By setting the opening of "Henry IV," amid political instability and fierce rebellion, questions of kingship and the legitimacy of that power are immediately thrust to the forefront of audience consciousness; yet, it is these tensions which drive the plot. The bleak opening lines spoken by Henry IV: "so shaken as we are, so wan with care  are understandable when considering that the nation he rules over is threatened on two borders and that the very nobles who brought him to power are now attempting to unseat him. The threat of the Scottish is made all the more ominous since they are aided by the northern nobles, who assisted Henry when he usurped Richard II, as they have already proved their efficiency when it comes to removing a crowned monarch. In addition there is the threat from the Welsh, which is intensified by the marriage of Edmund Mortimer (a captive Englishman) to the daughter of the Welsh leader, troubling since Mortimer arguably has a better claim to the throne than the King's own. In the uncertain world which we are presented with in the opening scenes of 1 Henry IV we are liable to ask we are likely to question the legitimacy of the monarch in relation to the volatility of the country and the consequences of rebelling against a ruler. One obvious explanation for the current troubles plaguing Henry is that he is not the rightful king, since he deposed his cousin Richard II, making his reign unlawful. D S Kastan1 claims; "The real source of instability" rests in the manner in which Henry has become king  and it is undeniable that the memory of Richard II haunts these plays. In Act 1 scene 3 Hotspur even unfavourably compares Henry with his predecessor: "Richard, that sweet lovely rose / And plant this thorn, this canker, Bolingbroke" (I.iii.174-5). There is an almost corrupt quality to the image of a rose and a thorn and definitely a sense of hierarchy; that one is beautiful and the other ugly and sharp. Perhaps, this can be linked to the notion of divinely appointed heads of state, Richard II being God favoured is the "sweet lovely rose  and Henry the illegitimate usurper is merely a "thorn."  With usurping Richard II, there came not only the moral dilemma of taking the place of a man who only needed to answer to God, but also the practical issue of the nobles who helped Henry IV come to power. From this perspective it could be argued that Henry is guilty of neglect of the people that brought him to the throne, which is especially foolish since they helped him to power by rebelling against the King, exactly the threat he now fears most. The dissatisfaction of the Percys is abundantly clear since they believe that they "did give him that same royalty he wears  (IV.iii.55) and they are now "unappreciated and vulnerable 2 under the new leadership of Henry IV. The reason for the Percys' actions against Henry IV has nothing to do with the fierce legitimist claims made by these one time rebels; it is the age old concern of self interest: "The King will always think him in our debt And think we think ourselves unsatisfied Till he hath found a