John of Lancaster, Duke of Bedford
John of Lancaster, Duke of Bedford KG was a medieval English prince, general, and statesman who commanded England's armies in France during a critical phase of the Hundred Years' War. Bedford was the third son of King Henry IV of England, brother to Henry V, and acted as regent of France for his nephew Henry VI. Despite his military and administrative talent, the situation in France had severely deteriorated by the time of his death.
The Duke of Bedford with his heraldic badge of "wood stocks" (tree-stumps) and his motto A Vous Entier (miniature from Bedford Hours)
John of Lancaster, Duke of Bedford, Knight of the Garter, kneels before Saint George who wears the blue mantle of the Order of the Garter. Illuminated miniature from the Bedford Hours, formerly in the Duke's private library
Henry IV, also known as Henry Bolingbroke, was King of England from 1399 to 1413. Henry was the son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, himself the son of Edward III.
Illuminated miniature, c. 1402
Henry of Bolingbroke, flanked by the lords spiritual and temporal, claims the throne in 1399. From a contemporary manuscript, British Library, Harleian Collection
The coronation of Henry IV of England, from a 15th-century manuscript of Jean Froissart's Chronicles
Silver half-groat of Henry IV, York Museums Trust