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Henry V of England

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: British History 1500 and
before (including Roman Britain); Monarchs of Great Britain

                    Henry V
     By the Grace of God, King of England,

   Heir and Regent of the Kingdom of France

   and Lord of Ireland
   Reign       21 March 1413 - 31 August 1422
   Coronation  1413
   Born        16 September 1387
               Monmouth, Wales
   Died        August 31, 1422 (aged 34)
               Bois de Vincennes, France
   Buried      Westminster Abbey
   Predecessor Henry IV
   Successor   Henry VI
   Consort     Catherine of Valois ( 1401- 1437)
   Issue       Henry VI ( 1421- 1471)
   Royal House Lancaster
   Father      Henry IV ( 1367- 1413)
   Mother      Mary de Bohun (c. 1369- 1394)

   Henry V of England ( 16 September 1387 – 31 August 1422) was one of the
   great warrior kings of the Middle Ages. He was born at Monmouth, Wales,
   on 9 August 1386 or 16 September 1387, and he reigned as King of
   England from 1413 to 1422.

   Henry was son of Henry of Bolingbroke, later Henry IV, and Mary de
   Bohun, who died before Bolingbroke became king.

   At the time of his birth during the reign of Richard II, Henry was
   fairly far removed from the throne, preceded by the King and another
   preceding collateral line of heirs. The precise date and even year of
   his birth are therefore not definitely recorded. By the time Henry
   died, he had not only consolidated power as the King of England but had
   also effectively accomplished what generations of his ancestors had
   failed to achieve through decades of war: unification of the crowns of
   England and France in a single person. In 2002 he was ranked 72nd in
   the 100 Greatest Britons poll.
   Statue of Henry V in Monmouth
   Statue of Henry V in Monmouth

Early accomplishments

   Upon the exile of Henry's father in 1398, Richard II took the boy into
   his own charge and treated him kindly. In 1399 the Lancastrian
   usurpation brought Henry's father to the throne and Henry into
   prominence as heir to the Kingdom of England. He was created Duke of
   Lancaster on 10 November 1399, the third person to hold the title that
   year.

   From October 1400 the administration was conducted in his name; less
   than three years later Henry was in actual command of the English
   forces and fought against Harry Hotspur at Shrewsbury. It was there, in
   1403, that the sixteen-year-old prince was almost killed by an arrow
   which became lodged in his face. An ordinary soldier would have been
   left to die from such a wound, but Henry had the benefit of the best
   possible care, and, over a period of several days after the incident,
   the royal physician crafted a special tool to extract the tip of the
   arrow without doing further damage. The operation was successful, and
   probably gave the prince permanent scars which would have served as a
   testimony to his experience in battle.

Role in government and conflict with Henry IV

   The Welsh revolt of Owain Glyndŵr absorbed Henry's energies until 1408.
   Then, 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.

   Both in foreign and domestic policy he differed from the King, who in
   November 1411 discharged the Prince from the council. The quarrel of
   father and son was political only, though it is probable that the
   Beauforts had discussed the abdication of Henry IV, and their opponents
   certainly endeavoured to defame the prince. It may be to that political
   enmity that the tradition of Henry's riotous youth, immortalised by
   Shakespeare, is partly due. 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.
       English Royalty
     House of Lancaster
   Armorial of Plantagenet
           Henry V
      Henry VI

   The story of Falstaff originated partly in Henry's early friendship
   with Sir John Oldcastle. 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 changed suddenly into a new man.

Accession to the throne

   After his father Henry IV died on 20 March 1413, Henry V succeeded him
   on 21 March 1413 and was crowned on 9 April 1413.

Domestic policy

   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, and that past
   differences were to be forgotten. The late king Richard II of England
   was honourably reinterred; the young Mortimer was taken into favour;
   the heirs of those who had suffered in the last reign were restored
   gradually to their titles and estates. Henry used his personal
   influence in vain, and the gravest domestic danger was Lollard
   discontent. But the king's firmness nipped the movement in the bud
   (January 1414), and made his own position as ruler secure.

