Wikipedia

Henry V of England

Henry V (16 September 1386 – 31 August 1422), also called Henry of Monmouth and the Hammer of the Gauls (Latin: Malleus Gallorum), was King of England, Lord of Ireland, and Duke of Aquitaine from 1413 until his death in 1422. Despite his relatively short reign, Henry's outstanding military successes in the Hundred Years' War against France made England one of the strongest military powers in Europe. Immortalised in Shakespeare's Henriad plays, Henry is known and celebrated as one of the greatest warrior-kings of medieval England.

Henry V
Miniature in the Regement of Princes, c. 1411–1413
King of England
(more...)
Reign21 March 1413 – 31 August 1422
Coronation9 April 1413
PredecessorHenry IV
SuccessorHenry VI
Regent of France
Regency21 May 1420 – 31 August 1422
MonarchCharles VI
Born16 September 1386
Monmouth Castle, Wales
Died31 August 1422 (aged 35)
Château de Vincennes, France
Burial7 November 1422
Westminster Abbey, London
Spouse
​
(m. 1420)​
IssueHenry VI
HouseLancaster
FatherHenry IV of England
MotherMary de Bohun
SignatureHenry V's signature

Henry of Monmouth, the eldest son of Henry IV, became heir apparent and Prince of Wales after his father seized the throne in 1399. During the reign of his father, the young Prince Henry gained early military experience in Wales during the Glyndŵr rebellion, and by fighting against the powerful Percy family of Northumberland. He played an important part at the Battle of Shrewsbury despite being just sixteen years of age. As he entered adulthood, Henry played an increasingly central role in England's government due to the declining health of his father, but disagreements between Henry and his father led to political conflict between the two. After his father's death in March 1413, Henry ascended to the throne of England and assumed complete control of the country, also reviving the historic English claim to the French throne.

In 1415, Henry followed in the wake of his great-grandfather, Edward III, by renewing the Hundred Years' War with France, beginning the Lancastrian phase of the conflict (1415–1453). His first military campaign included capturing the port of Harfleur and a famous victory at the Battle of Agincourt, which inspired a proto-nationalistic fervour in England and Wales. During his second campaign (1417–1420), his armies captured Paris and conquered most of northern France, including the formerly English-held Duchy of Normandy. Taking advantage of political divisions within France, Henry put unparalleled pressure on Charles VI of France ("the Mad"), resulting in the largest holding of French territory by an English king since the Angevin Empire. The Treaty of Troyes (1420) recognised Henry V as regent of France and heir apparent to the French throne, disinheriting Charles's own son, the Dauphin Charles. Henry subsequently married Charles VI's daughter, Catherine of Valois. The treaty ratified the unprecedented formation of a union between the kingdoms of England and France, in the person of Henry, upon the death of the ailing Charles. However, Henry died in August 1422, less than two months before his father-in-law, and was succeeded by his only son and heir, the infant Henry VI.[1]

Analyses of Henry's reign are varied. According to Charles Ross, he was widely praised for his personal piety, bravery, and military genius; Henry was admired even by contemporary French chroniclers. However, his occasionally cruel temperament and lack of focus regarding domestic affairs have made him the subject of criticism. Nonetheless, Adrian Hastings believes his militaristic pursuits during the Hundred Years' War fostered a strong sense of English nationalism and set the stage for the rise of England (later Great Britain) to prominence as a dominant global power.[citation needed]

Early life

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Birth and family

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Henry's father, Henry IV

Henry was born on 16 September 1386 in the tower above the gatehouse of Monmouth Castle in Monmouthshire, and for that reason was sometimes called Henry of Monmouth.[2][3][4] He was the son of Henry of Bolingbroke (later Henry IV of England) and Mary de Bohun.[5][6] His father's cousin was the reigning English monarch, Richard II. Henry's paternal grandfather was the influential John of Gaunt, a son of Edward III.[7][3] As he was not close to the line of succession to the throne, Henry's date of birth was not officially documented, and for many years it was disputed whether he was born in 1386 or 1387.[2] However, records indicate that his younger brother Thomas was born in the autumn of 1387 and that his parents were at Monmouth in 1386 but not in 1387.[8] It is now accepted that he was born on 16 September 1386.[9][10][11][14]

Little is known about Henry's early years.[15] Henry had a nurse, Joan Waring, who was paid 40 shillings to look after him.[16] Due to the absence of Henry's father and the death of his mother, Henry was left in the care of his maternal grandmother, Joan, Countess of Hereford. Young Henry might have spent his early years there, in the care of a governess, Mary Hervy. It was said that Henry was small at birth and a lack of physical strength may have marked his early life. However, it disappeared when Henry reached his teens.[17]

Following a quarrel between Henry's father and the Duke of Norfolk, Richard decided to settle the matter by a chivalric trial by combat. However, before the duel could take place, Richard banished both Henry's father and Norfolk.[18][19] Upon the exile of Henry's father in 1398, Richard II took the boy into his own charge and treated him kindly.[20][21] The young Henry accompanied Richard to Ireland. While in the royal service, he visited Trim Castle in County Meath, the ancient meeting place of the Parliament of Ireland.[22]

In 1399, John of Gaunt died.[18] In the same year Richard II was overthrown by the Lancastrian usurpation that brought Henry's father to the throne, and Henry was recalled from Ireland into prominence as heir apparent to the Kingdom of England. He was created Prince of Wales at his father's coronation and Duke of Lancaster on 10 November 1399, the third person to hold the title that year. His other titles were Duke of Cornwall, Earl of Chester and Duke of Aquitaine.[23]

