Henry V as Warlord

by Seward, Desmond

  Henry reacted predictably, loudly and cynically lamenting the death of ‘a good and loyal knight and honourable prince’ (a blackly humorous description), while – to judge from the accounts in more or less contemporary chronicles – it was abundantly clear that he realized that he could now obtain almost anything he wanted. Waurin records how he swore that by the help of God and St George he would have the Lady Catherine though every Frenchmen should say him nay. Ten days after the murder Queen Isabeau wrote exhorting him to avenge Duke John and it seems that at the same time she asked Duke Philip to protect her from her son. She knew what Henry wanted and was prepared to co-operate. Negotiations between the English and the Burgundians began at Mantes at the end of October. Henry told the envoys that if their duke tried to take the French crown he would make war on him to the death. He expected to marry Catherine and inherit the crown from King Charles, who however might keep it during his life, while queen Isabeau was to retain her estates. These were the terms which would eventually be agreed by the Treaty of Troyes in April 1420 and make him ‘heir and regent of France’.

  Meanwhile at Mantes, according to Tito Livio, the king ‘gave not himself to rest and sloth but with marvellous solicitude and diligence he laboured continually. For almost no day passed but he visited some of the holds, towns and [strong] places. And everything that they needed he enstored. He ordained in all parts sufficient garrisons for their defence. He victualled them. He repaired their castles, towers and walls. He cleansed and scoured their ditches.’9 He did not neglect to let London know what was happening, writing under his signet on 5 August 1419 to the mayor and aldermen that the enemy would not make peace and that therefore he must continue the war.

  A further meeting of Burgundian notables at Arras warned Duke Philip that if he allied with the English there was a danger that not only would Henry drive the king and queen out of France but many of the French people as well, replacing them by English lords, knights and priests; this warning surely reflects the impression made by news of what was happening in Normandy. On the other hand most of Philip’s subjects believed in the dauphin’s guilt and wished that the duke would avenge his father’s murder. Philip was a Valois too, the great grandson of King John II who had been defeated at Poitiers, and it might be asked why he did not put in a bid for the throne himself instead of letting the Englishman take it. But Philip could not fight both the Armagnacs and the English; in any case the latter now had a name for near invincibility. By allying with Henry he doubled his territory and blocked the return to power of the hated faction which had killed his father so foully.

  The king’s hold over large areas of France was to be made infinitely more secure by the alliance with Burgundy and by the feud between Burgundians and Armagnacs. Any Frenchman who had little love for the Englishman but feared the Armagnacs was forced to support him. This was particularly true in the capital where, in the light of the bloody massacres of recent years, every Parisian had good reason to dread the return of the dauphin whose Armagnac followers would surely take the opportunity of settling old scores as bloodily as possible. The Bourgeois of Paris shudders as he recounts how the city was full of rumours of fiendish Armagnac atrocities – each report of the dauphin’s forces raiding anywhere in the vicinity of Paris being greeted with horror.

  Henry was perversely anachronistic in his insistence on seeing the throne of France as something which was neither more nor less than a personal inheritance. Yet at the same time he was fully aware of the power of nationalism – from his Welsh campaigns and from his English subjects’ frenzied rejoicing at his victories. Sometimes when talking to Frenchmen he even referred to ‘our way’ and ‘your way’. Where, on the other hand, he was centuries before his time was in presenting the dispute over the French throne as a struggle between personalities. No modern politician contesting the leadership of a party or the presidency could have sold his case more shrewdly. He offered himself as an experienced and proven leader, a superb soldier and brilliantly efficient administrator who could give outstandingly good government, impeccably fair justice and, above all, peace. At the same time he contrasted his rival with himself– as an immature degenerate, a murderer rejected by his parents, condemned by the law of the land, the willing tool of vicious and revengeful party bosses.

