Elizabeth Woodville
| Elizabeth Woodville | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Queen consort of England | |
| Tenures |
|
| Coronation | 26 May 1465 |
| Born | c. 1437 Grafton Regis, Northamptonshire, England |
| Died | 8 June 1492 (aged 54–55) Bermondsey, Surrey, England |
| Burial | 12 June 1492 |
| Spouses |
|
| Issue Among others | |
| Father | Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers |
| Mother | Jacquetta of Luxembourg |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Elizabeth Woodville (also spelt Wydville, Wydeville, or Widvile;[nb 1] c. 1437[1] – 8 June 1492), later known as Dame Elizabeth Grey, was Queen of England from her marriage to King Edward IV on 1 May 1464 until Edward was deposed on 3 October 1470, and again from Edward's resumption of the throne on 11 April 1471 until his death on 9 April 1483.
At the time of her birth, Elizabeth's family was of middle rank in the English social hierarchy. Her mother, Jacquetta of Luxembourg, had previously been an aunt-by-marriage to Henry VI. Elizabeth's first marriage was to a minor supporter of the House of Lancaster, Sir John Grey of Groby. He died at the Second Battle of St Albans, leaving Elizabeth a widowed mother of two sons.
Elizabeth's second marriage to Edward IV became a cause célèbre. Elizabeth was known for her beauty but came from minor nobility with no great estates, and the marriage took place in secret. Edward was the first king of England since the Norman Conquest to marry one of his subjects,[2][3] and Elizabeth was the first such consort to be crowned queen.[nb 2] Her marriage greatly enriched her siblings and children, but their advancement incurred the hostility of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, "The Kingmaker", and his various alliances with the most senior figures in the increasingly divided royal family. This hostility turned into open discord between King Edward and Warwick, leading to a battle of wills that finally resulted in Warwick switching allegiance to the Lancastrian cause, and to the execution of Elizabeth's father, Richard Woodville, in 1469.
After the death of her husband in 1483, Elizabeth remained politically influential even after her son, briefly proclaimed King Edward V of England, was deposed by her brother-in-law, Richard III. Edward and his younger brother Richard both disappeared soon afterwards, and are presumed to have been murdered. Elizabeth subsequently played an important role in securing the accession of Henry VII in 1485.
Henry married Elizabeth's eldest daughter, Elizabeth of York, ended the Wars of the Roses, and established the Tudor dynasty. Through her daughter, Elizabeth Woodville was a grandmother of the future Henry VIII. Elizabeth was forced to yield pre-eminence to Henry VII's mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort; her influence on events in these years, and her eventual departure from court into retirement, remain obscure.[4][5]
Early life and first marriage
Elizabeth Woodville was born in about 1437 (no record of her birth survives), at Grafton Regis, Northamptonshire. She was the firstborn child of a socially unequal marriage between Sir Richard Woodville and Jacquetta of Luxembourg, which briefly scandalised the English court. The Woodvilles, though an old and respectable family, were gentry rather than noble, a landed and wealthy family that had previously produced commissioners of the peace, sheriffs, and MPs, rather than peers of the realm. Elizabeth's mother, in contrast, was the eldest daughter of Peter I of Luxembourg, Count of Saint-Pol, Conversano and Brienne, and as the widow of the Duke of Bedford, uncle of King Henry VI of England, was before her second marriage one of the highest ranking women in England.[6] As Jacquetta had pledged, upon the death of her first husband, that she would not remarry without first obtaining royal permission, and as royal permission to marry Woodville was out of the question, the pair married secretly. When the marriage became public knowledge, the couple was heavily fined, but was pardoned on 24 October 1437: it has been conjectured that the pardon coincided with the birth of Elizabeth, the couple's firstborn child.[7][8]
In about 1452[clarification needed], Elizabeth Woodville married Sir John Grey of Groby, the heir to the Barony Ferrers of Groby. He was killed at the Second Battle of St Albans in 1461, fighting for the Lancastrian cause. This would become a source of irony, since Elizabeth's future husband Edward IV was the Yorkist claimant to the throne. Elizabeth Woodville's two sons from this first marriage were Thomas (later Marquess of Dorset) and Richard.
Elizabeth Woodville was called "the most beautiful woman in the Island of Britain" with "heavy-lidded eyes like those of a dragon".[9]
Queen consort
Edward IV had many mistresses, the best known of them being Jane Shore, and he did not have a reputation for fidelity. His marriage to the widowed Elizabeth Woodville took place secretly and, though there is no documentary evidence of the date, it is traditionally said to have taken place at her family home in Northamptonshire on 1 May 1464.[10] Only the bride's mother and two ladies were in attendance. Edward married her just over three years after he had assumed the English throne in the wake of his overwhelming victory over the Lancastrians, at the Battle of Towton, which resulted in the displacement of King Henry VI. Elizabeth Woodville was crowned queen on 26 May 1465, the Sunday after Ascension Day.
In the early years of his reign, Edward IV's governance of England was dependent upon a small circle of supporters, most notably his cousin, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick. At around the time of Edward IV's secret marriage, Warwick was negotiating an alliance with France in an effort to thwart a similar arrangement being made by his sworn enemy Margaret of Anjou, wife of the deposed Henry VI. The plan was that Edward IV should marry a French princess. When his marriage to Elizabeth Woodville, who was both a commoner and from a family of Lancastrian supporters became public, Warwick was both embarrassed and offended, and his relationship with Edward IV never recovered. The match was also badly received by the Privy Council, who according to Jean de Waurin told Edward with great frankness that "he must know that she was no wife for a prince such as himself".
With the arrival on the scene of the new queen came many relatives, some of whom married into the most notable families in England.[11] Three of her sisters married the sons of the earls of Kent, Essex and Pembroke. Another sister, Catherine Woodville, married the queen's 11-year-old ward Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, who later joined Edward IV's brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, in opposition to the Woodvilles after the death of Edward IV. Elizabeth's 20-year-old brother John married Katherine, Duchess of Norfolk. The Duchess had been widowed three times and was probably in her sixties, so that the marriage created a scandal at court. Elizabeth's son from her first marriage, Thomas Grey, married Cecily Bonville, 7th Baroness Harington.
