Although the powerful Percy family had supported the Lancastrian King Henry IV when he took the throne from Richard II in 1399, the rebellion of 1403 stemmed from the king’s failure to sufficiently reward the family for the costs they had incurred in doing so.
In addition, as if to add insult to injury, the infamous Sir Henry 'Hotspur' Percy (so named for his fiery temperament) who had been successfully campaigning against the rebellious Welsh patriot Owain Glyndŵr had not received payment for his services.
Annoyed with the king, the Percys formed an alliance with Glyndŵr and Edward Mortimer to conquer and divide up England. With a hastily mustered force Hotspur set off for Shrewsbury to join forces with the other rebels.
By the time he reached the town Hotspur’s army had grown to around 14,000 men; most notably he had recruited the services of the Cheshire archers.
Hearing of the plot against him, the king had hurried to intercept Hotspur and both armies faced each other on July 21st, 1403.
King Henry IV’s army reached Shrewsbury on July 20th, 1403, and joined the Prince of Wales’s army. Hotspur’s army reached Shrewsbury later the same day. The King’s and Prince’s armies were drawn up in battle array and advanced on Hotspur’s camp, taking him by surprise.
There were some desultory and inconclusive negotiations, but Dunbar urged the King to launch an immediate attack, advice that he adopted.
Both sides suffered heavily from the opening volleys of arrows before the men at arms engaged, leading to a savage fight between the two armies.
Hotspur and Douglas charged towards the man they thought to be King Henry IV, but there were a number of men acting as the King’s double, dressed in the King’s livery and accompanied by a royal standard and distributed throughout the Royal Army, a ploy that seems to have been arranged by Dunbar.
Accompanied only by their immediate retainers, Hotspur and Douglas found themselves cut off in the midst of the Royal army, where Hotspur was killed and Douglas wounded and captured. The cry that Hotspur was dead went up across the battlefield and the rebel army began to melt away, leaving its leaders to be taken prisoner.
The corpses on the battlefield were counted and found to number 1,847, mostly rebels. An additional 3,000 corpses were found over the route of the three-mile flight of the rebels from the field. All the surviving rebel leaders were captured, Douglas becoming an English prisoner for the second time within the year.
The Earl of Northumberland had been long delayed in raising his army in Yorkshire. Marching south to join his son, Hotspur, Northumberland was confronted by an army led by the Earl of Westmorland. Northumberland retreated north before appearing before King Henry and submitting to him.
While initially stripped of his offices and domains, Northumberland was reinstated and his lands returned to him. The Percies were too important for the defense of the North of England against Scottish aggression to be dispensed with.

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