  The King of England realized that he was now the most powerful man in France, against whom no one could hope to stand successfully, and that he was on the verge of a diplomatic triumph. He continued to batter his way mercilessly towards Paris while at the same time mopping up any Norman strongholds which still held out for the King of France. He moved his headquarters from Mantes to Pontoise on 6 August, Clarence raiding savagely up to the very gates of Paris. Gisors, the easternmost strongpoint in Normandy, fell to him on 23 September 1419, and St Germain very soon after; Gisors threatened the Burgundian border, St Germain Paris. The Burgundians might still control the capital but they had to accept that Henry was certain to capture it and that with Paris they would lose their hold over that tattered symbol of phantom authority which was poor, mad King Charles VI. They were forced to accept that their only course was to follow their instinct to avenge Duke John’s killing and ally with the English, however much good reason they had to dislike them. The English king knew that he could demand what he wanted from the Burgundians – their acquiescence in his conquering not merely vast tracts of France but the French crown itself. In early December his troops finally obtained the surrender of Château Gaillard on its great cliff overlooking the Seine. It had been popularly regarded by the French as the strongest fortress in the realm.

  Constructive negotiations commenced as soon as the Burgundian envoys arrived at Mantes on 26 October. Despite their being received ‘very benignly and feasted’, Henry repeated what he had told Duke Philip’s father; that unless their master agreed to his terms he would conquer France by himself. This time he set a deadline for agreement – Martinmas, 11 November. He again made clear just what he wanted – there never was a more expert practitioner of realpolitik. He demanded the hand of Catherine of France and his recognition as heir to the French throne; while Charles VI might retain the crown till his death, Henry must be Regent of France during his mad fits; and the Duke of Burgundy would have to acknowledge Henry as his sovereign after his crowning. As the English king saw clearly, Philip had much to gain from an agreement; not only would he have the chance of increasing his territory but he would be protected from the dauphin and the Armagnacs. If some Burgundian supporters feared that Englishmen might monopolize all positions of power and influence in France, it was obvious that Henry V would never allow so dangerous a situation to develop. A treaty was signed with Duke Philip on Christmas Day, 1419. All that remained was to persuade the French king and queen to disinherit their son.

  The dauphin was accused of killing Duke John on the bridge at Montereau and the accusation was used as a pretext for depriving him of his inheritance. Even had he been tried and found guilty there was no law or precedent for excluding him from the succession, while the notorious insanity of the French king made it impossible for him to set his son aside with any convincing show of legality. Nevertheless, the infuriated Burgundians’ desire for revenge enabled Henry to use the accusation as grounds for usurping the youth’s birthright.

  The English king had convinced himself that in creating a dual monarchy, in which each realm would be governed according to its own laws, he was securing what was rightfully his. He believed that he alone could impose the same good government on France which he had given England. His entire political programme was based on these two firm convictions.

  Henry tried indefatigably to surround dauphinist France with a string of diplomatic alliances, some of them dynastic. Excellent, although not particularly profitable, relations were maintained with the Emperor Sigismund, while the three important Elector-Archbishops of Cologne, Triers and Mainz all received English subsidies. A trade agreement was negotiated with Genoa.

  The king also trie
d, unsuccessfully, to marry his brother Humphrey of Gloucester to the daughter of Charles III of Navarre, whose realm adjoined Guyenne. His most ambitious attempt at a dynastic alliance was in 1419 when he sent John Fitton and Agostino de Lante to Naples to explore the possibility of his brother John of Bedford being adopted by the Neapolitan queen. Bedford was thirty while Joanna II was forty-four, a widow with a discarded second husband. She was childless and clearly infertile, a byword for promiscuity and had a thoroughly sinister reputation. She had made the first move in the negotiations, offering to create Bedford Duke of Calabria – the title traditionally borne by heirs to the Neapolitan throne – and to acknowledge him as her official successor, besides handing over to him all citadels and castles in her possession. Probably just as well for Bedford, nothing came of this exotic project.

  Henry V as a youth. From an early sixteenth-century copy of a lost original. (The Mansell Collection)

  John, Duke of Bedford kneels before St George, from the Bedford Book of Hours c. 1423. The small forked beard makes it highly probable that St George is a portrait of Henry V. (The British Library)

  Thomas Montacute, Earl of Salisbury – Henry’s most formidable commander – with fashionable military haircut. Note his poleaxe. (The British Library)

  Henry V’s aunt Princess Elizabeth Plantagenet and her third husband, Sir John Cornwall KG, one of his most daring commanders. From a window formerly at Ampthill in Bedfordshire.

