Issue of Edward III of England – 3 February 1399), 1st Duke of Lancaster, fourth son. From the marriage of John of Gaunt and Blanche of Lancaster, daughter and heiress of the Duke of Lancaster, descended legitimate male heirs, the Lancasters (King Henry IV (1399-1413), who as Henry of Bolingbroke in 1399 deposed his first cousin King Richard II (1377-1399), and was followed by his son King Henry V(1413-1422) and the latter's son King Henry VI (1422-1471). This line ended in 1471 when King Henry VI's son Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales was killed at the Battle of Tewkesbury and when he himself was deposed
French history in the English-speaking theatre 1471, Philip II of France, king from 1180 to 1223, Charles VI of France, king from 1380 to 1422, and Charles VII of France, king from 1422 to 1461. In the first scene of "King John", John of England receives a message from Philip II of France, demanding that he abdicate his throne to his nephew, Arthur I of Brittany, believed to be the rightful heir. When John refuses, war is declared. But to obtain a stronger claim to his throne and to appease the French (act 2, scene 1), John agrees to a marriage contract between Blanche of Castile,