Elizabeth's status as a commoner before her sudden, secret marriage to Edward was primarily the reason for the backlash against her queenship. She was often seen as arrogant and disrespectful for actions that would be seen as normal by a lady of higher rank, such as her predecessor Margaret of Anjou. Such was Elizabeth's unpopularity that George of Clarence, brother of her husband, even accused her of witchcraft in order to murder his wife Isabel Neville. Most historians now believe that Isabel died of either consumption or childbed fever.
When an observer from Nuremberg, a Bohemian nobleman named Gabriel Tetzel, came to the English court in 1466 shortly after the birth of Elizabeth's daughter, he commented in detail of the luxury that Woodville dined in: “The Queen left her child-bed and went to church in stately order, accompanied by many priests bearing relics and by many scholars singing and carrying lights. There followed a great company of ladies and maidens from the country and from London, who had been summoned. Then came a great company of trumpeters, pipers and players of stringed instruments. The king’s choir followed, forty-two of them, who sang excellently. Then came twenty-four heralds and pursuivants, followed by sixty counts and knights. At last came the Queen escorted by two dukes. Above her was a canopy. Behind her were her mother and maidens and ladies to the number of sixty. Then the Queen heard the singing of an Office, and, having left the church, she returned to her palace in procession as before. Then all who had joined the procession remained to eat. They sat down, women and men, ecclesiastical and lay, each according to rank, and filled four great rooms.” [12]
When Elizabeth Woodville's relatives, especially her brother Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers, began to challenge Warwick's pre-eminence in English political society, Warwick conspired with his son-in-law George, Duke of Clarence, the king's younger brother. One of his followers accused Elizabeth Woodville's mother, Jacquetta of Luxembourg, of practising witchcraft. She was acquitted the following year.[13] Warwick and Clarence twice rose in revolt and then fled to France. Warwick formed an uneasy alliance with the Lancastrian Queen Margaret of Anjou and restored her husband Henry VI to the throne in 1470. But the following year, Edward IV returned from exile and defeated Warwick at the Battle of Barnet, and the Lancastrians at the Battle of Tewkesbury. Henry VI was killed soon afterwards.
Following her husband's temporary fall from power, Elizabeth Woodville sought sanctuary in Westminster Abbey, where she gave birth to a son, Edward (later King Edward V of England). Her marriage to Edward IV produced a total of ten children, including another son, Richard, Duke of York, who would later join his brother as one of the Princes in the Tower.[8] Five daughters also lived to adulthood.
Elizabeth Woodville engaged in acts of Christian piety in keeping with conventional expectations of a medieval queen consort. She also became a patroness of Queens' College, Cambridge. Her acts included making pilgrimages, obtaining a papal indulgence for those who knelt and said the Angelus three times per day, and founding the chapel of St. Erasmus in Westminster Abbey.[14]
Queen dowager
Following Edward IV's sudden death, possibly from pneumonia or being worn out from "high living",[15] in April 1483, Elizabeth Woodville became queen dowager. Her young son, Edward V, became king, with his uncle, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, acting as Lord Protector. In response to the Woodvilles' attempt to monopolise power, Gloucester quickly moved to take control of the young king and had the king's uncle Earl Rivers and half-brother Richard Grey, son to Elizabeth, arrested. The young king was transferred to the Tower of London to await the coronation. With her younger son and daughters, Elizabeth again sought sanctuary. Lord Hastings, the late king's leading supporter in London, initially endorsed Gloucester's actions, but Gloucester then accused him of conspiring with Elizabeth Woodville against him. Hastings was summarily executed. Whether any such conspiracy really occurred is not known.[16] Richard accused Elizabeth of plotting to "murder and utterly destroy" him.[17]
On 25 June 1483, Gloucester had Elizabeth Woodville's son Richard Grey and brother Anthony, Earl Rivers, executed in Pontefract Castle, Yorkshire. By an act of Parliament, the Titulus Regius (1 Ric. III), it was declared that Edward IV's children with Elizabeth were illegitimate on the grounds that Edward IV had a precontract with the widow Lady Eleanor Butler, which was considered a legally binding contract that rendered any other marriage contract invalid. One source, the Burgundian chronicler Philippe de Commines, says that Robert Stillington, Bishop of Bath and Wells, carried out an engagement ceremony between Edward IV and Lady Eleanor.[18] The act also contained charges of witchcraft against Elizabeth, but gave no details and the charges had no further repercussions. As a consequence, the Duke of Gloucester and Lord Protector was offered the throne and became King Richard III. Edward V, who was no longer king, and his brother Richard, Duke of York, remained in the Tower of London. There are no recorded sightings of them after the summer of 1483.
Additionally, Elizabeth was stripped of all her entitlements as queen dowager and her lands reverted to the Crown.[19] She was granted most, but not all, of these lands back in March of 1486 by Henry VII.[19]
Life under Richard III
Now referred to as Dame Elizabeth Grey,[8] she and the Duke of Buckingham (a former close ally of Richard III and now probably seeking the throne for himself) allied themselves with Lady Margaret Stanley (née Beaufort) and espoused the cause of Margaret's son Henry Tudor, a great-great-great-grandson of King Edward III,[20] the closest male heir of the Lancastrian claim to the throne with any degree of validity.[nb 3] To strengthen his claim and unite the two feuding noble houses, Elizabeth Woodville and Margaret Beaufort agreed that the latter's son should marry the former's eldest daughter, Elizabeth of York, who upon the death of her brothers became the heiress of the House of York. Henry Tudor agreed to this plan and in December 1483 publicly swore an oath to that effect in the cathedral in Rennes, Brittany. A month earlier, an uprising in his favour, led by Buckingham, had been crushed.
