# Quote — Ian Mortimer, The Fears of Henry IV

> This is how Henry could have convinced himself that he was innocent of the murder in the eyes of God. Others had ‘executed’ him, his death being a consequence of the plot to free him. Thus Henry was able to deny his guilt by refusing to accept personal responsibility for what had been a political act carried out for the security of the kingdom. Politicians in all ages have felt similarly inclined to draw a line between public expediency and personal conscience.

- Author: [Ian Mortimer](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ian-mortimer.md)
- Book: [The Fears of Henry IV](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ian-mortimer/the-fears-of-henry-iv.md)
- Page: 259
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ian_Mortimer#The_Fears_of_Henry_IV:_The_Life_of_England's_Self-made_King_(2007)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/ian-mortimer/the-fears-of-henry-iv/this-is-how

## More from this book

> Modern scholars now see Richard as essentially narcissistic, convinced of his own perfection, and yet deeply insecure. We might elaborate on this slightly and see that he was exceptionally self-conscious: so much so that his own identity, royal percentage, ideas, rivalries and feelings formed not only the core but the limit of his entire world.

p. 136 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ian-mortimer/the-fears-of-henry-iv/modern-scholars-now.md)

> The question of whether or not Henry was a great king in the fifteenth century, or subsequently, is a distraction. A man’s character may be obscured as much by the acclamation of greatness as by neglect.

p. 3 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ian-mortimer/the-fears-of-henry-iv/the-question-of-whether.md)

> It is not surprising that Lucia Visconti fell for him [Henry IV]. Considering his crusading, his pilgrimage and his jousting, it is not going too far to say that he had made himself into an exemplary knight, combining the spiritual and chivalric values of his age more completely perhaps than any other Englishman of the late fourteenth century.

p. 115 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ian-mortimer/the-fears-of-henry-iv/it-is-not.md)