The dukedom of Lancaster is a former English peerage, created three times in the Middle Ages, which finally merged in the Crown when Henry V succeeded to the throne in 1413. Despite the extinction of the dukedom the title has continued to be used to refer to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom in relation to the County Palatine of Lancaster and the Duchy of Lancaster, an estate held separately from the Crown Estate for the benefit of the sovereign.
Image: Portrait of Henry, Duke of Lancaster William Bruges's Garter Book (c.1440 1450), f.8 BL Stowe MS 594 (cropped)
Image: Johnofgaunt
Image: Illumination of Henry IV (cropped)
Image: Henry 5
Henry V, also called Henry of Monmouth, was King of England from 1413 until his death in 1422. Despite his relatively short reign, Henry's outstanding military successes in the Hundred Years' War against France made England one of the strongest military powers in Europe. Immortalised in Shakespeare's "Henriad" plays, Henry is known and celebrated as one of the greatest warrior-kings of medieval England.
Miniature in the Regement of Princes by Thomas Hoccleve, c. 1411–1413
Henry's father, Henry IV
A gold noble coin of Henry V
Later portrait of Henry, late 16th or early 17th century