Richard III's first Parliament of January 1484 stripped Elizabeth of all the lands given to her during Edward IV's reign.[21] On 1 March 1484, Elizabeth and her daughters came out of sanctuary after Richard III publicly swore an oath that her daughters would not be harmed or molested and that they would not be imprisoned in the Tower of London or in any other prison. He also promised to provide them with marriage portions and to marry them to "gentlemen born". Richard also awarded Elizabeth a pension of 700 Marks per year.[22] The family returned to Court, apparently reconciled to Richard III. After the death of Richard III's wife Anne Neville, in March 1485, rumours arose that the newly widowed king was going to marry his niece Elizabeth of York.[23] It is known that Richard was in negotiation to marry Joana of Portugal and to marry off Elizabeth to Manuel, Duke of Beja.[24]
Life under Henry VII
In 1485, Henry Tudor invaded England and defeated Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field. As king, Henry VII married Elizabeth of York and had the Titulus Regius revoked and all found copies destroyed.[25] Elizabeth Woodville was accorded the title and honours of a queen dowager.[26]
Scholars differ about why Dowager Queen Elizabeth spent the last five years of her life living at Bermondsey Abbey, to which she retired on 12 February 1487. Among her modern biographers, David Baldwin believes that Henry VII forced her retreat from the court, while Arlene Okerlund presents evidence from July 1486 that she was already planning her retirement from court to live a religious, contemplative life at Bermondsey Abbey.[27] Another suggestion is that her retreat to Bermondsey was forced on her because she was in some way involved in the 1487 Yorkist rebellion of Lambert Simnel, or at least was seen as a potential ally of the rebels.[28]
At Bermondsey Abbey, Elizabeth was treated with the respect due to a dowager queen. She lived on a pension of £400 and received small gifts from Henry VII.[29] She was present at the birth of her granddaughter Margaret at Westminster Palace in November 1489 and at the birth of her grandson, the future Henry VIII, at Greenwich Palace in June 1491. Her daughter Queen Elizabeth visited her on occasion at Bermondsey, although another one of her other daughters, Cecily of York, visited her more often.
Henry VII briefly contemplated marrying his mother-in-law to King James III of Scotland, when James III's wife, Margaret of Denmark, died in 1486.[30] James was killed in battle in 1488.
Elizabeth Woodville died at Bermondsey Abbey, on 8 June 1492.[8] With the exception of the queen, who was awaiting the birth of her fourth child, and Cecily of York, her daughters attended the funeral at Windsor Castle: Anne of York (the future wife of Thomas Howard), Catherine of York (the future Countess of Devon) and Bridget of York (a nun at Dartford Priory). Elizabeth's will specified a simple ceremony.[31] The surviving accounts of her funeral on 12 June 1492 suggest that at least one source "clearly felt that a queen's funeral should have been more splendid" and may have objected that "Henry VII had not been fit to arrange a more queenly funeral for his mother-in-law", although simplicity was the queen dowager's own wish.[31] A letter discovered in 2019, written in 1511 by Andrea Badoer, the Venetian ambassador in London, suggests that she had died of plague, which would explain the haste and lack of public ceremony.[32][33] Elizabeth was laid to rest in the same chantry as her husband King Edward IV in St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle.[8]
Issue of Elizabeth Woodville
By Sir John Grey
- Thomas Grey, Earl of Huntingdon, Marquess of Dorset and Lord Ferrers de Groby (1455 – 20 September 1501), married first Anne Holland, but she died young without issue; he married second on 18 July 1474, Cecily Bonville, suo jure Baroness Harington and Bonville, by whom he had fourteen children. The disputed queen Lady Jane Grey is a direct descendant of this line.[34]
- Richard Grey (1457 – 25 June 1483) was executed at Pontefract Castle.
By King Edward IV
- Elizabeth's daughters by Edward IV
In literature
One of only three lyric poems in Middle English ascribed to a woman author,[35] alongside "An Anchoress' Hymn to the Virgin" and "Eleanor Percy's Prayer", "My heart is set upon a lusty pin"[36] is attributed to one "Queen Elizabeth", sometimes thought to have been Elizabeth Woodville (although the author is also argued[36][37] to have been her daughter, Elizabeth of York). This hymn to Venus, found in one single manuscript,[38] is a complex six-stanza poem[39] with rhyme scheme ABABBAA, an "elaboration of the sestina,"[40] in which the seventh line of each stanza is the same as its first, and the six unique lines of the first stanza provide the first lines for each of the poem's six stanzas.
Non-fiction
- Elizabeth Woodville: Mother of the Princes in the Tower (2002) by David Baldwin
- Elizabeth Wydeville: The Slandered Queen (2005) by Arlene Okerlund
- The Women of the Cousins' War (2011) by Philippa Gregory, David Baldwin and Michael Jones. The book deals with Jacquetta of Luxembourg (mother of Elizabeth Woodville) (chapter written by Philippa Gregory), Elizabeth Woodville (chapter written by David Baldwin), and Lady Margaret Beaufort (mother of Elizabeth Woodville's son-in-law King Henry VII) (chapter written by Michael Jones)
- Elizabeth Woodville (2013) by David MacGibbon
- The Woodvilles: The Wars of the Roses and England's Most Infamous Family (2013) by Susan Higginbotham
- Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville: A True Romance (2016) by Amy Licence
Fiction
Edward IV's love for his wife is celebrated in sonnet 75 of Philip Sidney's Astrophel and Stella.[41] (written by 1586, first pub. 1591).
She appears in two of Shakespeare's plays: Henry VI Part 3 (written by 1592), in which she is a fairly minor character, and Richard III (written approx. 1592), where she has a central role. Shakespeare portrays Elizabeth as a proud and alluring woman in Henry VI Part 3. By Richard III, she is careworn from having to defend herself against detractors in the court, including her titular brother-in-law, Richard. She spends much of the play bemoaning her fate as family members and supporters of her are killed, including her two young sons. She is one of Richard's cleverest opponents and among the few who see through him from the beginning, though she is mostly powerless to stop him once he murders her allies in the court. Although most modern editions of Henry VI Part 3 and Richard III call her "Queen Elizabeth" in the stage directions, the original Shakespearean Folio never actually refer to her by name, instead calling her first "Lady Grey" and later simply "Queen."
Novels that feature Elizabeth Woodville as a character include:
- The Last of the Barons by Edward Bulwer-Lytton Available online.
- Dickon (1929) by Marjorie Bowen.
- The Daughter of Time (1951), Josephine Tey's classic mystery.
- The White Rose (1969) by Jan Westcott.
- The King's Grey Mare (1972) by Rosemary Hawley Jarman, a fictionalised biography of Elizabeth Woodville.
- The Woodville Wench (published in US as The Queen Who Never Was) (1972) by Maureen Peters.
