Henry V Read online

  First published 2015

  Amberley Publishing

  The Hill, Stroud

  Gloucestershire, GL5 4EP

  www.amberley-books.com

  Copyright © Teresa Cole, 2015

  The right of Teresa Cole to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  ISBN 9781445636795 (HARDBACK)

  ISBN 9781445636955 (eBOOK)

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the Publishers.

  British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.

  A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  Typesetting and Origination by Amberley Publishing.

  Printed in the UK.

  Map design by Thomas Bohm at User design.

  CONTENTS

  Cast of Characters

  1 - A Child of Small Importance, 1386–1399

  2 - An Education in Warfare, 1399–1408

  3 - King in Waiting, 1409–1413

  4 - Settlements at Home, 1413–1415

  5 - France, 1413–1415

  6 - Preparations, 1413–1415

  7 - Harfleur & the Road to Agincourt, 13 August – 20 October 1415

  8 - Agincourt, 20–25 October 1415

  9 - Interlude, 26 October 1415 – August 1417

  10 - The Second Campaign: Normandy, 1417–1420

  11 - The Last Campaign, 1420–1422

  12 - Legacy

  Picture Section

  Maps & Genealogical Tables

  Appendix I: Who’s Who & What Happened after Agincourt

  Appendix II: Note on Sources

  Select Bibliography

  List of Illustrations

  CAST OF CHARACTERS

  The following all played a major part in the life and fortunes of Henry V. Since many have the same first name or title the following guide may help to identify who’s who. They are introduced by the name most frequently referred to in the text. More information on many of them, and on the extended family of Henry V, can be found in Appendix I.

  ARUNDEL, Thomas – Archbishop of Canterbury. Chancellor to Henry IV. Worked with Henry, Prince of Wales, on the Royal Council.

  ARUNDEL, Richard FitzAlan, Earl of – Brother of Thomas Arundel. One of the Lords Appellant involved in a power struggle with Richard II.

  ARUNDEL, Thomas FitzAlan, Earl of – Son of Richard FitzAlan. Military commander under Henry V at Harfleur.

  BEAUFORT, Henry – Legitimated son of John of Gaunt. Bishop of Lincoln, Bishop of Winchester and ultimately cardinal. Uncle to Henry V and long-term Chancellor during his reign.

  BEAUFORT, John – Legitimated son of John of Gaunt. Earl of Somerset. Uncle to Henry V.

  BEAUFORT, Thomas – Legitimated son of John of Gaunt. Earl of Dorset, Duke of Exeter. Uncle to Henry V and served as Admiral of England and military commander under him in his campaigns in France.

  BERNARD, Count of Armagnac – Father-in-law of Charles, Duke of Orleans, and leader of the Armagnac faction in France. Later Constable of France.

  BOUCICAUT, Marshal – Originally Jean Le Maigre. Marshal of France and commander of French forces at Agincourt.

  BRADMORE, John – Physician who treated the serious arrow wound of Henry, Prince of Wales, after the Battle of Shrewsbury.

  CHARLES VI – King of France and later father-in-law of Henry V.

  CHARLES, Duke of Orleans – Nephew of Charles VI of France. Led French forces at Agincourt and was taken prisoner.

  CHICHELE, Henry – Archbishop of Canterbury following Archbishop Arundel. Chancellor of England after Bishop Henry Beaufort.

  CORNWAILLE, Sir John – Military commander under Henry V.

  D’ALBRET, Charles – Constable of France and leader of French forces during Agincourt campaign.

  DAUPHINS Louis, John and Charles – Sons of Charles VI and successively heirs to the French throne. Dauphin Charles subsequently became Charles VII.

  DE GAUCORT, Raoul – French commander at the siege of Harfleur and later a prisoner of Henry V.

  DE GROSMONT, Henry – First Duke of Lancaster and originator of the wealth and power of his son-in-law John of Gaunt. Great-grandfather of Henry V.

  DU CHATEL, Tanneguy – Military captain of Dauphin Charles and possible murderer of John, Duke of Burgundy.

  EDMUND, Earl of March – Son of Richard II’s nominated heir and possible rival for the throne. Imprisoned by Henry IV. Freed by Henry V and served him loyally as military commander.

