Henri V of England

Its youth

At the time of the exile of Henri IV in 1398, Richard II takes responsibility for it its and treats it with benevolence. The following year, the revolution Lancastrienne force prematurely Henri to take responsabilities as a heir to the throne.

As from October 1400, the administration of the Wales is S-conduit name; less than three years later, Henri is in fact to the orders of the English forces and combat against Harry Hotspur with Shrewsbury. It is there, in 1403, that the 16 years old prince is almost killed by an arrow received with the face. An ordinary soldier would have been left for died with such a wound, but Henri can profit from the best possible care and, during the days which follow the incident, the royal doctor designs a special tool to extract the point from the arrow without causing additional damage. The operation is crowned success, and probably gives to the prince a permanent scar pointing out his experiment of the battle.

Its role with the government and its conflict with Henry IV

The Welsh revolt carried out by Owen Glendower occupies Henry until in 1408. Then, because of the bad health of the king, it starts to play a more important political role. As from January 1410, helped by his/her uncles Henri and Thomas Beaufort -- legitimated wire of Jean of Ghent (John off Gaunt)-- it directs in fact the country.

Its opinions in foreign and local politics differ from those of the king, who returns it council in November 1411. The quarrel between the father and the son is only of a political nature, although it is probable that Beaufort argued for the abdication of Henri IV, and their opponents endeavoured certainly to defame the prince. It may be that it is with this political enmity that the tradition of an agitated youth is due, and thereafter immortalized by Shakespeare. The account of the military actions and political of Henri, even in his youth, refute this tradition. The most known incident, its argument with the Chief justice (large judge), is not reported by its contemporaries, but solely not told by Sir Thomas Eliot, in 1531.

The history of Falstaff holds its origins partially of the friendship of Henri towards Sir John Oldcastle. This friendship, and perhaps the political opposition of the prince towards Thomas Arundel, archbishop of Canterbury, encourages the hopes of the Lollards. If it is the case, their disappointment can have caused the declarations of the ecclesiastical writers as Thomas Walsingham who say that, while becoming king, Henri suddenly became another man.

Its reign

Henri succeeds his father on March 20th 1413. Without past embarrassing nor dangerous rivals, it can implement its experiment. It must deal with three problems:

restoration of peace in the kingdom;
the appeasing of the schism in the Church;
the re-establishment of the prestige of England in Europe.

Henri attacks the three faces simultaneously, and gradually built starting from these three objectives a more general policy. He immediately makes understand that he will direct England like a linked nation, and that the differences of last must be forgotten. The king Richard II of England is buried with the honors which had with his row; the young person Mortimer becomes favorite; the heirs to the noble ones who suffered from the preceding reign recover their titles and properties gradually. Henri in vain uses his personal influence vis-a-vis Oldcastle, but the most serious danger with the internal plan remains the dissatisfaction with Lollard. The firmness of the king crushes the movement in the egg (January 1414) and consolidates its place on the throne. The remainder of its reign is free from serious troubles on the internal plan, except in June 1415, where a plot in favor of Mortimer, implying Henry Scrope and Richard de Conisburgh, Count de Cambridge (grandfather of the king Edouard IV of England), fails.

Henri can then be interested in the foreign affairs. A writer of the following generation is the first to claim that Henri was encouraged by monks to enter in war against France, in order to divert the attention of the interior conflicts. But this theory seems without base. The restoration of interior peace is the main concern of the king and, as long as it is not assured, he cannot undertake operations of great scale abroad. Moreover, this war simply does not aim at conquering new territories. Old commercial arguments and the support brought by the French for Glendower are used like pretexts for this war and the disordered state of France does not offer prospects for peace. Henri can regard the claim of his rights to the throne of France as belonging to his royal duty, but in all the cases, a permanent payment of the national quarrels is essential with the success of its foreign politics. The countryside of 1415, with its brilliant conclusion with the Battle of Azincourt (October 25th), is a first stage. Two years of patient preparation follow.

