This Day in History: 1398-09-16

On 16th September 1398, at Coventry, Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Hereford, the son of John of Gaunt, lord of Pontefract, was about to duel with Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk. The duel had been Richard’s II’s way of settling a virulent quarrel between the two dukes. Just before the ‘joust’ was about to begin, the king dramatically stood and ordered it to be stopped. Bolingbroke was exiled for ten years (later reduced to six after Gaunt’s intercession) and Mowbray for life.