Education

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In his teens, Henry was possibly tutored by his uncle, Henry Beaufort, the Chancellor of the University of Oxford and later Bishop of Winchester.[24] However, claims that Henry actually studied at Queen's College, Oxford under Beaufort have been rejected by modern scholarship.[25] Nevertheless, Henry learned to read and write in French, Latin, and English, the vernacular;[25] the latter made him the first English king that was educated in this regard.[24][26]


Early military career and role in government

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From 1400 to 1404, he carried out the duties of High Sheriff of Cornwall. During that time, Henry was also in command of part of the English forces. He led his own army into Wales against Owain Glyndŵr and joined forces with his father to fight Henry "Hotspur" Percy at the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403.[27]

At the Battle of Shrewsbury on 21 July 1403, the sixteen-year-old Henry fought alongside his father against the rebel forces of Henry "Hotspur" Percy. During the engagement, he was struck in the face by an arrow that penetrated six inches into his skull, lodging near the left cheekbone and narrowly missing vital arteries and the brain.[28] Henry received the best available care. The royal physician John Bradmore treated the wound with honey, which acted as a natural antiseptic, and designed a specialised mechanical screw-tool to extract the arrowhead without causing further damage.[29]Bradmore later recorded the procedure in his Latin manuscript Philomena, describing how he widened the wound, inserted the instrument, and gradually withdrew the arrowhead over several days while flushing the wound with white wine to prevent infection.[28] The operation was successful but left Henry with permanent facial scars, which he bore as a mark of his battlefield experience.[30]

The Welsh revolt of Owain Glyndŵr absorbed Henry's energies as a result of the king's ill health, Henry began to take a wider share in politics. From January 1410, helped by his uncles Henry and Thomas Beaufort, legitimised sons of John of Gaunt, he had practical control of the government.[21] Both in foreign and domestic policy he differed from the king, who discharged his son from the council in November 1411. The quarrel between father and son was political only, though it is probable that the Beauforts had discussed the abdication of Henry IV. Their opponents certainly endeavoured to defame Prince Henry.[21]

It may be that the tradition of Henry's riotous youth, immortalised by Shakespeare, is partly due to political enmity. Henry's record of involvement in war and politics, even in his youth, disproves this tradition. The most famous incident, his quarrel with the chief justice, has no contemporary authority and was first related by Sir Thomas Elyot in 1531.[21][31] The closest contemporary source of such behaviour are vague statements made by then Bishop of Norwich, Richard Courtenay, stating that the king had given up youthful pursuits and become chaste. This source is suspect at best as Courtenay was a longtime friend of the young King and was typically unreliable.[32][33]

The story of Falstaff originated in Henry's early friendship with Sir John Oldcastle, a supporter of the Lollards. Shakespeare's Falstaff was originally named "Oldcastle", following his main source, The Famous Victories of Henry V. Oldcastle's descendants objected, and the name was changed (the character became a composite of several real persons, including Sir John Fastolf). That friendship, and the prince's political opposition to Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury, perhaps encouraged Lollard hopes. If so, their disappointment may account for the statements of ecclesiastical writers like Thomas Walsingham that Henry, on becoming king, was suddenly changed into a new man.[21][34]

Reign (1413–1422)

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Accession

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A gold noble coin of Henry V

After Henry IV died on 20 March 1413, Henry V succeeded him and was crowned on 9 April 1413 at Westminster Abbey. The ceremony was marked by a terrible snowstorm, but the common people were undecided as to whether it was a good or bad omen.[35] Henry was described as having been "very tall (6 feet 3 inches), slim, with dark hair cropped in a ring above the ears, and clean-shaven". His complexion was ruddy, his face lean with a prominent and pointed nose. Depending on his mood, his eyes "flashed from the mildness of a dove's to the brilliance of a lion's".[36].

Domestic affairs

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Henry tackled all of the domestic policies together and gradually built on them a wider policy. From the first, he made it clear that he would rule England as the head of a united nation. He let past differences be forgotten—the late Richard II was honourably re-interred; the young Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March, was taken into favour; the heirs of those who had suffered under the last reign were restored gradually to their titles and estates. Yet, where Henry saw a grave domestic danger, he acted firmly and ruthlessly, such as during the Oldcastle Revolt in January 1414 and the execution by burning of Henry's old friend, Sir John Oldcastle, in 1417 to "nip the movement in the bud" and make his own position as ruler secure.[21][37]

Henry's reign was generally free from serious trouble at home. The exception was the Southampton Plot of July 1415, in which conspirators Richard of Conisburgh, Henry Scrope, and Thomas Grey aimed to depose Henry and place Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March, on the throne.[21] However, Mortimer revealed the plot to the king, and the conspirators were swiftly executed.[38]

Starting in August 1417, Henry promoted the use of the English language in government[39]and his reign marks the appearance of Chancery Standard English as well as the adoption of English as the language of record within government. He was the first king to use English in his personal correspondence since the Norman Conquest 350 years earlier.[40][41]. Medievalist John Hurt Fisher argued that Henry's reign was the "turning point in establishing English as the national language of England".[39]

English chancery hand. Facsimile of a letter from Henry, 1418.