The maritime domination is ensured by driving out the Génois, combined of the French, of the Manche. The diplomatic success moves away the emperor Sigismond from France, and the treaty of Canterbury opens the way for the end of the schism of the Church. Thus in 1417 the war is started again on a broader scale. Basse-Normandie is quickly conquered and Rouen, crossed from Paris, is besieged. The French are paralyzed by conflicts between the Burgundian ones and the Armagnacs. Henri plays skilfully of these dissensions to assemble them the ones against the others, without slackening his effort of war. In January 1419, Rouen falls. In August, the English are with the doors of Paris. The intrigues within the French culminate with the assassination of Jean of Burgundy by the partisans of the dolphin with Montereau (September 10th, 1419). Philippe, the new duke, and the French court throw them themselves to the hands of Henri. After six months of Henri negotiations is recognized by the Traité of Troyes like the heir and the regent of France, and on June 2nd, 1420 it Marie with Catherine (1401-1438), girl of Charles VI, king de France, and of Isabeau of Bavaria. After its death, Catherine de Valois Marie in secrecy with a Welsh broker, Owen Tudor (? - 1461) grandfather of the king Henri VII of England.

Henri V is then with the apogee of his capacity. Its success in France seems certain. It divides with Sigismond the responsibility to have put an end to the Great Schism by obtaining the election of the pope Martin V. All the States of Western Europe are under its diplomatic influence.

The position of director of Christendom is now under its influence and the project of a new crusade takes form. It sends indeed an emissary to collect information in the east; but its plans are shortened by the death of the king. A visit in England in 1421 is stopped by the defeat of Clarence with Baugé. The rigors of the winter head office of Meaux deteriorate its health, and he dies of dysentery with Vincennes on August 31st, 1422. Two months miss to him to be crowned king de France.

Perhaps the last words of Henri express the regret not to have lived long enough to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. This ideal is inspired by that of King Arthur, a model becoming exceeded. However, the political spirit of Henri is rather in advance over its time:

a powerful central government supported by the Parliament,
a reform of the Church in a preserving spirit,
a commercial development,
the maintenance of a national prestige.

Its objectives anticipate in certain connections those of its Tudor successor, but it would have achieved them in a medieval way, like a sovereign subjected to the constitution. Its success is due to the capacity of its personality. It can train the lieutenants behind him, but, with his death, nobody is available to take his place of leader. The war, the diplomacy and the civil administration depend very on its guidance.

" Its dazzling success as a general diverted the attention of its more serious qualities of sovereign, and even of his solids strategies with which it aimed at the place of Master of the narrow seas. If he were not the founder of the English navy he was one of the first to include/understand its true importance. Henri had a so acute direction of his own rights which it was without mercy vis-a-vis the lack of honesty. But it was very attentive with the rights of the others, and it was its impatient desire to defend the justice which impressed its French contemporaries. He had the reputation of a religious persecutor; but as a prince it makes some was opposed to the severe policy of the archbishop Thomas Arundel, and as a king it authorized a more moderate vision. The execution of Lollard during its reign was more surely a political act than religious. To be firm was for him a duty. Thus in time of war, although it kept a strict discipline and did not authorize free violence, it severely treated all those which according to him had sinned. In its personal control it pure, was moderated, and sincerely piles. It slackened by making virile sport or exercises. At the same time it was cultivated, with a taste for the literature, art and the musique."

This appreciation is now regarded as a rather antiquated and partial vision of the reign of Henri.

Henri is buried with the abbey of Westminster. Its tomb is covered with pretty ornaments during the Reform. The shield, the helmet and the saddle, which form part of the initial funerary equipment, always hang above its tomb.

Its young person wire Henri VI succeeds to him.

Two hundred years after the death of Henry V, Shakespeare makes of it the main character of a part éponyme (see Henry V (historical tragedy)).

Simple: Henry V off England

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