Henry V
-Chrissie

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            Despite how Henry IV had come to the throne, there was no dispute that his son, Henry V, was the legitimate heir. He was only eleven when his father, then Henry of Bolingbroke, was exiled by King Richard II. Young Henry was treated kindly by his second cousin, not forcing him to share his father’s exile and even knighting him in 1399, shortly before Richard was forced to abdicate.

After his father’s ascension to the throne, Henry was made Prince of Wales and his education to become the next king began. In 1403, he took command of a war against Welsh rebels, developing his command and martial skills over the next five years. As of 1408, he demanded more involvement in the government and was allowed to join the council which advised his father. He and his father disagreed on many things, but he took more control over policy as Henry IV grew ill. By the time of his succession in 1413, Henry V had been the de facto king for over a year.

This time in his life is often portrayed as rowdy and undisciplined, a reputation reinforced by Shakespeare, but likely an exaggeration of the attitudes and activities expected in a young man with power and money. This depiction also serves as a marked contrast to his change of attitude after having taken the throne to a serious and pious man.

Henry came to the throne confidently. He was faced with an attempt by his rivals to claim Richard II was still alive. This rumor he laid to rest for the last time by having his body moved to Westminster Abbey in a very ceremonial and public fashion. He felt sufficiently secure in his position to free his main rival, Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March, from the captivity in which he’d been kept since Henry IV’s accession. Enemies of Henry used March as a figurehead in an attempt to overthrow the king, but he was a very reluctant participant and was the only member of the cabal to be pardoned. He proved his loyalty by fighting alongside Henry in his renewed war on the Continent.

Henry is likely best known for his renewal of war with France. He believed that the continental lands were his birthright and acted accordingly. He began his campaign with a massive victory at Agincourt in 1415. This was followed by five years of brutal campaigning which shocked the sensibilities of the English, even as they took more and more territory in France. Henry took Paris in 1419. This, combined with having wrested control of nearly half of the country, including Normandy and Aquitaine, forced the French to surrender. The Treaty of Troyes was signed on 21 May 1420, functionally removing the family of French King Charles VI from the succession, to be replaced by Henry and his sons. To ease the transition, Henry was made Regent of France, not to be crowned king until Charles VI died. The agreement was solidified by giving Henry the youngest daughter of Charles VI, Catherine of Valois. This also would serve to create a unified bloodline in their children, solidifying their right to both thrones.

Henry and Catherine had the opportunity to produce only one child: a son also named Henry. The king never had the chance to meet his son and heir, he died while still on campaign in France of typhus and dysentery in September 1422. Charles VI followed him five weeks later. The arrangements of the Treaty of Troyes essentially died with them. Charles’ heir, the Dauphin, was nineteen; the successor dictated by the Treaty of Troyes, though having been officially crowned king of England and France, was only a few months old. While his ostensible king was learning to crawl, the Dauphin was gathering an army. What came to be known as the Hundred Years’ War had three more decades before it could be finished. And the major pieces for what came to be known as the Wars of the Roses were falling into place.