  GLENDOWER, Owen – Self-proclaimed Prince of Wales who rebelled against Henry IV and tried to establish an independent Welsh principality.

  HOLLAND, Sir John – Military commander under Henry V in France and leader of sea patrols in the Channel.

  HUMPHREY OF LANCASTER – Duke of Gloucester. Youngest brother of Henry V.

  JAMES I OF SCOTLAND – A prisoner in England from the age of eleven. Later fought in France under Henry V.

  JOHN OF GAUNT – Duke of Lancaster. Third son of Edward III. Father of Henry Bolingbroke and grandfather of Henry V.

  JOHN OF LANCASTER – Duke of Bedford. Third son of Henry Bolingbroke and younger brother of Henry V.

  JOHN THE FEARLESS – Duke of Burgundy. Leader of Burgundian faction in France until his death. Sometime ally of Henry V.

  KATHERINE OF FRANCE – Otherwise Katherine of Valois. Daughter of Charles VI of France and wife of Henry V.

  MORTIMER, Edmund – Uncle and supporter of Edmund, Earl of March. Supporter of Owen Glendower. Fought Henry, Prince of Wales, in his Welsh campaigns.

  OLDCASTLE, Sir John – Lollard peer and friend of Henry V who later attempted to raise a rebellion against him.

  PERCY, Henry, Earl of Northumberland – Early supporter of Henry IV who later plotted to overthrow him.

  PERCY, Henry, ‘Hotspur’ – Son of the Earl of Northumberland. Early supporter of Henry IV and justiciar to Henry, Prince of Wales. Led a rebellion against Henry IV which ended at the Battle of Shrewsbury.

  PHILIPPE OF BURGUNDY – Son of John the Fearless and later ally of Henry V in France.

  POPES BENEDICT, GREGORY AND JOHN – Rival popes at the time of the Western Schism in the Catholic Church.

  POPE MARTIN V – Pope elected at the Council of Constance, with the aid of the English delegation, to put an end to the Western Schism.

  RICHARD II – King of England overthrown by Henry Bolingbroke. During the time of Bolingbroke’s exile, he held the future Henry V hostage.

  SIGISMUND – Holy Roman Emperor and supporter of Henry V’s claim to the throne of France.

  THOMAS OF LANCASTER – Duke of Clarence. Second son of Henry Bolingbroke and brother of Henry V.

  WARWICK, Thomas de Beauchamp, Earl of – One of the Lords Appellant involved in the power struggle with Richard II.

  WARWICK, Richard de Beauchamp, Earl of – Son of Thomas de Beauchamp. Close friend and military commander of Henry V.

  WORCESTER, Thomas Percy, Earl of – Sometime governor of Henry, Prince of Wales. Brother of the Earl of Northumberland and joined him in rebellion against Henry IV.

  UMPHRAVILLE, Sir Gilbert – Military commander in France under Henry V.

  YOLANDE OF ARAGON – Mother-in-law and staunch supporter of Dauphin Charles.

  1

  A CHILD OF SMALL IMPORTANCE

  1386–1399

  An astrological treatise on his birth, claimed to have been commissioned by Henry himself during his reign, states that the future King of England was born at 11.22 pre
cisely on the morning of 16 September 1386. On the other hand, the town where he was born confidently asserts that the correct date is 9 August 1387.

  The fact is that no one knows for sure, the baby being so relatively unimportant at the time that the exact date and time were not recorded. True, he was a great-grandson of King Edward III, but that was not a unique privilege. Edward had twelve legitimate children, most of whom survived to adulthood, and all but one of the sons, at least, married and had children and grandchildren of their own.

  Henry’s grandfather was John of Gaunt – more correctly John of Ghent, the place of his birth, but consistently rendered the way it must have been pronounced at the time. He was the third of Edward’s five sons to survive infancy, and, after the eldest, the Black Prince, probably the best known, his chequered career spanning four decades of English history.