War in France

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Dispute with France

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Henry could now turn his attention to foreign affairs. A writer of the next generation was the first to allege that Henry was encouraged by ecclesiastical statesmen to enter into the French war as a means of diverting attention from home troubles. This story seems to have no foundation. Old commercial disputes and the support the French had lent to Owain Glyndŵr were used as an excuse for war, while the disordered state of France afforded no security for peace.[21] King Charles VI of France was prone to mental illness; at times he thought he was made of glass, and his eldest surviving son, Louis, Duke of Guyenne, was an unpromising prospect. However, it was the old dynastic claim to the throne of France, first pursued by Edward III of England, that justified war with France in English opinion.

Henry may have regarded the assertion of his own claims as part of his royal duty, but a permanent settlement of the national debate was essential to the success of his foreign policy.[citation needed] Following the instability back in England during the reign of King Richard II, the war in France came to a halt, as during most of his reign relations between England and France were largely peaceful and so they were during his father's reign as well. But in 1415, hostilities were renewed between the two nations, and though Henry had a claim to the French throne, through his great–grandfather King Edward III by his mother's side, the French ultimately rejected this claim as its nobles pointed out that under the Salic law of the Franks, women were forbidden from inheriting the throne. Thus the throne went to a distant male relative of a cadet branch of the House of Capet, Philip VI of France, resulting in the Hundred Years' War beginning in 1337. Wanting to claim the French throne for himself, Henry resumed the war against France in 1415. This would lead to one of England's most successful military campaigns during the whole conflict and would result in one of the most decisive victories for an English army during this period.[21]

1415 campaign

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The Battle of Agincourt as depicted in the 15th-century St Albans Chronicle by Thomas Walsingham.
The morning of the Battle of Agincourt

On 11 and 12 August 1415, Henry sailed from Southampton and landed near Harfleur on the Norman coast by 14 August. His forces then besieged the fortress at Harfleur, capturing it on 22 September.[42] Many of his troops succumbed to illness; therefore, he decided to begin marching his army towards Calais on 8 October, against the warnings of his council.[43] Around mid-October, he encountered a blockade of the classic ford at Blanchetaque near Abbeville, forcing Henry inland in search of another crossing. On October 19 and 20, Henry and his army crossed south of Péronne at Béthencourt and Voyennes, then turned north again towards Calais. The French army intercepted Henry on 24 October near Azincourt, which led to the famous Battle of Agincourt.[44] On 25 October, on the plains near the village of Agincourt, a French army intercepted his route. Despite his men-at-arms' being exhausted, outnumbered and malnourished, Henry led his men into battle, decisively defeating the French, who suffered severe losses. The French men-at-arms were bogged down in the muddy battlefield, soaked from the previous night of heavy rain, thus hindering the French advance and making them sitting targets for the flanking English archers.[43] Most were simply hacked to death while completely stuck in the deep mud. It was Henry's greatest military victory, ranking alongside the Battle of Crécy (1346) and the Battle of Poitiers (1356) as the greatest English victories of the Hundred Years' War.[45] This victory both solidified and strengthened Henry V's own rule in England and also legitimized his claim to the French throne more than ever.[46]

During the battle,[47] Henry ordered that the French prisoners taken during the battle be put to death, including some of the most illustrious who could have been held for ransom. Cambridge historian Brett Tingley suggests that Henry ordered them killed out of concern that the prisoners might turn on their captors when the English were busy repelling a third wave of enemy troops, thus jeopardising a hard-fought victory.[citation needed]

The victorious conclusion of Agincourt, from the English viewpoint, was only the first step in the campaign to recover the French possessions that Henry felt belonged to the English crown. Agincourt also held out the promise that Henry's pretensions to the French throne might be realized.[citation needed] After the victory, Henry marched to Calais and the king returned in triumph to England in November and received a hero's welcome. The brewing nationalistic sentiment among the English people was so great that contemporary writers describe firsthand how Henry was welcomed with triumphal pageantry into London upon his return. These accounts also describe how Henry was greeted by elaborate displays and with choirs following his passage to St. Paul's Cathedral.[46]

The ratification of the Treaty of Troyes between Henry and Charles VI of France, Archives Nationales (France)

Most importantly, the victory at Agincourt inspired and boosted the English morale, while it caused a heavy blow to the French as it further aided the English in their conquest of Normandy and much of northern France by 1419. The French, especially the nobility, who by this stage were weakened and exhausted by the disaster, began quarrelling and fighting among themselves.[citation needed] This quarrelling also led to a division in the French aristocracy and caused a rift in the French royal family, leading to infighting. By 1420, a treaty was signed between Henry V and Charles VI of France, known as the Treaty of Troyes, which acknowledged Henry as regent and heir to the French throne and also married Henry to Charles's daughter Catherine of Valois.[46]

Diplomacy

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Gold florin of Sigismund of Hungary

Following the Battle of Agincourt, King Sigismund of Hungary (later Holy Roman Emperor) made a visit to Henry in hopes of making peace between England and France. His goal was to persuade Henry to modify his demands against the French. Henry lavishly entertained him and even had him enrolled in the Order of the Garter. Sigismund, in turn, inducted Henry into the Order of the Dragon.[48] Henry had intended to crusade for the order after uniting the English and French thrones, but he died before fulfilling his plans.[49][50][51] Sigismund left England several months later, having signed the Treaty of Canterbury acknowledging English claims to France.