- The Sunne in Splendour (1982) by Sharon Kay Penman.
- The Sun in Splendour (1982) by Jean Plaidy.
- A Secret Alchemy (2009) by Emma Darwin.
- The White Queen (2009) by Philippa Gregory, which borrows Rosemary Hawley Jarman's supernatural elements from The King's Grey Mare. Elizabeth Woodville also appears in other novels in Gregory's Cousins' War series.
- The King's Grace (2009) by Anne Easter Smith The life of Edward IV's illegitimate daughter who spent many years in service of the Dowager Queen.
- Das Spiel der Könige, a historical novel in German by Rebecca Gablé.
- Bloodline (2015) and Ravenspur (2016), in the "War of Roses" series by Conn Iggulden
Media portrayals
Film
- Richard III (1911): Woodville was played by Violet Farebrother
- Richard III (1912): Woodville was played by Carey Lee.
- In the French film, Les enfants d'Édouard (1914), Woodville was played by Jeanne Delvair.
- Jane Shore (1915): Woodville was played by Maud Yates.
- Tower of London (1939): Woodville was played by Barbara O'Neil.
- Richard III (1955): Woodville was portrayed by Mary Kerridge.
- In the Hungarian TV movie III. Richárd (1973) Woodville was played by Rita Békés.
- Richard III (1995): Woodville was played by Annette Bening.
- Looking For Richard (1996): Woodville was played by Penelope Allen.
- Richard III (2005): Woodville was played by Caroline Burns Cooke.
- Richard III (2008): Woodville was played by MarÃa Conchita Alonso.
Television
- An Age of Kings (1960): Woodville was portrayed by Jane Wenham.
- Wars of the Roses (1965): Woodville was played by Susan Engel.
- The Shadow of the Tower (1972): Woodville was played by Stephanie Bidmead
- The Third Part of Henry the Sixth and The Tragedy of Richard III (1983): Woodville was played by Rowena Cooper.
- The White Queen (2013): Woodville was portrayed by Rebecca Ferguson.
- The Hollow Crown, Henry VI and Richard III (2016): Woodville was played by Keeley Hawes.
- The White Princess (2017): Woodville was played by Essie Davis.
Music
- In 2020, Vicki Manser portrayed Elizabeth Woodville on the cast recording of A Mother's War, a musical based on the Wars of the Roses.
Schools named after Elizabeth Woodville
- Elizabeth Woodville Primary School, Groby, Leicestershire (1971).[42]
- Elizabeth Woodville Secondary School, Roade, Northamptonshire (2011).[43]
Arms
|
|
Notes
- Henry Tudor's claim to the throne was weak, owing to a declaration of Henry IV that barred the accession to the throne of any heirs of the legitimised offspring of his father John of Gaunt by his third wife Katherine Swynford. The original act legitimizing the children of John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford passed by Parliament and the bull issued by the Pope in the matter legitimised them fully, making questionable the legality of Henry IV's declaration.
References
- Boutell, Charles (1863). "A Manual of Heraldry, Historical and Popular". London: Winsor & Newton. pp. 277.
Further reading
- Philip Butterworth and Michael Spence, 'William Parnell, supplier of staging and ingenious devices, and his role in the visit of Elizabeth Woodville to Norwich in 1469', Medieval English Theatre 40 (2019) [1]
- David Baldwin, Elizabeth Woodville (Stroud, 2002) [2]
- Christine Carpenter, The Wars of the Roses (Cambridge, 1997) [3]
- Philippa Gregory, David Baldwin, Michael Jones, The Women of the Cousins' War (Simon & Schuster, 2011)
- Michael Hicks, Edward V (Stroud, 2003) [4]
- Rosemary Horrox, Richard III: A Study of Service (Cambridge, 1989) [5]
- J.L. Laynesmith, The Last Medieval Queens (Oxford, 2004) [6]
- A. R. Myers, Crown, Household and Parliament in Fifteenth-Century England (London and Ronceverte: Hambledon Press, 1985)
- Arlene Okerlund, Elizabeth Wydeville: The Slandered Queen (Stroud, 2005); Elizabeth: England's Slandered Queen (paper, Stroud, 2006) [7]
- Charles Ross, Edward IV (Berkeley, 1974) [8]
- George Smith, The Coronation of Elizabeth Wydeville (Gloucester: Gloucester Reprints, 1975; originally published 1935)
- Anne Sutton and Livia Visser-Fuchs, "'A Most Benevolent Queen': Queen Elizabeth Woodville's Reputation, Her Piety, and Her Books", The Ricardian, X:129, June 1995. PP. 214–245.
External links
- English royal consorts
- Irish royal consorts
- 1430s births
- 1492 deaths
- Woodville family
- House of York
- People from West Northamptonshire District
- Ladies of the Garter
- Women of the Tudor period
- Daughters of British earls
- Wives of knights
- People of the Wars of the Roses
- 15th-century English nobility
- 15th-century English women
- Grey family
- Burials at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle
- Edward IV of England
- Founders of colleges of the University of Cambridge
- Queen mothers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Woodville
| Henry V | |
|---|---|
 Miniature of Henry in the Regement of Princes by Thomas Hoccleve, c. 1411–1413 | |
| King of England | |
| Reign | 21 March 1413 – 31 August 1422 |
| Coronation | 9 April 1413 |
| Predecessor | Henry IV |
| Successor | Henry VI |
| Born | 16 September 1386 Monmouth Castle, Wales, Kingdom of England |
| Died | 31 August 1422 (aged 35) Château de Vincennes, Kingdom of France |
| Burial | 7 November 1422 |
| Spouse | |
| Issue | Henry VI of England |
| House | Lancaster (Plantagenet) |
| Father | Henry IV of England |
| Mother | Mary de Bohun |
| Signature |  |
Henry V (16 September 1386 – 31 August 1422), also called Henry of Monmouth, was King of England from 1413 until his death in 1422. Despite his relatively short reign, Henry's outstanding military successes in the Hundred Years' War against France made England one of the strongest military powers in Europe.[1] Immortalised in Shakespeare's "Henriad" plays, Henry is known and celebrated as one of the greatest warrior-kings of medieval England.
