HENRY V. HENRY VI. 



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Wales, under Owen Glendower (see article Glen- 

 doiver), proved a more lasting source of disturbance. 

 That chieftain, having captured Mortimer, earl of 

 March, the lineal heir to the crown, Henry would 

 not suiter his relation, the earl of Northumberland, 

 to treat for his ransom. He thus offended that 

 powerful nobleman ; who, however, with his son, the 

 famous Hotspur, subsequently served the king effectu- 

 ally against the Scots, whom they defeated at Homel- 

 don, and captured their famous leader, the earl of 

 Douglas. An order from Henry not to ransom that 

 nobleman and the other Scottish prisoners, whom he 

 wished to reserve as hostages, completed the disgust 

 of the Percies ; and the fiery temper of the younger 

 Percy being especially roused by these indignities, 

 lie immediately set free his prisoner Douglas, after 

 making an alliance with him, and marched, with all 

 the partisans of his house, towards Wales, to join 

 (i leiuiower. The king met the insurgents at Shrews- 

 bury, and a furious battle ensued, July 21, 1403, 

 which ended in the death of Percy and the defeat of 

 his party. The king, who fought in the foremost 

 ranks, was several times in great danger, and his 

 eldest son, afterwards the conqueror of France, here 

 first distinguished himself. Henry was merciful in 

 this instance. The earl of Northumberland, whom 

 sickness had prevented from joining his son, was 

 pardoned, and but few victims were executed. A new 

 insurrection, headed by the earl of Nottingham and 

 the archbishop of York, broke out in 1405, which 

 was suppressed by the king's third son, prince John, 

 who, by a pretended agreement, induced the leaders 

 to disband their forces, and then apprehended them. 

 The archbishop afforded the first example, in this 

 kingdom, of a capital punishment inflicted upon a 

 prelate, and the chief-justice, Sir William Gascoigne, 

 deeming it unlawful, a less scrupulous judge supplied 

 his place. Northumberland, who had once more 

 conspired with the revolters, fled into Scotland with 

 lord Bardolf ; and, in an attempt to raise a new re- 

 bellion, in 1407, both these leaders were slain at 

 Bramham ; and, the death of Glendower following? 

 soon after, Henry at length felt his crown sit firmly 

 on his head. The casual capture, by sea, of James, 

 sun and heir to Robert, king of Scotland, added to 

 his safety on the side of Scotland ; and, although he 

 had not the generosity to release the young prince, 

 he had him admirably educated, and thereby laid the 

 foundation of the distinction which he afterwards ob- 

 tained, as a reformer of the laws and manners of his 

 country. The continual disquiet of his life brought 

 him, while yet in his prime, into a declining condi- 

 tion ; and repeated fits, which rendered nugatory a 

 resolution of taking the cross, and visiting the Holy 

 Land, brought on his dissolution, March 20, 1413, in 

 the forty-sixth year of his age and 13th of his reign. 

 He had four sons and two daughters. Henry IV. 

 showed himself capable of reigning, possessing cou- 

 rage, vigilance, prudence, and great command of 

 temper. The necessity under which he lay of court- 

 ing popularity, rendered his reign beneficial to the 

 nation, and particularly favourable to the rights of 

 the commons. 



HENRY V., king of England, called, after his 

 birth-place, of Monmouth, was born in 1388, and 

 succeeded his father, Henry IV., in 1413. His dissi- 

 pated youth, and fondness for joviality and low com- 

 pany, gave his father much uneasiness ; but circum- 

 stances occurred, even in the midst of his wildness, 

 which showed that better principles were latent in 

 his mind. His conduct, when he ascended the throne, 

 justified the best expectations. He caused the obse- 

 quies of the unhappy Richard to l)e performed with 

 great solemnity, and was studious to obliterate every 

 party distinction. He had the magnanimity to treat 



with confidence and kindness his superior in hereditary 

 title, the earl of March, who repaid his advances 

 with tmdeviating fidelity. It is to be regretted that 

 his other good qualities were sullied by a rigid exe- 

 cution of the laws against the Lollards, the severity 

 of which proceedings produced a real or alleged 

 conspiracy against his person and government. The 

 circumstances of France, torn asunder by the oppos- 

 ing factions of the dukes of Orleans and Burgundy, 

 afforded a tempting opportunity to an ambitious 

 neighbour. Henry was easily induced to revive the 

 claims of his predecessors upon that country. He 

 accordingly assembled a great fleet and army at 

 Southampton, and was on the point of embarkation, 

 when discovery was made of a dangerous conspiracy 

 against his person, headed by the earl of Cambridge, 

 who had married a sister of the earl of March, and 

 sought to assert the rights of that family. The con- 

 spirators were capitally punished, after an irregular 

 trial ; and the king, delaying no longer, landed near 

 Harfleur, August 14, 1415. He took that town, after 

 a siege, which so much reduced his army that he 

 determined to return to England; and, finding a great 

 force assembled to oppose him, he offered to resign 

 his conquests for an unmolested retreat. The French 

 rejected the proposal, and were totally defeated in 

 the plain of Agincourt (q. v.), October 25, 1415. 

 Henry did not alter his determination to return home, 

 and the dread of his arms was the chief advantage 

 which he reaped from his victory. A peace taking 

 place for two years, France was left to her own dis- 

 sensions ; until, at length, in 1417, the liberal grants 

 of the commons enabled Henry once more to invade 

 Normandy with 25,000 men. To an application for 

 peace, he made a reply, which showed that he sought 

 nothing less than the crown of France ; but, in a 

 negotiation with queen Isabella, he offered to accept 

 the provinces ceded to Edward III. by the treaty of 

 Bretigni. The negotiation was broken off by the 

 assassination of the duke of Burgiuidy, which in- 

 duced his successor to join Henry. This alliance 

 was soon followed by the famous treaty of Troyes, 

 made with the French king in a state of imbecility, 

 or, rather with his queen and the Burgundian faction. 

 By this treaty, Henry engaged to marry the princess 

 Catharine, and to leave Charles in possession of the 

 crown, on condition that it should go to Henry and 

 his heirs at his decease, and be inseparably united to 

 the crown of England. Henry, after espousing 

 Catharine, took possession of Paris, and then went 

 over to England, to raise recruits for his army. He 

 returned to France, in 1421, and pursued the dauphin 

 with so much vigour as to drive him beyond the 

 Loire. A son was at this time born to him, and all 

 his great projects seemed in full progress to success, 

 when he was attacked by a fistula, which carried him 

 off, in August, 1422, at the age of thirty-four, and in 

 the tenth year of his reign. Henry V., as the gallant, 

 youthful, and successful conqueror of France, is a 

 favourite name in English history ; but he was infe 

 rior, in wisdom and solid policy, to many of his an- 

 cestors. His reign was consumed in ambitious pursuits 

 which, while they inflicted great misery on France, 

 entailed much misfortune upon his own country. 



HENRY VI., king of England, born at Windsor 

 in 1421. As he was an infant not nine months old 

 at the death of his father, Henry V., the kingdom 

 was placed under the protectorship of his uncle, the 

 duke of Bedford. The infant Henry was solemnly 

 invested with the crown of France, by ambassadors 

 sent for that purpose, and crowned at Paris in 1430. 

 when only nine years of age. The defection of the 

 duke of Burgundy, and the death of the duke of 

 Bedford, were severe blows to the English interest in 

 France. A truce with France, in 1433, was followed 

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