Command of the sea was secured by driving the Genoese allies of the French out of the English Channel.[21] While Henry was occupied with peace negotiations in 1416, a French and Genoese fleet surrounded the harbour at the English-garrisoned Harfleur. A French land force also besieged the town. In March 1416 a raiding force of soldiers under the Earl of Dorset, Thomas Beaufort, was attacked and narrowly escaped defeat at the Battle of Valmont after a counterattack by the garrison of Harfleur. To relieve the town, Henry sent his brother, John, Duke of Bedford, who raised a fleet and set sail from Beachy Head on 14 August. The Franco-Genoese fleet was defeated the following day after the gruelling seven-hour Battle of the Seine[52] and Harfleur was relieved. Diplomacy successfully detached Emperor Sigismund from supporting France, and the Treaty of Canterbury — also signed in August 1416 — confirmed a short-lived alliance between England and the Holy Roman Empire.

1417–1421 campaigns

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Late-15th century depiction of Henry's marriage to Catherine of Valois. British Library, London

With those two potential enemies gone, and after two years of patient preparation following the Battle of Agincourt, Henry renewed the war on a larger scale in 1417. After taking Caen, he quickly conquered Lower Normandy and Rouen was cut off from Paris and besieged. This siege has cast an even darker shadow on the reputation of the king adding to the loss of honor following his order to slay the French prisoners at Agincourt. The leaders of Rouen, who were unable to support and feed the women and children of the town, forced them out through the gates believing that Henry would allow them to pass through his army unmolested. However, Henry refused to allow this, and the expelled women and children died of starvation in the ditches surrounding the town. The French were paralysed by the disputes between the Burgundians and the Armagnacs. Henry skillfully played one against the other without relaxing his warlike approach.[21]

In January 1419, Rouen fell.[21] Those Norman French who had resisted were severely punished: Alain Blanchard, who had hanged English prisoners from the walls of Rouen, was summarily executed; Robert de Livet, Canon of Rouen, who had excommunicated the English king, was packed off to England and imprisoned for five years.[53]

By August, the English were outside the walls of Paris.

The Treaty of Troyes

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After six months of negotiation, the Treaty of Troyes recognised Henry as the heir and regent of France.[21] The treaty was made possible by the assassination of John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, on 10 September 1419 at a parley on the bridge of Montereau-Fault-Yonne by partisans of the Dauphin Charles.[54] The murder alienated John's successor, Philip the Good, who sought revenge and entered into an alliance with Henry V. This Anglo-Burgundian alliance gave Henry the political leverage to force Charles VI to accept terms that disinherited the Dauphin and recognised Henry as heir and regent of France.[54] The treaty also arranged Henry's marriage to Catherine of Valois, daughter of Charles VI, with a dowry of 600,000 écus.[55] The agreement was ratified by the Estates General in Paris in July 1420, though it was never accepted by the Dauphinist territories south of the Loire.[54]

On 2 June 1420 at Troyes Cathedral, Henry married Catherine, with their son, the future Henry VI, born on 6 December 1421 at Windsor Castle. Only two days after his marriage, Henry besieged Sens, which fell in less than a week.[4] He then moved to take the fortress at Montereau-Fault-Yonne, which capitulated by 1 July. He besieged and captured Melun by November 1420, returning to England after three and a half years of fighting in France.[4] In 1428, Charles VII retook Montereau, only to see the English once again take it over within a short time. Finally, on 10 October 1437, Charles VII was victorious in regaining Montereau.

While Henry was in England, his brother Thomas, Duke of Clarence, led the English forces in France. On 22 March 1421, Thomas led the English to a disastrous defeat at the Battle of Baugé against a Franco-Scottish army. The duke was killed in the battle. On 10 June, Henry sailed back to France to retrieve the situation. It was to be his last military campaign. From July to August, Henry's forces besieged and captured Dreux, thus relieving allied forces at Chartres. On 6 October, his forces laid siege to Meaux, capturing it on 10 May 1422.[56][57]

Kingship

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Parliament and legislation

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Relations between Henry and his Parliament were cordial and based on mutual understanding. As Prince of Wales, he attended several parliaments and oversaw his father's mishandling of the representative assembly. Henry already respected the political status Parliament played as a national institution in local, political and social life. Henry also understood how to handle Parliament carefully and the advantages that it could bring him. On the second day of Henry's reign, he issued writs of summons to Parliament, indicating he wanted to establish a working relationship in what biographer Christopher Allmand called "a joint enterprise in government." Parliament was called eleven times during his reign and Henry attended six of them.[58]

Addresses given to the first six Parliaments were entirely the work of Henry Beaufort, which showed how over period of four years the King's most senior minister and influential adviser oversaw Henry's role as king. An overarching theme was the fulfillment of the royal office. A year later when Parliament assembled at Leicester, Henry was told that as king, he must enforce the law, act justly and seek "bon governance."[59] According to Allmand, these addresses were made as a part of managed and intentional projection of Henry as a man who fulfilled the aspects of kingship in every way. They depict him as one who followed the law, defended and protected the rights of the Church and took a firm stance against the country's main enemy.[60]