During the reign of his father Henry IV, Henry gained military experience fighting the Welsh during the revolt of Owain Glyndŵr and against the powerful aristocratic Percy family of Northumberland at the Battle of Shrewsbury. Henry acquired an increased role in England's government due to the king's declining health, but disagreements between father and son led to political conflict between the two. After his father's death in 1413, Henry assumed control of the country and asserted the pending English claim to the French throne.
In 1415, Henry embarked on war with France. His first military campaign included his famous victory at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. By 1420, his armies had captured Paris and had come close to conquering the whole of medieval France. Taking advantage of political divisions within France, he conquered large portions of Northern France, resulting in Normandy's occupation by the English for the first time since the mid-14th century. After months of negotiation with Charles VI of France, the 1420 Treaty of Troyes recognised Henry V as regent and heir apparent to the French throne, and he was subsequently married to Charles's daughter, Catherine of Valois. Everything seemed to point to the formation of a union between the kingdoms, in the person of Henry. However, he died two years later and was succeeded by his only child, the infant Henry VI.
Analyses of Henry's reign are varied. He was widely praised for his personal piety, bravery and military genius even by contemporary French chroniclers, but his occasionally cruel temperament and lack of focus on domestic affairs have made him the subject of some criticism.[2] Nonetheless, his militaristic pursuits during the Hundred Years' War created a strong sense of English nationalism and set the stage for the rise of England and then later Britain to prominence as a dominant global power.[3]
Early life
Birth and family
Henry was born in the tower above the gatehouse of Monmouth Castle in Wales, and for that reason was sometimes called Henry of Monmouth.[4] He was the son of Henry of Bolingbroke (later Henry IV of England) and Mary de Bohun. His father's cousin was the reigning English monarch, King Richard II. Henry's paternal grandfather was the influential John of Gaunt, a son of King Edward III. As he was not close to the line of succession to the throne, Henry's date of birth was not officially documented, and for many years it was disputed whether he was born in 1386 or 1387.[5] However, records indicate that his younger brother Thomas was born in the autumn of 1387 and that his parents were at Monmouth in 1386 but not in 1387.[6] It is now accepted that he was born on 16 September 1386.[7][8][9][13]
Upon the exile of Henry's father in 1398, Richard II took the boy into his own charge and treated him kindly.[14] The young Henry accompanied Richard to Ireland. While in the royal service, he visited Trim Castle in County Meath, the ancient meeting place of the Parliament of Ireland.
.jpg)
In 1399, John of Gaunt died. In the same year, King Richard II was overthrown by the Lancastrian usurpation that brought Henry's father to the throne, and Henry was recalled from Ireland into prominence as heir apparent to the Kingdom of England. He was created Prince of Wales at his father's coronation and Duke of Lancaster on 10 November 1399, the third person to hold the title that year. His other titles were Duke of Cornwall, Earl of Chester and Duke of Aquitaine. A contemporary record notes that in 1399, Henry spent time at The Queen's College, Oxford, under the care of his uncle Henry Beaufort, the chancellor of the university.[16] During this time, due to taking a liking to both literature and music, he learned to read and write; this made him the first English King that was educated in this regard.[17] He even went on to grant pensions to composers due to such love for music.
From 1400 to 1404, he carried out the duties of High Sheriff of Cornwall. During that time, Henry would also be in command of part of the English forces. He led his own army into Wales against Owain Glyndŵr and joined forces with his father to fight Henry "Hotspur" Percy at the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403.[18] It was there that the 16-year-old prince was almost killed by an arrow that became impaled on the left side of his face. An ordinary soldier might have died from such a wound, but Henry had the benefit of the best possible care. Over a period of several days, John Bradmore, the royal physician, treated the wound with honey to act as an antiseptic, crafted a tool to screw into the embedded arrowhead (bodkin point) and thus extract it without doing further damage, and flushed the wound with alcohol. The operation was successful, but it left Henry with permanent scars, evidence of his experience in battle.[19] Bradmore recorded this account in Latin, in his manuscript titled Philomena. Henry's treatment also appeared in an anonymous Middle English surgical treatise dated to 1446, that has since been attributed to Thomas Morstede.
Early military career and role in Government
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.[14] Both in foreign and domestic policy he differed from the king, who discharged his son from the council in November 1411. The quarrel between father and son was political only, though it is probable that the Beauforts had discussed the abdication of Henry IV. Their opponents certainly endeavoured to defame Prince Henry.[14]
It may be that the tradition of Henry's riotous youth, immortalised by Shakespeare, is partly due to political enmity. 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.[14][20]
The story of Falstaff originated in Henry's early friendship with Sir John Oldcastle, a supporter of the Lollards. Shakespeare's Falstaff was originally named "Oldcastle," following his main source, The Famous Victories of Henry V. Oldcastle's descendants objected, and the name was changed (the character became a composite of several real persons, including Sir John Fastolf). 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 suddenly changed into a new man.[14][21]
Reign (1413-1422)
Accession
After Henry IV died on 20 March 1413, Henry V succeeded him and was crowned on 9 April 1413 at Westminster Abbey. The ceremony was marked by a terrible snowstorm, but the common people were undecided as to whether it was a good or bad omen.[22] Henry was described as having been "very tall (6 feet 3 inches), slim, with dark hair cropped in a ring above the ears, and clean-shaven". His complexion was ruddy, his face lean with a prominent and pointed nose. Depending on his mood, his eyes "flashed from the mildness of a dove's to the brilliance of a lion's".[23]
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. He let past differences be forgotten—the late Richard II was honourably re-interred; the young Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March, was taken into favour; the heirs of those who had suffered under the last reign were restored gradually to their titles and estates. Yet, where Henry saw a grave domestic danger, he acted firmly and ruthlessly, such as the Lollard discontent in January 1414 and including the execution by burning of Henry's old friend Sir John Oldcastle in 1417 to "nip the movement in the bud" and make his own position as ruler secure.[14]
Henry's reign was generally free from serious trouble at home. The exception was the Southampton Plot in favour of Mortimer,[14] involving Henry, Baron Scrope, and Richard, Earl of Cambridge (grandfather of the future King Edward IV), in July 1415. Mortimer himself remained loyal to the King.