  Henry V’s father-in-law, King Charles VI of France, with his counsellors. (The Mansell Collection)

  Henry V’s brother-in-law the Dauphin, with King Charles VII, as one of the Three Magi. From a miniature by Jean Fouquet. (Giraudon)

  A room well known to Henry V – the ruins of the dining hall of Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire. (John Cooke Photography)

  The château of Lassaye in Maine. Destroyed in 1417 to stop it being used as a base by the English, it was rebuilt in 1458 with cambered walls designed to resist siege artillery of the type used by Henry V. (S. Mountgarret)

  A hunting scene of a sort very well known to Henry V. In the background is his favourite French residence, the castle of Bois-de-Vincennes. From the Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry. (Giraudon)

  Henry V’s official residence in Paris, the Louvre, as it was in his time. From the Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry. (Giraudon)

  English links with Scandinavia were closer than at any time since the eleventh century. Henry’s sister Philippa was the queen of Eric XIII, King of Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Her husband’s great-aunt, St Bridget, had presided over the creation of the triple monarchy, now in a state of chronic unrest. The links had been responsible for the foundation of the Bridgettine monastery at Twickenham, its first nuns and monks being Swedes from Vadstena. Probably they were also why Henry employed the Dane, Sir Hartung von Clux (whom he made a Knight of the Garter) in so many capacities. Hartung led embassies to the Emperor Sigismund and also fought in France. In 1417 he brought four men-at-arms, nine archers and, most unusually, two crossbowmen to the invasion force. Later that year he was appointed captain of Creully and he was among the first to be given a Norman estate.

  Henry’s diplomacy reached as far as the land of the Teutonic Order on the Baltic. That extraordinary country, stretching from the Neumark of Brandenburg to the Gulf of Finland, was ruled by celibate German knights who waged war on Europe’s last pagans, the snake-worshipping Lithuanians, and less admirably on the Catholic Poles. In 1410 the latter had inflicted a crushing defeat on them, killing their ‘hochmeister’. However, the Order remained rich and powerful, with its capital at the Marienburg and commercial centre at Danzig, it was of vital importance in Baltic trade and still wielded considerable international influence; in 1407 the Duke of Burgundy had tried to involve the hochmeister in a war with England. Every year a fleet sailed from Danzig to England, joining the fleet of the Hanse towns en route, laden with Prussian goods – corn, silver, furs, falcons and amber. It took home English cloth which was sold all over Poland and western Russia. It was important for the English to keep on good terms with the knights. In 1419 Friar Netter led an embassy to them, and also to King Ladislas of Poland with whom the Order was still at war.

  The man whom Henry used most for diplomatic missions was Sir John Tiptoft, the former speaker and treasurer. He played an invaluable part in the negotiations to isolate France before the campaign of 1417, visiting the emperor and many German princes, the Kings of Aragon and Castile, and the republic of Genoa. He was among the commissioners who tried to manoeuvre the French into accepting Henry’s terms in 1419. During all this time he was also Seneschal of Guyenne, having been appointed in 1415, shortly before Henry sailed on his Harfleur expedition, to the most important office in the duchy.

  The king never had time to visit Guyenne, although he demanded more and more money from it. He paid the duchy careful attention nonetheless, as is shown by his appointment of Tiptoft, and by that of Sir John Radcliffe as Seneschal of Bordeaux. He was tactful when dealing with the citizens of Bordeaux, writing frequently to the mayor and burgesses to tell them of his progress and asking them to send him news of themselves. The Gascons were firmly tied to England, partly because it bought so much of their wine, and they rejoiced at their king-duke’s victories in the north. He employed Gascon troops, one of his most redoubtable captains being the Captal de Buch, whom he made a Knight of the Garter. Yet Guyenne had its problems, suffering from dauphinist raids and brigandage. It was essential to make sure of two great southern magnates whose territories bordered the duchy, the Counts of Foix and Albret. This involved Henry in much tortuous diplomacy and a considerable outlay in cash.

