by Teresa Cole
He has also been accused of being a religious fanatic, with the persecution of the Lollards in particular being laid at his door. His views and practices were narrow and rigid, we are told, and the burning of Bradbury is singled out as a personal black mark. There is a danger here, and with the previous point, of viewing fifteenth-century actions with twenty-first-century eyes. In his own time his beliefs would have been entirely orthodox and his actions praiseworthy. Nor does it seem the act of a fanatic to spend so much time with his friend Sir John Oldcastle trying to persuade him back to what he saw as the true Church. In general it seemed the role of others to persecute and the role of Henry to attempt to reconcile. Perhaps a better target for rebuke might be his willingness to cut short the reforming work of the Council of Constance, which might have spared the Church he loved a great deal of anguish in the future.
Many have professed to find Henry hard and unlovable, though, apart from French comments about his cold reserve, that does not seem to have been the case for those who actually knew him. We know he loved music and books, which suggests he was more than just a man of action, but if there is an absence of a softer side to his nature the cause would not be difficult to find. Whatever female influences there were in his life were gone well before he entered his teens. His household at Chester was that of a prince not a child, and if from that time he was expected to play the part of a man in a man’s world that must surely have left some mark on his developing character.
Possibly the greatest characteristic of Henry, though, and his most lasting legacy to his country, was his sheer Englishness. At a time when the idea of nation states was in its infancy he did more than most to forge a national identity. His determined championing of the use of the English language, and its adoption not just by the king but by his chancery and officials too, led to a rapid development and standardisation of literally ‘the King’s English’. In only a handful of generations the native tongue had progressed from the Wycliffite ‘And sche bare hir first borun sone and wlappidde hym in clothis and leide hym in a cratche’ to the King James ‘And she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger’. The developments since are tiny in comparison.
It was not only in language, though, that Henry encouraged a feeling of national identity. He saw himself as king of all his people, not just the nobility, and after the divisions that had gone before set himself to draw all his subjects together in a common cause. An overseas war is always useful in such a case, and maybe that was also part of his thinking in reviving memories of Edward III and his claim to the throne of France.
More than that, his armies were by and large English armies, drawn from all parts of the country and all levels of society, many of them directly contracted to the king himself. His appeals for finance involved a huge range of people, from the bishop lending thousands of pounds down to townsmen contributing their tuppence. The war therefore became an English war with everyone in the country involved in one way or another.
Even the Church, important though it was, had to know its place in this England of Henry’s. Bishop Henry Beaufort was prevented from accepting his cardinal’s hat during Henry’s lifetime, and there was the traditional tussle about whether king or pope would have the power to appoint bishops, settled with the usual English compromise.
It has been suggested that Henry consciously shaped himself into what he thought a king should be. The Arthurian legends were popular at the time and offer an obvious role model. Once again we need to be careful to separate the reality from the propaganda, but the accounts of Henry that have come down to us suggest that, in that as in many other things, he largely achieved what he set out to do.
It is that image too, of the hero of Agincourt, that has come down to us today, making Henry himself into a role model. When we want to be inspired by a national hero he is more accessible than Alfred the Great, more English than Richard the Lionheart, more stirring than Lord Nelson. It was not a coincidence that in the dark days of the Second World War Churchill demanded that a film be made of Shakespeare’s Henry V, and that film itself was dedicated to those who were at the time fighting in Normandy in the very places where Henry himself had fought.
No doubt flawed and human as we all are, and more complex by far than the stage character, still it seems that Shakespeare’s summary might be allowed to stand. ‘Small time, but in that small most greatly lived this star of England.’
1. Monmouth Castle, birthplace of Henry V.
2. The castle, along with many others, was inherited by Henry’s grandfather, John of Gaunt, from his father-in-law, Henry de Grosmont.
3. The coronation of Henry IV’s second wife, Joan of Navarre, as Queen of England. Arthur, Count of Richemont, her son from her first marriage, fought against Henry V at Agincourt.
4. The Battle of Shrewsbury, 21 July 1403 was the first of Henry V’s battles. As Prince of Wales, aged sixteen, he fought on after suffering a severe facial wound, contributing substantially to his father’s victory.
5. Site of the Battle of Shrewsbury facing the ridge where Hotspur placed his forces. To the right is the battlefield church built as a memorial to those who fell in the battle.
6. Kenilworth castle, favourite residence of Henry V. He came here to recuperate after the Battle of Shrewsbury.
7. Fighting in Wales against the forces of Owen Glendower not only gave Henry V valuable military experience but also a group of trusted commanders who would later serve him faithfully in France.
8. Westminster Abbey. Here, on 9 April 1413 in the midst of a snowstorm, Henry V was crowned King of England.
9. Less than ten years later his body was laid to rest here, close to the tomb of St Edward the Confessor. His chantry chapel, constructed by Cardinal Henry Beaufort was later dwarfed by Tudor extensions.
10. Richard de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, was a close friend of Henry V. Here, in 1414, he kneels before the king to receive from Bishop Henry Beaufort his letters of appointment as Captain of Calais.