Starting in August 1417, Henry promoted the use of the English language in government[24] and his reign marks the appearance of Chancery Standard English as well as the adoption of English as the language of record within government. He was the first king to use English in his personal correspondence since the Norman conquest 350 years earlier.[25][26]
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 the French had lent to Owain Glyndŵr were used as an excuse for war, while the disordered state of France afforded no security for peace.[14] King Charles VI of France was prone to mental illness; at times he thought he was made of glass, and his eldest surviving son was an unpromising prospect. However, it was the old dynastic claim to the throne of France, first pursued by Edward III of England, that justified war with France in English opinion.
War in France
Henry may have regarded the assertion of his own claims as part of his royal duty, but a permanent settlement of the national debate was essential to the success of his foreign policy. Following the instability back in England during the reign of King Richard II, the war in France came to a halt, as during most of his reign relations between England and France were largely peaceful and so was during his father's reign as well. But in 1415, hostilities continued between the two nations and since Henry had a claim to the French throne, through his great–grandfather King Edward III by his mother's side, this claim was ultimately rejected by the French as its nobles pointed out that under the Salic law of the Franks, women were forbidden from inheriting the throne. Thus the throne went to a distant male–relative of a cadet of branch of the House of Capet, Philip VI of France, resulting in the Hundred Year's War in 1337. Wanting to claim the French throne for himself, Henry resumed the war against France in 1415. This would lead to one of England's most successful military campaigns during the whole conflict and would result in one of the most decisive victories for an English army during this time period.[14]
1415 campaign
On 12 August 1415, Henry sailed for France, where his forces besieged the fortress at Harfleur, capturing it on 22 September. Afterwards, he decided to march with his army across the French countryside toward Calais despite the warnings of his council.[27] On 25 October, on the plains near the village of Agincourt, a French army intercepted his route. Despite his men-at-arms' being exhausted, outnumbered and malnourished, Henry led his men into battle, decisively defeating the French, who suffered severe losses. It is often argued[by whom?] that the French men-at-arms were bogged down in the muddy battlefield, soaked from the previous night of heavy rain, and that this hindered the French advance, allowing them to be sitting targets for the flanking English archers. Most were simply hacked to death while completely stuck in the deep mud. Nevertheless, the victory is seen as Henry's greatest,[weasel words] ranking alongside the Battle of Crécy (1346) and the Battle of Poitiers (1356) as the greatest English victories of the Hundred Years' War. This victory both solidified and strengthened Henry V's own rule in England and it also legitimized his claim to the French throne more than ever.[28]
During the battle,[29] Henry ordered that the French prisoners taken during the battle be put to death, including some of the most illustrious who could have been used for ransom. Cambridge historian Brett Tingley posits that Henry was concerned that the prisoners might turn on their captors when the English were busy repelling a third wave of enemy troops, thus jeopardizing a hard-fought victory.[citation needed]
The victorious[weasel words] conclusion of Agincourt, from the English viewpoint, was only the first step in the campaign to recover the French possessions that he felt belonged to the English crown. Agincourt also held out the promise that Henry's pretensions to the French throne might be realized. After the victory, Henry marched to Calais and besieged the city until it fell soon afterwards, and the king returned to England on November, in triumph and received a hero's welcome. The brewing nationalistic sentiment among the English people was so great that contemporary writers describe firsthand how Henry was welcomed in such triumphal pageantry into London upon his return. The accounts also describe how Henry was greeted by elaborate displays and with choirs following his passage to the St.Paul's Cathedral.[30]
Most importantly, the victory at Agincourt inspired and boosted the English morale, while it caused a heavy blow to the French as it further aided the English in their conquest of Normandy and much of northern France by 1419. The French, who by this stage, were weakened and exhausted by the disaster, began quarrelling and fighting among themselves (especially the nobility). This also led to a division in the French aristocracy and caused a rift in the French royal family, leading to infighting. By 1420, a treaty was signed between Henry V and Charles VI of France, known as the Treaty of Troyes, which acknowledged Henry as regent and heir to the French throne and also married him to his daughter, Princess Catherine of Valois as a result of the treaty.[31]
Diplomacy
Following the Battle of Agincourt, King Sigismund of Hungary (later Holy Roman Emperor) made a visit to Henry in hopes of making peace between England and France. His goal was to persuade Henry to modify his demands against the French. Henry lavishly entertained him and even had him enrolled in the Order of the Garter. Sigismund, in turn, inducted Henry into the Order of the Dragon.[32] Henry had intended to crusade for the order after uniting the English and French thrones, but he died before fulfilling his plans.[33][34][35] Sigismund left England several months later, having signed the Treaty of Canterbury acknowledging English claims to France.
Command of the sea was secured by driving the Genoese allies of the French out of the English Channel.[14] While Henry was occupied with peace negotiations in 1416, a French and Genoese fleet surrounded the harbour at the English-garrisoned Harfleur. A French land force also besieged the town. In March 1416 a raiding force of soldiers under the Earl of Dorset, Thomas Beaufort, was attacked and narrowly escaped defeat at the Battle of Valmont after a counterattack by the garrison of Harfleur. To relieve the town, Henry sent his brother, John, Duke of Bedford, who raised a fleet and set sail from Beachy Head on 14 August. The Franco-Genoese fleet was defeated the following day after the gruelling seven-hour Battle of the Seine[36] and Harfleur was relieved. Diplomacy successfully detached Emperor Sigismund from supporting France, and the Treaty of Canterbury—also signed in August 1416—confirmed a short-lived alliance between England and the Holy Roman Empire.
