User:Serial Number 54129/Henry VI of England

This article is about the English king. For the plays by Shakespeare, see Henry VI, Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

Henry VI (6 December 1421 – 21 May 1471) was King of England from 1422 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471, and disputed King of France from 1422 to 1453. The only child of Henry V, he succeeded to the English throne at the age of nine months upon his father's death, and succeeded to the French throne on the death of his grandfather Charles VI shortly afterwards. Henry inherited a long-running conflict in France, known as the Hundred Years War (1337-1453) where Charles VII contested his claim to the French throne.Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

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Early life and minority government (1421-1436)

Before Henry V died, he dictated a codicil to his will in which he left strict instructions for the governance of England and the rule of his son, whom he referred to as 'Prince of Wales' (although no official ceremony was ever performed).

The Treaty of Troyes, signed between England and France in 1420, dictated that the king of England was heir to the King of France, Charles VI. Hence, as historian John Watts puts it, 'a baby succeeded to the English throne and inherited awesome claims in France.' Christopher Allmand notes that this baby- 'unlike his father'- would one day bear the title Henry V was fighting for.

He also notes that the baby king had no rivals and no alternate claims were suggested, which he puts down to both the 'awesome achievements' of Henry V, and the fact that the English were willing to stay loyal in the face of the king's youth.

Upbringing

Henry was born at Windsor Castle on 6 December 1421, the only son and heir to King Henry V and Catherine of Valois. The new king was nine months' old when Henry V died at Vincennes, France, whilst on campaign, and the new king never saw his father. Allmand suggests that, as well, his birth was a welcome boost to both English morale in Normandy and the popularity of the Lancastrian regime in England.

From his father's Last Testament Henry inherited his armour, books, and the contents of his chapel, as well as, as Allmand puts it, 'at first, his ships' (which, however, were later to be sold off to pay the dying king's debts).

Henry V left codicils to his will in which he laid out arrangements for the succession: his brother, the duke of Gloucester was named as the baby's 'custodian and protector' in England, whilst his other brother, John, Duke of Bedford was responsible for governing France and continuing the campaign there. Personal care of the new king was to be the 'heavy responsibility' of Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter. Contemporaries- such as Chancellor Thomas Langley- also viewed Henry VI as 'personif[ying] the unity of the crowns of France and England.'

Previous royal minorities were also considered when approaching the question of governance, specifically those of Henry III and Richard II of England. This resulted in the extended Lancastrian family taking responsibility for aspects of the young king's upbringing. His great-uncle, Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter, was in charge of Henry VI's welfare and household, whlst his own mother Catherine of Valois, accompanied him, even holding him at the 1423 parliament, where the new king was presented to the House of Commons.

John, Duke of Bedford and Cardinal Beaufort were his godfathers, whilst Jacqueline, Countess of Hainault was his godmother.

In 1428 Richard Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick was appointed to a combined role of governor and tutor of Henry; this provided the staple training for a male child in the fifteenth century, particularly 'good manners, letters and languages.'

Henry was, in the words of historian Ralph A. Griffiths a 'normal, healthy child' who was regularly displayed at state occasions, for instance the opening of the 1425 parliament

By 1430, following his mother's affair with firstly Edmund Beaufort and then Owen Tudor, the young Henry was removed from her permenant care.

Following changes (possibly instigated by Gloucester) in the king's household, Katherine no longer lived with the king on his return from France; she also appears to have had little public association with him except on ceromonial or public occasions. She had married Tudor around 1430; faling seriously in 1326, she was dead by January the next year.

Griffiths relates how the council started considering- or being forced to consider- Henry as a near-adult by the mid-1430s: Warwick had complained about Henry's 'mocions and sturinges' in 1433, and by November the following year the council felt forced to inform Henry that, whatever he might believe himself, he was still too young to govern without his council.

In 1436 warwick resigned as Henry's governor. This is, Griffiths has suggested, likely due to his realising that his authority over the king was declining, and that his position was increasingly 'untenable.' By the end of the dease, Henry had taken control of government, and his personal rule began.

Factional politics (1422-1436

Even before the death of Henry V, his brother Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester had been appointed 'Keeper of the Realm' for the duration of Henry's absence, although his authority was, Allmand says, 'ambiguously expressed.' His death, and particularly the youth of his son, immediately raised problematic issues of governance for England. Watts has described relations between those responsible for Henry VI's minority government- Gloucester, Bedford, Exeter and his brother Cardinal Beaufort as 'loyal but suspicious' of each other.

The nobility and prelates that remained in England whilst Henry V was abroad paid homage to the young Henry on 28 September 1422 at Windsor Castle, and formally re-appointed the administrators still in government office. Over the next two months, with the return of the dead king's body and other nobles and ecclesiasts, a parliamnet was summonned and, as Watts puts it, 'intensive discussions' took place to formulate a system of government that compromised between the king's uncles.

This compromise resulted in Gloucester being named 'protector and defender of the realm and chief councillor for the king,' while the duke of Bedford was appointed Regent of English possessionss in France. a council was also formed for the duration of the minority. The duke of Gloucester, however, remained at odds with- and an active rival to- his brother Bedford and his uncle Beaufort, who was a councilor.

