Henry Plantagenet, Earl of Leicester (* c. 1280, † 22 September 1345) was a son of Edmund Crouchback, brother of Edward I and Blanche d’Artois. The Earl of Lancaster was his elder brother. He supported the opposition of the nobility and was possibly involved in the assassination of Gaveston. During the battle between Lancaster and Edward II, Leicester was in France. He was thus able to credibly affirm that he had not taken part in the rebellion and to at least partially take up the inheritance of his brother who had been executed as a traitor. It was not long before he too came into conflict with the Despensers. In 1326 he joined the army of Isabella and Mortimer. On 16 November he captured Edward II and took him first to Monmouth, then to Kenilworth. He was part of the tribunal that sentenced Despenser to death. In January 1327 he was a member of the delegation that persuaded Edward II to abdicate at Kenilworth. Tensions soon arose with Mortimer, which led to a rebellion in 1328, which, however, did not get beyond the initial stage.
Leicester was able to keep his possessions after paying an immense sum, but politically he was sidelined. To his personal delight, he lived to see the fall of Mortimer. Edward III completely rehabilitated Leicester.
Edward II
After Isabella’s and Mortimer’s victory, it is Leicester who, in [Scene 17], after arresting Spencer and Baldock, brings Edward II to Kenilworth. He comforts the king before he has to hand him over to Thomas Berkeley on the queen’s orders.