11. Henry showed his close interest in the Council of Constance by appointing Warwick among the ambassadors he sent to the council. It was set up to end the Western Schism and reform the Catholic Church.
12. English and Welsh archers using the longbow revolutionised fighting techniques during the Hundred Years War. Few could stand against an arrow storm from massed archers.
13. Henry V, writing to the French king before the Agincourt campaign, called himself ‘King of England and France.’
14. The weak and mentally feeble King of France receives Henry’s letters from an envoy.
15. Sigismund, King of Hungary, King of the Germans and later Holy Roman Emperor, visited England in 1416. In return for Henry’s backing at Constance he supported his claim to the French throne.
16. Battles at sea, like those on land, were fought by archers and men-at-arms. French and Genoese ships had to be cleared from the Channel to allow for the passage of Henry’s armies.
17. Thomas, Duke of Clarence, Henry’s eldest brother, fought at Harfleur and in later campaigns, but was invalided home before Agincourt.
18. John, Duke of Bedford, Henry’s middle brother, was his trusted lieutenant in England during the French campaigns, and later Lieutenant of France for the infant Henry VI.
19. Henry V was the first to commission royal fighting ships to patrol the Channel. Their design improved greatly during his reign.
20. Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, Henry’s youngest brother, was brought up a scholar rather than a solider. He saw his first action at Agincourt, was badly wounded and saved by the king.
21. A brass of John Peryent and his wife made in 1415 shows the typical armour of the time. In battle the face would be covered by a visored helm.
22. An archer carried his arrows in a canvas bag to protect them from the weather.
23. An arrow was fletched with feathers from a goose’s wing, the curve of the feathers spinning the arrow in flight.
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bsp; 24. From the left: a mail-piercing arrow, a bodkin arrow and a broadhead arrow. It was most likely a bodkin arrow that wounded Prince Henry at Shrewsbury.
25. Plate armour was put on from the feet upwards. Here a squire adjusts the greave (leg armour) so that it fits exactly, allowing free movement.
26. A modern re-enacter demonstrates similar plate armour and a typical weapon for close-quarters fighting.
27. Calais, an English possession in northern France. Though Henry was welcomed here in October 1415, his heroes of Agincourt were forced to camp outside.
28. The most important prisoners from Agincourt were brought to England, crossing the Channel with the king in a November storm.
29. Siege of Caen 1417. Henry mounted cannon to fire over the town walls, but the siege ended in savage street-to-street fighting.
30. Henry was a pioneer of fifteenth-century cannon. Though cumbersome and unreliable they could smash defensive walls, firing stone balls weighing several hundred pounds.
31. Siege of Rouen, July 1418 to January 1419. With cannon proving ineffective, the ancient capital of Normandy was starved into submission.
32. A joust from around 1415, watched by the ailing King of France. With closed visor, a charging knight had a very restricted field of vision.
33. The head of a lance. This most effective weapon could be used for stabbing or hacking at an opponent or for smashing armour.
34. On 2 June 1420 Henry V married Katherine of France in a simple ceremony at Troyes.
35. The White Tower at the Tower of London. Among prisoners held here were Richard II and King James I of Scotland. After Agincourt Charles, Duke of Orleans, and Jean, Duke of Bourbon, were imprisoned here for a time.
36. A prisoner’s view from the Beauchamp Tower at the Tower of London, probably named after Thomas de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, imprisoned here by Richard II.
37. The son that Henry never saw. The infant King Henry VI is presented to Parliament. He was not officially crowned for another seven years.
38. Effigy of Richard de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, on his tomb in the Beauchamp Chapel at the Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick. An illustrated Pageant of his life is a useful source of information about the times in which he lived.
MAPS & GENEALOGICAL TABLES
Family connections of selected descendants of Edward III.
Selected connections of the French royal family.
Wales in the time of Henry V.
Key locations of the Agincourt campaign.
France, 1415–1422.
Appendix I
WHO’S WHO & WHAT HAPPENED AFTER AGINCOURT
The following information may help those who wish to know more of the extended family of Henry V, their rival claims to the throne, and also the further stories of many of the characters appearing in this book.
Descendants of Edward III
Edward (b. 1330, d. 1376), the eldest son, was later referred to as the Black Prince though the origin of the name is not clear. Famous (or infamous) for his exploits in France, including the battles of Crécy and Poitiers, he married relatively late. His wife, Joan of Kent, was his father’s cousin. They had been brought up in the same household but Joan was married twice before she married Edward (see below) and a papal dispensation was needed before the marriage (which was apparently a love match) could take place. This was in October 1361, although there are some who claim they had been married in secret before this. Edward and Joan had two sons: Edward, who died young, and Richard, who became Richard II.
Richard II (b. 1367, d. 1400) was born in Bordeaux and reigned from 1376 to 1399. He married Anne of Bohemia in 1382. Following her death in 1394 he married Isabelle of France, the seven-year-old daughter of Charles VI of France as part of a peace settlement. Richard had no children. One of Richard’s lasting achievements was the extensive rebuilding of Westminster Hall together with the magnificent hammerbeam roof.
