Publisher's Synopsis
As Part 1 begins, Henry IV, wearied from the strife that has accompanied his accession to the throne, is renewing his earlier vow to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. He learns that Owen Glendower, the Welsh chieftain, has captured Edmund Mortimer, the earl of March, and that Henry Percy, known as Hotspur, son of the earl of Northumberland, has refused to release his Scottish prisoners until the king has ransomed Mortimer. Henry laments that his own son is not like the fearless Hotspur. As the war escalates, Glendower, Mortimer (now married to Glendower's daughter), and Hotspur (now allied with the Welsh) conspire to divide Henry's kingdom into three equal parts.
