Titles:
Knight of the Garter

He earned the nickname of 'Hotspur' or 'Harry Hotspur' because of his impulsive nature.

The young Hotspur, who was born in Alnwick Castle (incidentally the setting for the Harry Potter films) was only eight when he first saw battle, and was knighted at 11. He grew up in a hostile land beset by Scottish raids and the accompanying looting and pillaging.

In 1388 he participated in the famous battle of Otterburn, or Chevy Chase, against the Scots; he was captured but later ransomed, and he returned to his post of warden of Carlisle and the West Marches. He went to Calais in 1391 and served (c.1393–95) as governor of Bordeaux, but by 1398 he was back on the Scottish border. He and his father joined the cause of Henry of Lancaster. After Henry's accession as Henry IV, Hotspur was called upon to take command of the Welsh border. Sent once again to the defense of the Scottish border, he helped to win (1402) a notable victory over the Scots at Homildon Hill, capturing the Scottish leader, Archibald Douglas, 4th earl of Douglas. A bitter quarrel between Hotspur and Henry IV ensued when Hotspur refused to turn Douglas over to the king except in exchange for the ransom of Sir Edmund de Mortimer, Hotspur's brother-in-law. In 1403, Hotspur and his father planned with Thomas Percy, earl of Worcester, Owen Glendower, and Sir Edmund de Mortimer to dethrone Henry and crown Edmund Mortimer, 5th earl of March, the nephew of Hotspur's wife. Henry anticipated the move, and in a battle near Shrewsbury (1403) the king was victorious and Hotspur was slain. Hotspur was an important character in Shakespeare's play “Henry IV”.

Although Shakespeare's chronology was somewhat wrong, his Hotspur is one of the most memorable characters in Henry IV, Part 1.

In Henry IV, Part 1, King Henry is envious of Northumberland's son, Hotspur, and compares him to his own son Henry (the future Henry V: "Yea, there thou mak'st me sad, and mak'st me sin In envy that my Lord Northumberland Should be the father to so blest a son... Whilst I, by looking on the praise of him, See riot and dishonour stain the brow Of my young Harry. O that it could be prov'd That some night-tripping fairy had exchang'd In cradle clothes our children where they lay, And call'd mine Percy, his Plantagenet! Then would I have his Harry, and he mine." Henry IV, Part 1 Act 1, scene 1

After the Prince of Wales (future Henry V) kills Hotspur in Henry IV, Part 1--in a piece of completely historically inaccurate stage action--he gives Hotspur this tribute: "Ill-weav'd ambition, how much art thou shrunk! When that this body did contain a spirit, A kingdom for it was too small a bound; But now two paces of the vilest earth Is room enough. This earth that bears thee dead Bears not alive so stout a gentleman." Henry IV, Part 1 Act 5, scene 4