Joan of Kent (b. 1328, d. 1385) was the daughter of the Earl of Kent, but was brought up in the household of Edward III’s queen, Philippa of Hainault. Aged twelve she secretly married Thomas Holland without seeking royal permission. The following year, when her family arranged for her to marry William de Montacute, heir of the Earl of Salisbury, she didn’t mention the earlier marriage fearing her husband, who was overseas at the time, would get into trouble. For several years she lived with William until Thomas Holland returned, having earned a position in society by military prowess. After proof of the first marriage the second was annulled by the Pope and she returned to her first husband until his death in 1360. She is the ancestress of the Holland family and their close connection to royalty, and it was through her that her husband became 1st Earl of Kent in 1352. Her sons, Thomas and John, were the half-brothers of Richard II.
Joan’s eldest son Thomas (b. 1350, d. 1397) became 2nd Earl of Kent. His son, also called Thomas, became 3rd Earl of Kent on his father’s death in 1397 and was appointed Duke of Surrey later that year by Richard II. He was deprived of this dukedom by Henry IV in 1399, took part in the January plot against the king in 1400 and was beheaded by a mob in Cirencester. His sister Margaret married John of Gaunt’s son, John Beaufort (see below) and after his death in 1410 married Henry V’s brother Thomas (see below). Another sister, Eleanor, married Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March (see below) and after his death married Thomas, earl of Salisbury (see below) one of Henry V’s most important commanders in France.
Joan’s second son John Holland (b. 1352, d. 1400) was Earl of Huntingdon. He married Elizabeth of Lancaster, sister of Henry IV. He became Duke of Exeter in 1397, was deprived of the dukedom by Henry IV in 1399, took part in the same plot as his nephew Thomas in 1400 and came to the same end, being beheaded in Pleshey Castle, Essex.
Joan’s grandson, the son of the Earl of Huntingdon, was Sir John Holland (b. 1395, d. 1447), who by faithful service to Henry V regained the title and estates of his father in 1416. He served at Harfleur and Agincourt in 1415, led sea patrols of the English Channel in 1417 and later fought again in France. He was captured at the Battle of Baugé and only released four years later in 1425. Afterwards he was Admiral of England from 1435 and regained the title Duke of Exeter in 1439. After the death of Edmund, Earl of March, in 1425 (see below) he married his widow, Anne.
Lionel (b. 1338, d. 1368) was Edward III’s second son and became Duke of Clarence in 1362. He had no sons so the title became extinct on his death until bestowed again by Henry IV (see below). Lionel’s daughter Philippa (b. 1355, d. 1382) married Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March. She is the ancestress of the Mortimer family and the source of their claim to the throne.
Philippa’s eldest son, Roger Mortimer (b. 1374, d. 1398) became Earl of March in 1381 following the death of his father. He was the nephew and heir presumptive of Richard II. He spent much of his time in Ireland as the king’s lieutenant, and was killed there in a skirmish at Kells in 1398, his death provoking Richard’s expedition to Ireland the following year.
Philippa’s second son, Edmund Mortimer, fought against Owen Glendower in Wales. In 1402 he was captured at the Battle of Bryn Glas, and when Henry IV refused to allow his family to ransom him he switched allegiance to Glendower and married his daughter, usually named as Catrin. Edmund died at the siege of Harlech in 1409 and his surviving wife and daughters died soon after in London.
Philippa’s daughter, Elizabeth, married Sir Henry Percy (‘Hotspur’ see below).
Roger Mortimer’s son Edmund (b. 1391, d. 1425) became Earl of March at the age of six and again was heir presumptive until the usurpation of the throne by Henry IV. He was then held in custody at Windsor by Henry and at first was brought up with the king’s younger children. After a plot to abduct him and make him king in 1405 he was moved to a more secure custody at Pevensey Castle until 1409 when he was given into the care of the Prince of Wales. When Henry V became king, Edmund was immediately freed and restored to his title and estates. He then served Henry faithfully, refusing to be drawn
into the Southampton plot of his brother-in-law. He fought at Harfleur and was invalided home, but took part in the later campaigns in France. After Henry’s death he was part of the regency council until sent as king’s lieutenant to Ireland, where he died of the plague at Trim Castle in 1425. He had no sons and was the last Earl of March from his family.
Edmund’s sister Anne married Richard, Earl of Cambridge, who was the son of Edmund, Duke of York (see below).
John of Gaunt (b. 1340, d. 1399) was Edward’s third surviving son. He saw military action in France, Aquitaine and Spain, though with less success than his father and elder brother. He became Duke of Lancaster in 1362. John married three times, his first wife being Blanche of Lancaster. Their son Henry of Bolingbroke became Henry IV (see below). Their eldest daughter, Philippa, married John I of Portugal, while the second, Elizabeth, married as her second husband Richard II’s half-brother John Holland (see above). She was the mother of Sir John Holland (see above) and later married Sir John Cornwaille.