  It was the old king’s policy that his sons should marry for wealth and power, and John of Gaunt certainly did that. When he took a wife, at the age of nineteen, his father-in-law was Henry de Grosmont, not only Edward’s close friend, most trusted captain and one of the first to be admitted to the newly founded Order of the Garter, but a man of immense wealth, with a string of titles and castles spread across the land. He had fought for Edward in Scotland and in France, and it is estimated that the ransoming of prisoners in one campaign alone brought him the staggering sum of £50,000. Not only that, but he proved, in later life, to be a man of some learning, authoring a devotional book and being involved in the foundation of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. As a final accolade, in 1351 Edward bestowed on him the newly created title of duke, raising him from Earl of Lancaster to Duke of Lancaster. In fact the only thing in which Henry de Grosmont may be said to have failed was in the production of an heir. He had two daughters, and it was the younger one, Blanche, that John of Gaunt married in May 1359.

  Half of all that wealth would have been a sizeable inheritance, but then, barely a year after Henry’s death from the plague in 1361, his other daughter died childless and the whole estate fell into the hands of his son-in-law. The title of Duke of Lancaster became extinct with the death of de Grosmont, but was later bestowed again by King Edward upon his son, so, at a stroke, John of Gaunt became Duke of Lancaster, Earl of Derby, Earl of Lincoln and Earl of Leicester, with over thirty castles to his name and estates in almost every county of England. He is seen as the founder of the House of Lancaster, and was at the time the most powerful magnate in all the land, but the wealth and property that gave him that position owed more to the exploits and acumen of Henry de Grosmont than to any achievements of his own.

  It is therefore not surprising that when, after two daughters, Blanche gave him a son, the boy should have been called Henry. This Henry was born in April 1367 at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, where his mother had also been born, and thus became known as Henry of Bolingbroke. His mother died when he was a small child, possibly from yet another visitation of the plague, and within a few years his father had married again, his new wife Constance of Castile bringing him among other things a disputed claim to the throne of that Spanish kingdom.

  John of Gaunt seems to have adopted his father’s policy as far as the marriage of his son is concerned, but there is a story attached to the bride selected for Henry of Bolingbroke.

  Mary de Bohun was, once again, one of two sisters destined to inherit the substantial wealth of the Bohuns, an ancient family stretching back to the time of William the Conqueror. Her older sister had become the wife of Thomas of Woodstock, youngest brother of John of Gaunt and considerably his junior. It is claimed that, with an eye to the inheritance, this younger brother had put pressure on Mary, then a child of ten or eleven years, to enter a convent, but this didn’t at all suit John of Gaunt. On payment of a large sum of money to the king (the sort of wooing common at the time) he obtained permission for Mary to marry his son. Then, so the story goes, she was abducted from the convent, probably not too unwillingly, and the marriage took place. The exact date is unknown, but John obtained the licence to marry in June 1380 and the latest date suggested is February 1381. At the time Mary was probably twelve and Henry fourteen or fifteen.

  Having achieved his aim, and in the process causing a rift with his brother that would have lasting consequences, we are told that John did not intend the young couple to cohabit until Mary had reached the age of sixteen. Whether this was out of kindness to so young a bride or from other considerations we don’t know. As Shakespeare comments about the fourteen-year-old Juliet, ‘Younger than she are happy mothers made,’ and so it proved in this case. Whatever his father’s intentions, the first child of Henry and Mary was born at Monmouth Castle in 1382. The boy, christened Edward, lived only days, and it was not then until 1386 or 1387 that Henry of Monmouth, the future Henry V, became his father’s eldest son and heir.

  Like his predecessor he was born at Monmouth Castle, one of his father’s favourite residences, and, although little of it now remains, it was unlikely to be the ‘cold and stony’ place described by one writer. The castle had been greatly improved by Henry de Grosmont, and, given the wealth and prestige of the House of Lancaster, it would surely have been filled with all the comfort and luxury available to a noble household of the time. In late summer, looking out over the windings of the rivers Wye and Monnow, it was no doubt a very pleasant place to be born.

