Henry V: The Background, Strategies, Tactics and Battlefield Experiences of the Greatest Commanders of History Paperback by Marcus Cowper
Authors: Marcus Cowper
Ads: Link
the
Southampton Plot while Henry Beaufort's appointment as Cardinal and papal
legate in 1417 saw him lose Henry's favour until he had refused the honours
and offered Henry some £22,000 in loans.
Henry also made concrete efforts to improve the law-and-order situation
throughout his kingdom, instigating special commissions of the King's Bench
in an effort to put down disorder in Staffordshire and Shropshire, and he was
not afraid to fine one of his most important supporters, Thomas, Earl of
Arundel, in the process. There is some evidence that the relatively peaceful
state of England during his reign, so unusual in the 15th century, began
to break down during the latter years of his reign while he was absent in
France. In France itself he issued famous ordinances regulating the behaviour
of his men prior to his campaigns in both 1415 and 1417, famously hanging
one of his army for stealing a pyx from a church on the march from Harfleur
to Agincourt.
However, though all sides agreed that Henry could exercise mercy as
befitted a Christian king of the period, he was also ruthless in his campaigning
and capable of acts of brutality. The slaughter of the prisoners in the confused
situation towards the end of the battle of Agincourt may not in the medieval
context have been what we today would term a 'war crime', and it may
certainly have been militarily justifiable at the time, but it certainly did not
fit the ideal of a Christian king. Following the siege of Meaux he had a
trumpeter who had insulted him executed, while at the earlier siege of Melun
Reims Cathedral, the
traditional site for the
coronation of kings of
France. Although John,
Duke of Bedford, had
hoped to have the young
Henry VI crowned here,
the Dauphin and Joan
of Arc beat him to it,
entering Reims on
16 July 1429 and he was
crowned Charles VII, king
of France, on the 17th.
(Author's collection)
59
he had hanged 20 Scots on the somewhat dubious basis that their imprisoned
king (in Henry's custody) had ordered them not to fight, and at the siege of
Louviers in 1418 he hanged eight gunners who had come near to killing him
during the siege.
Thomas Hoccleve
(c.1368-1426) presenting
A L I F E I N W O R D S
a copy of his De Regimine
Prindpum (Regiment of
Henry V was well aware of the power of the written word and many of the
Princes) to Prince Henry in
earliest sources for his campaigns and reign were written while he was still
around 1413. Even before
alive. The Gesta Henrici Quinti, widely acknowledged as the most reliable
his accession to the throne
English source for the Agincourt campaign, was written by an anonymous
Henry was well aware of the
chaplain in the royal service and was probably finished in either 1416 or
power of the written word
1417. The impression of Henry as a servant of God in both his suppression
and would always seek to
of the Lollards and defeat of the French at Agincourt is perhaps unsurprising
win the propaganda war.
given the author's royal connections. The only other strictly contemporary
This illumination is from a
work is the Liber Metricus of Thomas Elmham, and this work follows a similar
manuscript (Ms. Arundel
line to the Gesta. The Vita Henrici Quinti by Tito Livio was written in the
38, fol. 37) held in the
1430s after Henry's death, though there is a strong suspicion that it was
British Library, London,
commissioned by Henry's brother, Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, in an
(akg-images/
effort to emphasize the Duke's close personal relationship to Henry and thus
British Library)
advance his political position.
The French sources might be expected
to be more negative towards Henry, yet
although they are mostly negative about
the English in general and the English
presence in France specifically, they
generally speak highly of Henry's abilities
as a medieval king and military leader,
with the monk of Saint-Denis stating that
'No prince in his time appeared
Southampton Plot while Henry Beaufort's appointment as Cardinal and papal
legate in 1417 saw him lose Henry's favour until he had refused the honours
and offered Henry some £22,000 in loans.
Henry also made concrete efforts to improve the law-and-order situation
throughout his kingdom, instigating special commissions of the King's Bench
in an effort to put down disorder in Staffordshire and Shropshire, and he was
not afraid to fine one of his most important supporters, Thomas, Earl of
Arundel, in the process. There is some evidence that the relatively peaceful
state of England during his reign, so unusual in the 15th century, began
to break down during the latter years of his reign while he was absent in
France. In France itself he issued famous ordinances regulating the behaviour
of his men prior to his campaigns in both 1415 and 1417, famously hanging
one of his army for stealing a pyx from a church on the march from Harfleur
to Agincourt.
However, though all sides agreed that Henry could exercise mercy as
befitted a Christian king of the period, he was also ruthless in his campaigning
and capable of acts of brutality. The slaughter of the prisoners in the confused
situation towards the end of the battle of Agincourt may not in the medieval
context have been what we today would term a 'war crime', and it may
certainly have been militarily justifiable at the time, but it certainly did not
fit the ideal of a Christian king. Following the siege of Meaux he had a
trumpeter who had insulted him executed, while at the earlier siege of Melun
Reims Cathedral, the
traditional site for the
coronation of kings of
France. Although John,
Duke of Bedford, had
hoped to have the young
Henry VI crowned here,
the Dauphin and Joan
of Arc beat him to it,
entering Reims on
16 July 1429 and he was
crowned Charles VII, king
of France, on the 17th.
(Author's collection)
59
he had hanged 20 Scots on the somewhat dubious basis that their imprisoned
king (in Henry's custody) had ordered them not to fight, and at the siege of
Louviers in 1418 he hanged eight gunners who had come near to killing him
during the siege.
Thomas Hoccleve
(c.1368-1426) presenting
A L I F E I N W O R D S
a copy of his De Regimine
Prindpum (Regiment of
Henry V was well aware of the power of the written word and many of the
Princes) to Prince Henry in
earliest sources for his campaigns and reign were written while he was still
around 1413. Even before
alive. The Gesta Henrici Quinti, widely acknowledged as the most reliable
his accession to the throne
English source for the Agincourt campaign, was written by an anonymous
Henry was well aware of the
chaplain in the royal service and was probably finished in either 1416 or
power of the written word
1417. The impression of Henry as a servant of God in both his suppression
and would always seek to
of the Lollards and defeat of the French at Agincourt is perhaps unsurprising
win the propaganda war.
given the author's royal connections. The only other strictly contemporary
This illumination is from a
work is the Liber Metricus of Thomas Elmham, and this work follows a similar
manuscript (Ms. Arundel
line to the Gesta. The Vita Henrici Quinti by Tito Livio was written in the
38, fol. 37) held in the
1430s after Henry's death, though there is a strong suspicion that it was
British Library, London,
commissioned by Henry's brother, Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, in an
(akg-images/
effort to emphasize the Duke's close personal relationship to Henry and thus
British Library)
advance his political position.
The French sources might be expected
to be more negative towards Henry, yet
although they are mostly negative about
the English in general and the English
presence in France specifically, they
generally speak highly of Henry's abilities
as a medieval king and military leader,
with the monk of Saint-Denis stating that
'No prince in his time appeared
Similar Books