Henry marching his forces against the Lollards

Legislation of the age were enacted to restrict the influence of the Lollards and local disorder.[37] Disorder in areas such as Staffordshire and Cheshire, felonious activities in Northumberland were given attention in the Parliament assembled at Leicester in April 1414. Firm action was taken by Henry by the summer of that year led to an restoration of social order. Following social disturbances in Lancashire in both 1419 and 1420 with similar disturbances in Cheshire in 1421 were specifically mentioned in records of Parliament seven times out of the eleven times Parliament met. This indicate how law and order held certain importance in Henry's reign. Lawlessness at sea was addressed by strict action and sound policy. Beaufort, supported by the King and City of London interests, called for decisive action against lawless conduct at sea. Parliament enacted taxes on wool, wines, hides and other goods to shield English maritime interests. Parliament also enacted the Safe Conducts Act 1414 to help English merchants against bandits at sea.[61] Few statutes passed during Henry's reign originated from petitions to Parliament with ten statutes enacted by Parliament in 1413 being petitions.[38]

Henry used Parliament as an institution whose approval he sought to award and promote men to the peerage, or restoring members of the nobility who fell out of favour with his father.[62] Henry was granted a subsidy by Parliament on wool and woolfells for four years in 1413 with tonnage and poundage for one year.[63] This surpassed any that was made to Henry IV with tonnage and poundage being extended in 1414. In February 1415, Parliament voted to grant two more subsidies, which was calculated to bring in £37,000, to fund Henry's upcoming expedition to France that year. Following Henry's victory at Agincourt, Parliament made the grant of tonnage and poundage for life.[63]

Death

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Effigy of Henry V in Westminster Abbey (the head is modern)

Henry V died on 31 August 1422 at the Château de Vincennes to the east of Paris, aged 35.[64] He had reigned for nine years. The most widely accepted cause is dysentery, contracted during the Siege of Meaux (October 1421 – May 1422), where unsanitary conditions in the English camp facilitated the spread of the disease.[65] In late June 1422, he appeared well enough to lead his forces toward Cosne-sur-Loire to engage Dauphinist troops, but he suffered a relapse, possibly from heatstroke or a resurgence of dysentery, and was carried in a litter.[65] He was taken back to Vincennes, where his condition deteriorated. In his final days, he dictated codicils to his will, naming his brother John, Duke of Bedford, as regent of France and appointing a council to govern England during his son's minority.[66]

After his death, his body was embalmed and transported to England, where a solemn funeral procession preceded his burial in Westminster Abbey on 7 November 1422.[64] Seven years prior during the siege of Harfleur, his close companion and Privy Counsel member Richard Courtenay died of dysentery, and Henry gave orders that he be buried in Westminster Abbey. Henry's own tomb is a few yards away from Courtenay's; they are not buried together, and the graves are not on top of each other as stated by some sources.[67][64]

Legacy

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Political

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A statue of Henry V in the interior of Canterbury Cathedral

Henry V's death at thirty-five years of age was a political and dynastic turning point for both the kingdoms of England and France. The Lancastrian ruler had been set to rule both realms after Charles VI's death, which occurred in October 1422, less than two months after Henry's own premature death. This caused his infant son, also called Henry, to ascend the throne as King Henry VI of England, at the age of nine months. Due to the new king's age, a regency government was formed by Henry's surviving brothers, John, Duke of Bedford, and Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester. This acted as the sole governing force of England and its possessions in France until Henry VI came of age in 1437. Although for a time this largely proved to be a success, with England achieving their greatest territorial extent in France under the command of Bedford,[68][69] the later reign of Henry VI saw the majority of the territories held by the English lost or returned to the French, through reconquest or diplomatic cession;[70][71] English military power in the region eventually ceased to exist.[72][73] This marked the end of England's sustained military success in the Hundred Years' War, with all their historic possessions in France being lost, with the exception of the Pale of Calais, which remained England's only foothold in the continent until it was lost in 1558.[74] The loss of land in France contributed significantly to civil strife over the succession of the English crown in the ensuing decades, culminating in the Wars of the Roses (1455–1487) between Henry V's descendants, the House of Lancaster, and its rival, the House of York.[75]

Architectural

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Henry V is not only remembered for his military prowess but for his architectural patronage. He commissioned the building of King's College Chapel and Eton College Chapel, and although some of his building works were discontinued after his death, others were continued by his son and successor Henry VI. He also contributed to the founding of the monastery of the Syon Abbey in west London, which was completed under Henry VI. In the 16th century the monastery was demolished as a result of the growing movement of the English Reformation during the reign of King Henry VIII.[citation needed]

Reputation

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Contemporary commentary on Henry V was extensive but shaped by political circumstance and, frequently, by direct patronage.[76][77] In England, praise centred on the image of Henry as a conqueror.[78] John Lydgate, whose Troy Book had been commissioned by Henry himself in 1412, concluded that work in 1420 by placing the king "in the highest place of the hous of fame", and his verses on the Kings of England (c.1426) ranked Henry among the Nine Worthies.[78]: 218 [79][80] Thomas Hoccleve, a clerk of the Privy Seal, hailed Henry after the 1420 Treaty of Troyes as the "Swerd of knyghthode" and a "worthy Conqueror."[78]: 224 [80] An English eyewitness verse account of the siege of Rouen (1418–19), conventionally attributed to a "John Page" named in the text, described Henry above all as a "conquerowre", although the historicity of the account remains debated.[81][78]: 218  This image was developed at greater length in the Latin biographies produced during and shortly after the reign: the anonymous Gesta Henrici Quinti (c.1417), Thomas Elmham's Liber Metricus (c.1418), the anonymous Vita et Gesta Henrici Quinti (mid-1430s) and Tito Livio Frulovisi's Vita Henrici Quinti (c.1438). Historians Roskell and Taylor argue that the Gesta was composed as political propaganda intended to support the English delegation at the Council of Constance, and the four works together are generally read by modern historians as products of, or adjuncts to, Lancastrian commemoration.[82][83][78]: 221 

