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Synopsis:
At the close of Shakespeare’s Richard II, Henry Bolingbroke, newly crowned Henry IV, vows to go on Crusade as penance for the murder of the deposed Richard, committed in Bolingbroke’s name. Henry IV, Part One begins a year later. That vow is still unfulfilled and unlikely to become so; although England has settled into an uneasy peace, Henry has focused his energies on the troublesome people of Scotland and Wales.

In Wales, the magician and rebel Owen Glendower has taken prisoner Edmund Mortimer, an ally of Henry’s and the heir designated by the childless Richard. King Henry, pressed to ransom Mortimer, refuses, charging him with treasonous plots against king and country because he has married Glendower’s daughter.

Some members of the court’s Percy family—among them the valiant Hotspur, brother-in-law of the captured Mortimer; Hotspur’s father, the Earl of Northumberland; and his uncle, the Earl of Worcester—previously helped Henry win Richard’s throne. They find Henry’s accusation suspicious: Mortimer’s claim to the throne was greater than his. They suspect that the king, fearing that his hold on the crown may not be legitimate, has begun to turn on those who helped him to it.

Hotspur, meanwhile, after trouncing Douglas, a fearsome Scottish lord and warrior, has taken prisoners of his own. When King Henry demands custody of them, Hotspur delays, bargaining for the ransom of Mortimer. After the king refuses, Hotspur, Northumberland and Worcester make their plans: They will return the Scottish prisoners to Douglas, in return for his support in their move to usurp the king. When the rebels ally with Glendower against their king, Mortimer’s accused treason will become fact.

King Henry has other problems. His son, Prince Hal, heir to the throne, avoids court, preferring the company of lowlifes in the slum of Eastcheap. His bosom companion is an old knight, Sir John Falstaff, who is not only a drunkard and thief but a glutton and notable coward. Despite Hal’s apparent enjoyment of these compatriots, he confides to the audience that his follies and felonies may not be all that they seem. Meanwhile, King Henry, faced with the example of Hotspur, who appears a much stronger contender for the throne than his own son, calls Hal to court.

Near the town of Shrewsbury, gathering for battle, the rebels encounter difficulties. Northumberland’s troops aren’t able to come; Glendower’s are delayed. Worcester meets with the king to discuss the rebel’s complaints. Prince Hal proposes to end the war by challenging Hotspur to single combat. Henry, in turn, offers the rebels amnesty, if they surrender at once. Worcester returns to Hotspur bearing the prince’s challenge, but says nothing of the king’s offer, not trusting it.

Newly committed to his father’s cause and the honorable life, Hal fights valiantly, saving his father on the field and killing Hotspur. Falstaff pretends to fall dead when fighting Douglas, then gets to hear his own battlefield eulogy by Hal. With the rebels defeated, only the forces of the absent Northumberland and Glendower remain to be disposed of, and King Henry and Hal point their forces toward them at the close of the play.