1417–1421 campaigns
With those two potential enemies gone, and after two years of patient preparation following the Battle of Agincourt, Henry renewed the war on a larger scale in 1417. After taking Caen, he quickly conquered Lower Normandy and Rouen was cut off from Paris and besieged. This siege has cast an even darker shadow on the reputation of the king, along with his order to slay the French prisoners at Agincourt. Rouen, starving and unable to support the women and children of the town, forced them out through the gates believing that Henry would allow them to pass through his army unmolested. However, Henry refused to allow this, and the expelled women and children died of starvation in the ditches surrounding the town. The French were paralysed by the disputes between Burgundians and Armagnacs. Henry skilfully played one against the other without relaxing his warlike approach.[14]
In January 1419, Rouen fell.[14] Those Norman French who had resisted were severely punished: Alain Blanchard, who had hanged English prisoners from the walls of Rouen, was summarily executed; Robert de Livet, Canon of Rouen, who had excommunicated the English king, was packed off to England and imprisoned for five years.[37]
By August, the English were outside the walls of Paris. The intrigues of the French parties culminated in the assassination of John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, by Dauphin Charles's partisans at Montereau-Fault-Yonne on 10 September. Philip the Good, the new duke, and the French court threw themselves into Henry's arms. After six months of negotiation, the Treaty of Troyes recognised Henry as the heir and regent of France.[14] On 2 June 1420 at Troyes Cathedral, he married Catherine of Valois, the French king's daughter. They had only one son, Henry, born on 6 December 1421 at Windsor Castle. From June to July 1420, King Henry's army besieged and took the military fortress castle at Montereau-Fault-Yonne close to Paris. He besieged and captured Melun in November 1420, returning to England shortly thereafter. In 1428, Charles VII retook Montereau, to once again see the English take it over within a short time. Finally, on 10 October 1437, Charles VII was victorious in regaining Montereau-Fault-Yonne.
While Henry was in England, his brother Thomas, Duke of Clarence, led the English forces in France. On 22 March 1421, Thomas led the English to a disastrous defeat at the Battle of Baugé against a Franco-Scottish army. The duke was killed in the battle. On 10 June, Henry sailed back to France to retrieve the situation. It was to be his last military campaign. From July to August, Henry's forces besieged and captured Dreux, thus relieving allied forces at Chartres. On 6 October, his forces laid siege to Meaux, capturing it on 11 May 1422.
Death
Henry V died on 31 August 1422 at the Château de Vincennes.[38] The commonly held view is that Henry V contracted dysentery in the period just after the Siege of Meaux, which ended on 9 May 1422. However the symptoms and severity of dysentery present themselves fairly quickly and he seems to have been healthy in the weeks following the siege. At the time speculative causes of his illness also included smallpox, the bacterial infection erysipelas and even leprosy. But there is no doubt he had contracted a serious illness sometime between May and June. Recovering at the castle of Vincennes, by the end of June it seems he was well enough to lead his forces with the intent of engaging the Dauphinist forces at Cosne-sur-Loire. At the outset, he would have been riding in full armour, probably in blistering heat, as the summer of 1422 was extremely hot. He was struck down again, with a debilitating fever, possibly heatstroke, or a relapse of his previous illness. Whatever the cause or causes, he would not recover from this final bout of illness. For a few short weeks he was carried around in a litter, and his enemies having retreated, he decided to return to Paris. One story has of him trying, one last time, to mount a horse at Charenton and failing. He was taken back to Vincennes, around 10 August, where he died some weeks later. He was 35 years old and had reigned for nine years. Shortly before his death, Henry V named his brother, John, Duke of Bedford, regent of France in the name of his son, Henry VI of England, then only a few months old. Henry V did not live to be crowned King of France himself, as he might confidently have expected after the Treaty of Troyes, because Charles VI, to whom he had been named heir, survived him by two months.
Henry's comrade-in-arms and Lord Steward, John Sutton, 1st Baron Dudley, brought Henry's body back to England and bore the royal standard at his funeral.[39] Henry V was buried in Westminster Abbey on 7 November 1422.[38] An exhumation in 1953, in which it appeared that Henry V shared a grave with Richard Courtenay, led to speculation that Henry and Courtenay had been lovers.[40] However, Courtenay's grave was found in the base of Henry's chantry, perchance disturbed when the king's memorial was built.[41] Henry's last will and codicils, which gave specific instructions on how he should be buried, made no mention of a co-burial with anyone else.[42]
Legacy
Reputation
King Henry V's death was premature as he was set to rule both kingdoms of England and France after Charles VI's death, which occurred two months after Henry died in August 1422. This resulted in the unexpected succession of his infant son, Henry VI, that year. Henry V's demise meant that England was ruled by an infant, which led to a regency formed by Henry's brothers, John, Duke of Bedford and Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester. Although for a time this was largely proved to be a success, during the later reign of Henry VI most of the territories captured by the English were lost to the French and English military power in the region ceased to exist. This brought an end to almost all the English army's success in the Hundred Years' War and their possessions in France were lost. Later, Henry's heirs would descend into civil strife and quarrels in the following years, leading to the War of the Roses between Henry V's House of Lancaster and its rival, the House of York, in 1454. [43]
Despite this, Henry V is remembered both by his countrymen and foes as a capable military commander during the war against France and is one of the most renowned monarchs in English and British history. He is largely seen as a symbol of the English military might and power, which inspired later kings and queens of England. His effect on English history, culture, and the military is profound. His victory at Agincourt significantly impacted the war against the French, and led to the English capturing most of northern France. This led to the Treaty of Troyes in 1420, in which Charles IV of France appointed Henry his successor, although Henry died two months before Charles in October 1422. Henry's victories created a national sensation and caused a patriotic fervour among the English people that would go on influence both medieval English army and the British army for centuries to come. His continuous victories against the French during 1417–1422 led to many romanticized depictions of Henry V as a figure of nationalism and patriotism as well as in literature and in the renowned works of Shakespeare and the film industry as in modern times.[44]
Henry is not only remembered for his military prowess but also for his architectural patronage. He commissioned the building of King's College Chapel and Eton College Chapel and, although some of his building works were discontinued after his death, others were continued by his son and successor Henry VI. He also contributed to the founding of the monastery of the Syon Abbey, completed by Henry VI during his lifetime. Although in the 16th Century, the monastery was demolished as a result of the growing movement of the English Reformation during the reign of King Henry VIII. Henry V further contributed to the church, as he was forced to put down an anti–church uprising in the form of the Lollard uprising led by the English Lollard leader, John Oldcastle in 1414, who had been a friend of Henry V before his rebellion. Henry also faced a coup orchestrated by a relative and prominent noble, Edmund Mortimer in the Southampton Plot. And in 1415 dealt with a Yorkist conspiracy to overthrow him. After this, during the remainder of his reign, Henry was able to rule without any opposition against him.