French and Burgundian assessments were more divided.[84] The Saint-Denis chronicler Michel Pintouin credited Henry with "magnanimity, prudence and wisdom", judging him better equipped than any prince of his age to conquer a kingdom,[84]: 122  and the Burgundian chroniclers Jean de Wavrin and Jean Le Fèvre praised the strict discipline of his armies.[78]: 218, 233 [84]: 159–163  Other voices were sharply critical: Enguerrand de Monstrelet claimed there was widespread fear of Henry in France, Georges Chastellain portrayed him as a tyrant driven by vainglory, and the Norman writer Robert Blondel interpreted Henry's early death as divine punishment for his brutality.[78]: 237, 226, 225 

Later portrait of Henry, late 16th or early 17th century

Later assessment

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Henry V's reputation has rested above all on his record as a soldier. Allmand observes that "ever since his own day there has been virtual unanimity" on his ability as a military commander, and contemporary English writing established the image of a disciplined, divinely supported conqueror that later authors inherited.[85] The Tudor chronicle tradition, culminating in Raphael Holinshed, developed Henry further into "more like a moral stereotype than a historical figure of flesh and blood," and it was principally from Holinshed that Shakespeare drew the material for Henry V, the play that has since dominated popular perception of the king.[86]

Modern scholarship judges Henry's political legacy in France with much greater scepticism. Following E. F. Jacob, Allmand describes Henry's bequest to his son as a damnosa hereditas (harmful inheritance), concluding that within a generation the French enterprise had become "an ever increasing political and financial liability".[87] More recently, Malcolm Vale has argued that the Shakespearean image of a "warmongering monarch" obscures Henry's domestic record with his most durable achievements: restoring relations between crown and nobility, working productively with parliament, and re-establishing political unity after his father's reign.[88][89]

According to historian Dan Jones, Henry "had a reputation for being austere to the point of desiccation, yet he was also theatrical and astonishingly adept at the art of public spectacle. He was a hardened warrior...Yet he was also creative, artistic, and literary, with a bookish temperament and a talent for composing music and playing a number of instruments." Jones does however conclude that Henry V is "'the greatest man who ever ruled England.'"[90]

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In literature

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Lewis Waller as Henry V in the play Henry V by William Shakespeare

Henry V has been depicted in many literary works, the most famous and influential depiction being William Shakespeare's series of plays Henry IV, Part 1, Henry IV, Part 2, and Henry V (which, along with Richard II, are known collectively as the Henriad in Shakespearean scholarship). Shakespeare's plays dramatise Henry's transformation from a reckless youth who keeps bad company into a virtuous ruler who wins France for England.[citation needed]

Henry is a minor character in William Kenrick's sequel to Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 2, titled Falstaff's Wedding. He is the subject of the historical novel Good King Harry by Denise Giardina. He also appears as a minor character in the historical novels Simon the Coldheart by Georgette Heyer and Azincourt by Bernard Cornwell.

In film and television

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Henry V has been depicted in many historical films and operas[citation needed] such as Laurence Olivier's 1944 film Henry V; Olivier played the lead role himself, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor.[91] Henry also appears in the 1935 film Royal Cavalcade, in which he was played by actor Matheson Lang. Henry is played by Kenneth Branagh in the 1989 film Henry V, for which Branagh was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor, Best Director, and the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role.[92] Henry V appears as a major character played by Keith Baxter in Orson Welles's 1966 film Chimes at Midnight. He is also played by Timothée Chalamet in 2019 Netflix film The King directed by David Michôd. He is portrayed by Tom Hiddleston in the BBC television series The Hollow Crown.

In comics and video games

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Henry V is a character in the comic series The Hammer Man in the BBC comic strip The Victor featuring him as the commander of the hero, Chell Paddock. King Henry V is a character in the video game Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War and also in the Age of Empires II: The Conquerors in which he was featured as a paladin.[citation needed]

Arms

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Henry's arms as Prince of Wales were those of the kingdom, differenced by a label argent of three points.[93] Upon his accession, he inherited the use of the arms of the kingdom undifferenced.

Marriage

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While he was Prince of Wales, it was suggested that Henry should marry the widow of Richard II, Isabella of Valois, but this had been refused. Negotiations took place for his marriage to Catherine of Pomerania between 1401 and 1404, but ultimately failed.[94]

During the following years, marriage seemingly assumed a lower priority until the conclusion of the Treaty of Troyes, which provided for Henry to marry Catherine of Valois in June 1420, the daughter of Charles VI of France and younger sister of Isabella of Valois.[64] Together the couple had one child, the future Henry VI of England, born in December 1421.[64]

