House of Lancaster

The House of Lancaster ruled England from Henry IV’s seizure of the Crown in 1399 until Henry VI was deposed in 1461. Henry IV secured the dynasty through Parliament, military victory and alliance with the Church; Henry V carried Lancastrian power into France and won lasting fame at Agincourt; and Henry VI inherited both kingdoms as an infant, leaving government to councils, bishops and great nobles. English authority in France then contracted, royal finance weakened and rivalries among the nobility drew Lancaster and York into open war. Across the Western Weald, these changes were felt through taxation, military service, estate government, parish life and episcopal authority. Drungewick, the cathedral, neighbouring churches, castles and manor houses formed the local framework within which communities experienced the rise and eventual collapse of Lancastrian rule.