  Tito Livio tells us that the most devout king of England returned to Rouen to keep the feast of Christmas, 1419. However, although Henry himself may have been given up to devotion during this sacred season of the year, at the same time he sent his captains out to conquer further tracts of France. The English troops, who ‘feared not the death for the recovery of the king’s right … remained conquerors in the field and put their adversaries to flight, of whom they first slew many and many they maimed’. Meanwhile, Henry ‘persevered in the city of Rouen lauding and honouring the sole creator and redeemer of the world’.10

  XIII

  ‘Heir and Regent of France’

  ‘No king of England, if not king of France’

  Shakespeare, King Henry V

  ‘Shall I tell of the ruin of Chartres, of Le Mans, of Pontoise – once a most distinguished and flourishing place – of Sens, of Evreux, and of so many other places which, taken by trickery, perfidy or treachery, not just once but again and again, were completely delivered up to pillage?’

  Thomas Basin, Vie de Charles VII et Louis XI

  In February 1420 Duke Philip of Burgundy made public knowledge the treaty which he had agreed with the King of England at Christmas. Joint Anglo-Burgundian military operations had already begun. While the Burgundians had no objection as Burgundians to capturing and besieging Armagnac strongholds in northern France, as Frenchmen they disliked intensely the English practice of massacring or taking prisoner Armagnacs who had surrendered only after Burgundians had offered them life and a safe-conduct. Yet somehow the uneasy alliance survived, and even prospered. The two armies captured many towns and cities – among them Rheims, where the kings of France were traditionally crowned.

  It was essential for Henry and Philip to obtain the support and co-operation of Charles’s queen, Isabeau of Bavaria, who claimed to be Regent of France. Fat and fortyish – she had been born in 1379 – at her court in Troyes she surrounded herself, as she had always done, with gigolos and a menagerie including leopards, cats, dogs, monkeys, swans, owls and turtle doves. Despite having given her husband twelve children she was notoriously promiscuous. Preachers rebuked her publicly to her face for making her court an ‘abode of Venus’. After Agincourt the English king had told Charles of Orleans that he need not be surprised at being defeated, on account of the sensua
lity and vices prevalent in France – he was referring to the court of Queen Isabeau. One of her affairs had left her with a bitter and ineradicable hatred of the Armagnacs. In 1417 King Charles had briefly recovered his wits, whereupon the late Count Bernard of Armagnac had informed him that his consort was sleeping with the young Sieur Louis de Boisbourdon; the king immediately had Boisbourdon arrested, horribly tortured, tied in a sack and thrown into the Seine to drown, while imprisoning his erring wife at Tours under a penitential regime. Previously she had been inclined to prefer Armagnacs to Burgundians but this episode made her change her mind. In response to her anguished pleas, Duke John sent 800 men-at-arms to rescue the Queen from a miserable captivity and helped her establish her court at Troyes. The incident had also set her against the Dauphin Charles, who had taken the opportunity to plunder his mother’s treasury. Isabeau was unreliable, vicious-tempered from gout and a prey to agrophobia. Yet, while largely disinterested in politics, she possessed a powerful sense of self-preservation.

  The alarming English warrior king was an ally who could ensure her survival and her luxuries. Understandably, any comparison with the Dauphin Charles made the latter seem a doomed weakling in her eyes. When the dauphin’s chosen friends killed Duke John on the bridge of Montereau, they had branded him indelibly as a murderer, however much he might protest his innocence. Besides appropriating his mother’s money and jewellery, he had excluded her from any share of power. Even so, she had tried to reach some sort of understanding with him, but the Burgundians skilfully blocked her attempts. They also ensured indirectly that she was kept short of money – the dauphin being as yet too naïve to offer her financial assistance – and promised her through Duke Philip’s mother (her Bavarian aunt) that if she did as they wished they would see she continued to live as she pleased. In addition King Henry sent a personal envoy, Sir Lewis Robsart, a naturalized Englishman whose first language was French, to convince his prospective mother-in-law that he would give her anything she wanted. As early as January 1420 Isabeau issued an edict publicly condemning her son Charles and his actions, recognizing Henry and Duke Philip as her husband’s official allies. Soon it was widely if erroneously believed that she had confessed that Charles VI was not the father of the Dauphin Charles; while undoubtedly she had taken many lovers and it is not entirely impossible that he really was a bastard, it is extremely unlikely that she would ever have admitted it. (During the mid-1420s her son is known to have been extremely worried about his parentage.) The bastardy story was certainly circulated for all that it was worth by Henry’s agents.