Ancestry and family

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Descent

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See also

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References

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Citations

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  1. ↑ Jones, M (16 September 2025). "Catherine [Catherine of Valois] (1401–1437), queen of England, consort of Henry V". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 3 January 2008.
  2. 1 2 3 Allmand 1992, pp. 7–8.
  3. 1 2 Matusiak 2012, p. 21.
  4. 1 2 3 Allmand, Christopher (23 September 2010). "Henry V (1386–1422)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online) (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/12952.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) (Subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.)
  5. ↑ Allmand 1992, pp. 8–9.
  6. ↑ Matusiak 2012, p. 22.
  7. ↑ Allmand 1992, p. 8.
  8. ↑ Mortimer 2007, pp. 371–372.
  9. ↑ Curry 2013, p. 11.
  10. ↑ Mortimer 2007, p. 371.
  11. ↑ Allmand 2010.
  12. ↑ Richardson 2011, pp. 364 n. 231.
  13. ↑ Mortimer 2007, p. 371.
  14. ↑ Several combinations of 9 August 16 September, and the years 1386 and 1387 frequently feature as birth dates. 16 September appears in Henry V's birth record found in Prologus in Cronica Regina (printed by Hearne), which states that he was born in the feast of St. Edith. Another document, located at John Rylands Library (French MS 54), gives the specific date of 16 September 1386. The only early authority which places his birth in August is Memorials of Henry V (ed. Cole, p. 64: "natus in Augusto fueras"); the date 9 August is first given by Paolo Giovio, but seems to be a misprint for his coronation date (9 April). The only other evidence for a birth in August would be a statement that he was in his 36th year (aged 35) when he died.[12] This would place Henry V's birth in September 1386 or August 1387.[2] Since Henry's household was at Monmouth in 1386 but not in 1387, and a specific date is given for 1386, the date of 16 September 1386 is now regarded as the correct one.[13]
  15. ↑ Labarge 1976, p. 2.
  16. ↑ Matusiak 2012, p. 35.
  17. ↑ Allmand 1992, pp. 9–10.
  18. 1 2 Allmand 1992, p. 11.
  19. ↑ Matusiak 2012, pp. 39–40.
  20. ↑ Matusiak 2012, p. 41.
  21. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Wikisource One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Kingsford, Charles Lethbridge (1911). "Henry V.". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 13 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 284–285.
  22. ↑ Matusiak 2012, p. 42.
  23. ↑ Wilson 2025, pp. 34–48.
  24. 1 2 Allmand 1992, p. 10.
  25. 1 2 Matusiak 2012, p. 36.
  26. ↑ "Henry V | Biography, Facts, Wife, & Significance | Britannica". britannica.com. Retrieved 29 June 2023.
  27. ↑ Harriss 2005, p. 532.
  28. 1 2 "Prince Hal's Head-Wound: Cause and Effect". Medievalists.net. 1 August 2023. Retrieved 12 May 2026.
  29. ↑ Lang 1992, pp. 121–130.
  30. ↑ Allmand 1992, p. 9.
  31. ↑ Weis 1998, p. 27.
  32. ↑ Chronical Majoria Thomas Walsingham
  33. ↑ Fears of Henry IV, England's Self Made King, Ian Mortimer
  34. ↑ Patterson 1996, pp. 8–12.
  35. ↑ "1413", TimeRef (History timelines), archived from the original on 5 May 2009, retrieved 27 May 2009
  36. ↑ Andrews 1976, p. 76.
  37. 1 2 Allmand 1992, pp. 368–369.
  38. 1 2 Allmand 1992, p. 372.
  39. 1 2 Fisher 1996, p. 22.
  40. ↑ Harriss, G. L., ed. (1985). Henry V: The Practice of Kingship. Oxford University Press. p. 46.
  41. ↑ Mugglestone 2006, p. 101.
  42. ↑ "The Battle of Agincourt Campaign and Battle". The National Archives. 13 October 2025. Retrieved 13 October 2025.
  43. 1 2 Barker, J. (2005). Agincourt: Henry V and the Battle That Made England. London. p. 220.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  44. ↑ Martinez, Julia (17 October 2025). "Battle of Agincourt". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
  45. ↑ Brenton, Kerr (16 September 2025). "AGINCOURT AND VALMONT: CONTRAST IN THE TACTICS OF FRENCH AND ENGLISH DURING HENRY V's INVASIONS OF FRANCE". Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research. 22 (86): 66–70. JSTOR 44221814.
  46. 1 2 3 "Battle of Agincourt | Facts, Summary, & Significance | Britannica". 18 October 2023.
  47. ↑ Hibbert, Christopher (1964). "During the battle". Agincourt. London: Batsford. p. 114. OCLC 460624273.
  48. ↑ Rezachevici 1999, pp. 1–6.
  49. ↑ Mowat 1919, p. 176.
  50. ↑ Harvey 1967, p. ?.
  51. ↑ Seward 1999, p. ?.
  52. ↑ Trowbridge, Benjamin (9 August 2016). "The Battle of the Seine: Henry V's unknown naval triumph". The National Archives. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
  53. ↑ Kingsford 1901, p. ?.
  54. 1 2 3 Matusiak 2012, p. 107.
  55. ↑ Fraser 2000, p. 40.
  56. ↑ Bove, B. (1 December 2010). "Deconstructing the chronicles: rumours and extreme violence during the siege of Meaux (1421-1422)" (PDF). French History. 24 (4): 501–523. doi:10.1093/fh/crq055. ISSN 0269-1191. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
  57. ↑ "Siege of Meaux". HistoryMaps. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
  58. ↑ Allmand 1992, p. 366.
  59. ↑ Allmand 1992, p. 367.
  60. ↑ Allmand 1992, p. 368.