In popular culture
In literature
Henry V was often a figure of literary imagination and often used as a traditional character of a morally great king in the works of many writers, playwrights and dramatists. This is the case with Henry V's depiction in Henry V a play largely based on the life of Henry V by the famed William Shakespeare. It is one of the plays that were about Richard II, Henry V's father Henry IV and son Henry VI known as the Henriad in Shakespearean scholarship. It depicts the king as a pious but cunning ruler who ventured on a campaign to France to become heir to the French throne. This largely acquainted audiences and the wider population of the king himself and the nature of his character as a whole. [45]
In the other depictions of Henry V in literature, Henry V is a character in William Kenrick's sequel to Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 2, known as Falstaff's Wedding. In the play, Henry V plays a minor role. In Georgette Heyer's Simon the Coldheart Henry also appears as a minor character. In other works, Henry V is the main character such as in Good King Harry by Denise Giardina and in Azincourt by Bernard Cornwell.
In film and television
Henry V was also depicted in many historical films and operas. Such as in Laurence Olivier's 1944 film Henry V played by Olivier himself, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor.[46] Henry also appears in the 1935 film Royal Cavalcade in which he was played by actor Matheson Lang, Henry V also appears and is played by Kenneth Branagh in the 1989 film Henry V for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor, Best Director and also for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role.[47] Henry V appears as a major character played by Keith Baxter in Orson Welles's 1989 film Chimes at Midnight. He is also played by Timothée Chalamet in 2019 Netflix film The King directed by David Michôd. He is portrayed in the BBC television series The Hollow Crown.
In comics and video games
Henry V is a character in the comic series The Hammer Man in the BBC comic strip The Victor featuring him as the commander of the hero, Chell Paddock. King Henry V is a character in the video game Bladestorm: The Hundred Year War and also in the Age of Empires II: The Conquerors in which he was featured as a paladin.
Arms
Henry's arms as Prince of Wales were those of the kingdom, differenced by a label argent of three points.[48] Upon his accession, he inherited use of the arms of the kingdom undifferenced.
Henry's achievement as Prince of Wales
Royal achievement as king
.svg)
.svg)
Marriage
After his father became king, Henry was created Prince of Wales. It was suggested that Henry should marry the widow of Richard II, Isabella of Valois, but this had been refused. After this, negotiations took place for his marriage to Catherine of Pomerania, Countess Palatine of Neumarkt between 1401 and 1404, but ultimately failed.[49]
During the following years, marriage had apparently assumed a lower priority until the conclusion of the Treaty of Troyes in 1420 when Henry V was named heir to Charles VI of France and provided in marriage to Charles's daughter Catherine of Valois, younger sister of Isabella of Valois.[38] Her dowry, upon the agreement between the two kingdoms, was 600,000 crowns.[50] Together the couple had one child, Henry, born in late 1421.[38] Upon Henry V's death in 1422, the infant prince became King Henry VI of England.[38]
Ancestry and family
Descent
| Ancestors of Henry V of England |
|---|
| Family tree of the Earls of Leicester, and Earls of Lancaster and Dukes of Lancaster |
|---|
See also
Footnotes
Bibliography
- Weir (1999), p. 78.
Further reading
Sources
- Allmand, Christopher (2013) [1968]. Henry V. Association Pamphlets, General Series. Vol. 68 (revised ed.). London: Historical Association.
- Cowper, Marcus (10 September 2010). Henry V. Command. Vol. 8. Illustrated by Graham Turner. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84908-370-6.
- Curry, Anne. Henry V: From Playboy Prince to Warrior King.
- Dockray, Keith (2001). Warrior King: The Life of Henry V. Tempus Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7524-3046-1.
- Earle, Peter (1972). The Life and Times of Henry V. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 978-0-297-99428-2.
- Hutchinson, Harold Frederick (1967). Henry V: A Biography. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode.
- Kingsford, Charles (1891). . In Stephen, Leslie; Lee, Sidney (eds.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 26. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- ——, ed. (1911) [1513]. The First English Life of King Henry the Fifth. Oxford: Clarendon Press. hdl:2027/yale.39002004659539.
- Mortimer, Ian (2009). 1415: Henry V's Year of Glory. London: The Bodley Head. ISBN 978-0-224-07992-1.
- Muir Wilson, I. M. U. (1922). "Henry V of England in France, 1415–1422". The Scottish Historical Review. 20 (77): 34–48. JSTOR 25519493.
- Pollard, A. J. (Anthony James) (3 February 2014). Henry V. Stroud: The History Press. ISBN 978-0-7524-9763-1.
- Ripley, George & Dana, Charles A., eds. (1879). "Henry V". American Cyclopædia (2nd ed.). New York: D. Appleton & Company. Vol. 8. pp. 644–646.
- Seward, Desmond (1987). Henry V as Warlord. Harmondsworth.
- Wylie, James H. & Waugh, William Templeton (1914–1929). The Reign of Henry V. Cambridge University Press.
External links
- Henry V (biography), Archontology, retrieved 28 November 2009
- "Henry V", BBC
- Henry V (official website), UK: British Monarchy.
- "Henry V Biography", Who2
- Fernandez-Armesto, Felipe (17 February 2011), "The Myth of Henry V", BBC
- Tyler, J Endell, Henry of Monmouth: Memoirs of Henry the Fifth, Project Gutenberg.
- BBC Radio 4 Great Lives on Henry V – listen online: "Henry V", BBC Radio 4, Great Lives
- Henry V of England
- 1386 births
- 1422 deaths
- 14th-century English nobility
- 15th-century English nobility
- 15th-century English monarchs
- Alumni of The Queen's College, Oxford
- Burials at Westminster Abbey
- Deaths from dysentery
- Dukes of Cornwall
- Dukes of Lancaster
- English people of French descent
- English pretenders to the French throne
- English Roman Catholics
- High Sheriffs of Cornwall
- House of Lancaster
- House of Valois
- Infectious disease deaths in France
- Knights of the Garter
- Lords Warden of the Cinque Ports
- Male Shakespearean characters
- Order of the Dragon
- People from Monmouth, Wales
- People of the Hundred Years' War
- Princes of Wales
- Regents of France
- Sons of kings
- Children of Henry IV of England
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_V_of_England
No comments:
Post a Comment