   With the exception of the Southampton Plot in favour of Mortimer,
   involving Henry Scrope, 3rd Baron Scrope of Masham and Richard, Earl of
   Cambridge (grandfather of the future King Edward IV of England) in July
   1415, the rest of his reign was free from serious trouble at home.

Foreign affairs

   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 which the French
   had lent to Owain Glyndŵr were used as an excuse for war, whilst the
   disordered state of France afforded no security for peace. The French
   king, Charles VI, was prone to mental illness, and his eldest son an
   unpromising prospect.

Campaigns in France

   Henry V of England depicted in Cassell's History of England (1902)
   Henry V of England depicted in Cassell's History of England (1902)

   Henry may have regarded the assertion of his own claims as part of his
   kingly duty, but in any case a permanent settlement of the national
   quarrel was essential to the success of his world policy.

   1415 campaign

   Henry sailed for France on 11 August 1415 where his forces besieged the
   fortress at Harfleur, capturing it on 22 September. Afterwards, Henry
   was obliged to march with his army across the French countryside with
   the intention to reach Calais. On the plains near the village of
   Agincourt, he turned to give battle to a pursuing French army. Despite
   his men-at-arms exhausted and outnumbered, Henry led his men into
   battle, miraculously defeating the French. With its brilliant
   conclusion at Agincourt on the 25 October 1415, this was only the first
   step.

   Diplomacy and command of the sea

   The command of the sea was secured by driving the Genoese allies of the
   French out of the Channel.( His flagship, Grace Dieu – 1420) A
   successful diplomacy detached the emperor Sigismund from France, and by
   the Treaty of Canterbury paved the way to end the schism in the Church.

   1417 campaign

   So, with these two allies gone, and after two years of patient
   preparation since Agincourt, in 1417 the war was renewed on a larger
   scale. Lower Normandy was quickly conquered, Rouen cut off from Paris
   and besieged. The French were paralysed by the disputes of Burgundians
   and Armagnacs. Henry skilfully played them off one against the other,
   without relaxing his warlike energy. In January 1419 Rouen fell. By
   August the English were outside the walls of Paris. The intrigues of
   the French parties culminated in the assassination of John of Burgundy
   by the Dauphin's partisans at Montereau ( 10 September 1419). Philip,
   the new duke, and the French court threw themselves into Henry's arms.
   After six months' negotiation Henry was by the Treaty of Troyes
   recognised as heir and regent of France (see English Kings of France),
   and on 2 June 1420 married Catherine of Valois the king's daughter.
   From June to July his army besieged and took the castle at Montereau,
   and from that same month to November, he besieged and captured Melun,
   returning to England shortly thereafter.

   1421 campaign

   On 10 June 1421, Henry sailed back to France for what would now have
   been his last military campaign. From July to August, Henry's forces
   besieged and captured Dreux, thus relieving allied forces at Chartres.
   That October, his forces lay siege to Meaux, capturing it on 2 May
   1422. Henry V died suddenly on 31 August 1422 at Bois de Vincennes near
   Paris, apparently from dysentery which he contracted during the siege
   of Meaux. He was 34 years old. Before his death, Henry V named his
   brother John, Duke of Bedford regent of France in the name of his son
   Henry VI, then only a few months old. Henry VI did not live to be
   crowned King of France himself, though ironically Charles VI died only
   two months later. Following his death, Catherine would secretly marry
   or have an affair with a Welsh courtier, Owen Tudor, and they would be
   the grandmother and grandfather of King Henry VII of England.

In literature

   Henry V is the subject of the eponymous play by William Shakespeare,
   which largely concentrates on his campaigns in France. He is also a
   main character in Henry IV, Part 1 and Henry IV, Part 2, where
   Shakespeare dramatises him as a wanton youth.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_V_of_England"
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   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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