down other sources. Still, well worth the read.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

War for the Throne: The Battle of Shrewsbury 1403
By John Barratt
Reviewed January 1, 2023


Nothing happens in a vacuum, especially when we’re talking history. The Wars of the Roses (my main interest these days) wouldn’t have played out the way they did without the influence of the previous wars in France. If Henry Bolingbroke (Henry IV) hadn’t deposed Richard II, we wouldn’t have had his son Henry V and Agincourt, and so forth. So the more I read about what happened before the Wars of the Roses, the more interested I’ve become in those earlier events, which brings me to this book, War for the Throne, about the often overlooked political and military upheavals that followed Bolingbroke’s seizure of the throne in 1399 and leading to the 1403 Battle of Shrewsbury.

When Henry IV deposed the unpopular Richard II and had him killed (most likely starved to death, so that no one could say that he shed blood), he ignored long held inheritance traditions, bypassing those who had a stronger claim to the throne, and in short opened a can of worms. Although he was accepted and welcomed at first, it wasn’t too long before Henry was becoming just as unpopular as his predecessor, which led to numerous rebellions and military actions. Most of the high hopes with which his reign had commenced had been dashed, and Henry found himself dealing with the necessity of imposing high taxes, increasing food shortages caused by the rising price of corn, plots by Ricardians (those who remained loyal to Richard II) who believed the dead king was still alive, and plots to assassinate Henry and his sons.

There was also the situation in Wales. By 1400 Wales was a land of escalating strife. Its population was divided into two increasingly polarized factions – the English overlords who had settled in Wales (the Marcher lords and their people), and the native Welsh population. It was a tinderbox waiting to burst into flame, and burst it finally did under the leadership of Owain Glen Dwr, the self-styled Prince of Wales who led the Welsh revolt against English supremacy.

Not everyone was happy to answer the king’s call to arms, though. All ranks, from lords to foot soldiers, went to war hoping for booty to supplement their pay, but King Henry’s wars provided little opportunity for this. Wales was a poor country and Henry’s ‘scorched earth’ strategy left little worth taking. There was also discontent with the king’s reluctance to ransom his own men who had been captured. His reason? That ransoming captives would end up financing Glyn Dwr’s efforts, and that was something he was unwilling to do. Of course, this didn’t help when it came to promoting enthusiasm for the war effort.

Henry also had to deal with his own unruly lords, especially the Percys of Northumberland, often referred to as the Kings of the North for the power they wielded in that region. The best known at this time was Sir Henry Percy, known as “Hotspur” for his fiery nature and military prowess. Though initially supportive of Henry IV, the Percys would later claim that he had sworn not to seize the throne, ‘and if anyone could be found who was more worthy of the crown than he was, he would willingly stand down for him; the duchy of Lancaster was all that he wished for’. And who thought he had a better claim? Why, a Percy, of course.

War for the Throne covers the first, deeply troubled years of Henry IV’s reign, focusing on the warfare with accounts of the pitched battles fought at Homildon Hill, Pilleth and culminating in the battle of Shrewsbury. The descriptions cover tactics and fighting methods of the day, and compares how the Scots, Welsh, and English armies were similar, and how they differed. And of course, there is the devastating power of the English longbow.

I found the book well written and easily readable, particularly for a reader like me who is a bit of a novice when it comes to Henry IV. At 160 pages, it’s not terribly in-depth, covering the material without bogging the reader down with excessive detail. I would recommend this book for someone wanting an introduction to the subject without delving into an academic treatise.

[Errol Cavan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am afraid I did read this irritating book. It is poorly written, inaccurate and badly edited. If you want a good guide buy the Osprey volume