  61. ↑ Allmand 1992, p. 369.
  62. ↑ Allmand 1992, p. 370.
  63. 1 2 Allmand 1992, p. 374.
  64. 1 2 3 4 5 Weir 2008, p. 130.
  65. 1 2 "Henrys V/VI and the War with France". War History Online. Retrieved 19 April 2026.
  66. ↑ "The Last Will of Henry V & the Inheritance of an Empire". The History Jar. Retrieved 19 April 2026.
  67. ↑ "Richard Courtenay". www.westminster-abbey.org. Retrieved 1 October 2025.
  68. ↑ "John Of Lancaster Duke Of Bedford | Encyclopedia.com". encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
  69. ↑ "John Plantagenet, duke of Bedford | Regent of France, English Nobleman, Henry V's Brother | Britannica". britannica.com. 15 February 2024. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
  70. ↑ "Date by which Le Mans was to be handed to the French". The Hundred Years War – 1337–1453. 11 January 2023. Retrieved 16 March 2024.
  71. ↑ "The Siege of Orléans". 100 Years War. Retrieved 16 March 2024.
  72. ↑ "The Battle of Castillon, 1453: The end of the Hundred Years War | History Today". historytoday.com. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
  73. ↑ Cartwright, Mark (17 March 2020). "Hundred Years' War". World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
  74. ↑ "The Fall of Calais | History Today". historytoday.com. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
  75. ↑ "Origins of The Conflict". Wars of the Roses. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
  76. ↑ Strohm, Paul (21 January 1999), "Hoccleve, Lydgate and the Lancastrian court", The Cambridge History of Medieval English Literature, Cambridge University Press, pp. 640–661, ISBN 978-0-521-44420-0, retrieved 13 May 2026{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link)
  77. ↑ Allmand 1992, pp. 426.
  78. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Taylor, Craig (31 December 2013), "9. Henry V, Flower of Chivalry", Henry V: New Interpretations, Boydell and Brewer, pp. 217–248, ISBN 978-1-78204-159-7, retrieved 13 May 2026{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link)
  79. ↑ Pearsall, Derek (1997). John Lydgate (1371 - 1449): A Bio-Bibliography. English literary studies. Victoria, B.C: English Literary Studies, Univ. of Victoria. ISBN 978-0-920604-49-6.
  80. 1 2 Strohm, Paul (21 January 1999), "Hoccleve, Lydgate and the Lancastrian court", The Cambridge History of Medieval English Literature, Cambridge University Press, pp. 640–661, ISBN 978-0-521-44420-0, retrieved 13 May 2026{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link)
  81. ↑ Page, John; Bellis, Joanna (2015). John Page's the Siege of Rouen: edited from London, British Library Ms Egerton 1995. Middle English Texts. British Library. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter. ISBN 978-3-8253-6426-7.
  82. ↑ Taylor, Frank; Roskell, John Smith, eds. (1975). Gesta Henrici Quinti: The deeds of Henry the Fifth. Oxford Medieval Texts. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 978-0-19-822231-6.
  83. ↑ Gransden, Antonia (1982). Historical Writing in England II. London: Routledge. pp. 194–219. ISBN 978-1-003-06006-2.
  84. 1 2 3 Curry, Anne (2009). The Battle of Agincourt: Sources and Interpretations. Warfare in History. Woodbridge: Boydell Press. ISBN 978-1-84383-511-0.
  85. ↑ Allmand 1992, pp. 437–438.
  86. ↑ Allmand 1992, pp. 434.
  87. ↑ Allmand 1992, pp. 442–443.
  88. ↑ Vale, Malcolm (27 September 2016). Henry V: The Conscience of a King. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-16034-5.
  89. ↑ Allmand 1992, pp. 436–437, 442.
  90. ↑ Jones, Dan (2024). Henry V: The Astonishing Triumph of England's Greatest Warrior King (1 ed.). London, England: Viking Press. pp. xxiv–xxv, 360. ISBN 9780593652732.
  91. ↑ "Henry V | film by Olivier [1944] | Britannica".
  92. ↑ "Henry V | IMDb". IMDb.
  93. ↑ "Marks of Cadency in the British Royal Family".
  94. ↑ Flemberg, Marie-Louise, Filippa: engelsk prinsessa och nordisk unionsdrottning, Santérus, Stockholm, 2014
  95. ↑ Tout, Thomas Frederick (1911). "Edward III" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 8 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 994–995.
  96. 1 2 Armitage-Smith, Sydney (1905). John of Gaunt: King of Castile and Leon, Duke of Aquitaine and Lancaster, Earl of Derby, Lincoln, and Leicester, Seneschal of England. Charles Scribner's Sons. p. 77. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
  97. ↑ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Philippa of Hainaut" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 21 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 390.
  98. ↑ Weir 1999, pp. 76, 84.
  99. ↑ Mosley, Charles, ed. (1999). Burke's Peerage and Baronetage. Vol. 1 (106th ed.). Crans, Switzerland: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd. p. 228.
  100. 1 2 Weir 1999, p. 84.
  101. 1 2 Cokayne, G.E.; Gibbs, Vicary; Doubleday, H.A.; White, Geoffrey H.; Warrand, Duncan; de Walden, Howard, eds. (2000). The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant. Vol. II (new ed.). Gloucester, UK: Alan Sutton Publishing. p. 70.
  102. ↑ Cokayne et al (2000), I, p. 242
  103. ↑ Weir 1999, p. 78.

Bibliography

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Further reading

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