  We are told that Bolingbroke was not present in the castle when his son was born. One account suggests he was busy about the royal court, while local tradition declares that he was hunting in the nearby Forest of Dean, a likely enough pastime given that hunting was both a pleasure and a necessity in providing food for a household and garrison of some scores of people. At the time he was also in effective control of all the estates of John of Gaunt, who had departed for Castile in July 1386 in a fruitless campaign to claim the throne of that country. It is likely, then, that the twenty-year-old Henry had plenty to occupy his mind, quite apart from the birth of a son.

  Very little is known about the early life of Henry of Monmouth. What we have is largely gleaned from the accounts kept by the various households in which he lived. We are told that he was a small, weak baby, and the accounts show that he had a nurse, one Joan Waryn, for whom he later made provision when he was king. As was usual for noble households of the time, he would have moved around the country from estate to estate, from castle to castle, regularly during his childhood.

  Over the next few years three brothers, Thomas, John and Humphrey, were added to the family, and then two sisters, Blanche and Phillipa. It is probable that Mary de Bohun was a more constant presence in her son’s life than his father, who was frequently away at court, and indeed at one point spent more than a year on a leisurely journey through Europe and a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. She would, however, have been almost constantly pregnant or recovering from childbirth during most of this time, and the first big change in young Henry’s life came with the arrival of her last daughter, on 4 June 1394, for she died in childbirth. She would have been around twenty-five years of age and her eldest son was seven.

  Annual pregnancies and early death in childbirth were not at all unusual at the time, and a contemporary would no doubt have said that Mary had done her duty in providing her husband with a clutch of fine, healthy sons and marriageable daughters. Still, the loss would have been felt by the boys, at least, who would have been old enough to have memories of her, and this may be one reason for the generally close, supportive relationship between the brothers that was evident during almost the whole of Henry’s life.

  By this time, too, his education would have been well underway. As a boy of noble birth he would have begun learning the arts of war almost from the cradle. Riding, swordsmanship, the use of a lance in the joust; these, together with hunting and hawking, had formed the bedrock of a noble education for generations. Times were changing, however. This was the high point of the ideal of chivalry, and the ‘parfit gentil knight’ was not only expected to have courage
and honour and skill at arms, but also to appreciate the gentler arts of literature and music.

  We know Henry was reading from an early age. It is quite likely that his mother taught him, or possibly a governess or a priest attached to the household. Not only English but French and Latin, too, would have been part of his curriculum, and music was also a necessary accomplishment, and one much favoured by both his parents. So we read of harp strings and grammar books being bought for the boy, along with clothes, shoes and a scabbard for his sword.

  The year after his mother’s death Henry suffered an illness serious enough to merit the summoning of a doctor from London to visit the boy at Leicester. Whatever the illness was he seems to have made a complete recovery, and nor is there any further mention of smallness or weakness. Indeed, he was apparently a typical product of his age, revelling in hunting and outdoor activities of all kinds. It is noted that he attended his first tournament at around ten years of age.

  Fighting and book learning were, however, only a part of the education of a noble boy. For the acquisition of ‘courtesy’ and ‘honourable learning’ and knightly lore, he would be expected to enter the household of a great magnate, first as a page and later a squire, perhaps ending as a knight himself. His duties would include waiting at table, cleaning armour, running errands and assisting in arming a knight for battle or tournament, as well as learning all the niceties of courtly manners. It is likely that Henry began such service the year after his mother’s death, possibly in the household of his grandfather, John of Gaunt, the mightiest of the magnates. It is equally possible, however, that he may have had some place in the king’s household, even before the momentous events that were to shape his destiny.

  The seeds of that destiny had been sown some time before, in fact at around the time of Henry’s birth, so we must go back a little to trace the origins of the conflict that would pitch young Henry of Monmouth into the very forefront of English history.

  At the time of Henry’s birth the reigning monarch was King Richard II. He was a grandson of Edward III, and therefore a cousin to Henry Bolingbroke and his exact contemporary. He had become king at the age of ten, his own father having died the year before, and, being underage, a council had been appointed to administer the realm for him. There were many at the time who accused John of Gaunt of coveting the throne for himself and his son, but his behaviour seems to have been exemplary. Though he was not part of the ruling council, he still had considerable influence behind the scenes, but all his efforts seem to have been aimed at supporting rather than undermining the young monarch.