After Henry's 1429 coronation, concilliar government continued much as before, except that the already poor relations that existed between Gloucester and Cardinal Beaufort grew steadily worse, especially as Gloucester had been apointed the king's lieutenant whilst the latter was abroad. Throughout the rest of the decade, Griffiths puts their continuing souring of relations down to the war situation in France, a situation only alleviated by Bedford's return to England in 1433, probably because he took over as head of the council. This in turn however increased the level of hostilty between Gloucester and Bedford, with the former going so far as to criticise Bedford's French strategy in that year's parliament. The young king, evidently aware of his uncles' mutual animosity, even, says Griffiths, 'intervened in the council personally, begging his uncles to become friends again' before Bedford left for France for what was to be the last time in July 1434.

Foreign affairs (1422-1436)

The protectorate government continued to prosecute the war in France, under the command of Bedford with military success, until 1429, when the arrival of Jeanne d'Arc in the campaign led to a boost in French morale. Allmand has noted that they could hardly do otherwise, as to make concessions to the French would be to deny Henry the rights he would expect to have as an adult.

Resulting in the fall of Orléans in 1429 and the subsequent coronation of Charles VII as king of France in July that year.

Bedford responded with propaganda and an offensive, but little was gained either before or after the burning of Jeanne d'Arc in Rouen on May 1431.

The conflict delayed Henry's arrival into Rouen until late July. Following his coronation (see below), there remained uncertainty on the strength of the English position in France. Reflecting 'the hollowness of the coronation spectacle,' Henry had not even docked at Dover when England's erstwhile ally, the Duke of Burgundy, signed a truce with France.

At the same time, Bedford was old and tired

and reflected divisions in the leaders of the council's approach to the war. Bedford wanted to focus on English rule in Normandy; Gloucester, on Calais; and Cardinal Beaufort seems to have desired peace.

The summer of 1435 saw a conference in Arras between the two sides, but this led to few concrete results, partly, Griffiths suggests, due to the 'unrealistic' demands an expectations the English negotiators had.

This was not the only blow to Henry's rule in France; shortly after the congress finished, the duke of Burgundy took his truce with France the final step, and deserted Henry for CHarles. Henry is said to have shed tears at this news. By this time, to make things worse, the duke of Bedford had died in mid-September.

This, combined with the singular lack of progress at arras, left Gloucester in a string position politically, both in England and in France, as having the most powerful voice in both countries' affairs. In 1436 he managed to lift the siege of Calais and defeat the duke of Burgundy that August

Coronations (1429 and 1431)

Ralph Griffiths has described how Charles VII's coronation 'precipitated' Henry's own coronation as king of France, as, according to the Treaty of Troyes, Henry was heir to two kingdoms.

Prior to leaving for the continent for his French coronation, he was re-ordained King of England. Having spent the night in The Tower, where he dubbed over thirty new knights, he went the next day to Westminster Abbey. Here, before his uncle the Cardinal and his mother he was annointed with Holy oil; according to the contemporary Gregory's Chronicle, the king was crowned looking 'saddely and wysely' at the congregation.

The political importance of this first coronation was that it indicated the theoretical start of king's period of personal rule; in reality, of course, government was still carried out through the Council.

His French coronation was at least in part intended to depict the French as apeople rebelling against their natural king, and the English clergy were mandated prior to his leaving, to pray for the king and his expedition every time mass was held.

Henry's next coronation involved a massive operation, and was his first journey outside England. When he left in April 1430 it was with an entourage over of over 300 followers, a large army, and much of the English nobility, all, of course, at 'prodigous expense.' Despite this, he was unable to travel to either Paris or Rheims for over a year due to the on-going war. He eventually reached the former in Decembeber 1431, where he was crowned king of France by Cardinal Beaufort in Notre-Dame Cathedral. Griffiths has viewed the occasion as being far less than 'the propaganda coup that had been envisaged.' Indeed, there was at least outbreak of violence when local people invaded the king's banqueting hall, and general disappointent at the new king's failure to hand out the traditional royal largesse. Henry was however the only English king ever to have his claim to the French throne recognised by the French authorities themselves.

By January 1432, Henry and his household were back at Calais, preparing to return to England; this was to be his one and only journey to France.

Personal rule (1436-1447)

According to Griffiths, Henry, although he had been brought up in a stronger-than-usual orhodox christianity (thank perhaps to Gloucester's household changes earlier in the decade, which in part placed some very orthodox clerics within it), which might have influenced his religious beliefs. To contemporaries, however, he came across as 'personable, educated, even precocious'; and this was in spite of the poisonous atmosphere in which he must have lived, the result of Gloucester's and Cardinal Beaufort's continued efforts to dominate him politically.

Vs Watts 'To go so far as to say (as, for instance, John Watts has done) that he had no independent will is to contradict councillors' reports, like those cited above, of his early self-awareness and youthful powers of perception'

He attended his first working council meeting on 1 October 1435, and by the middle of the following year he had personally made grants and appoitments. Griffiths suggests that, although at this point Henry could still not govern personally, he was a factor that now had to be considered another adult by his feuding uncles.

From minority to personal rule

Griffiths has pointed out that from July 1436, when Gloucester left England for Calais, Cardinal Beaufort 'had the king's ear.' It was not long, however, before the king was personally intervening on matters such as the Earl of Warwick's conditions of Indenture for his French service (1437) and authorizing grants by means of his personal signet seal (July 1438). The two main issues of policy he involved himself in were the ongoing divisions between Pope Eugenius IV and the Council of Basel and the French wars. In both of these policies Henry followed his uncle the cardinal, who supported the pope against the council and encouraged negotiations at Gravelines with the French. The latter was, Griffiths says, even though the king knew that Gloucester was 'hostile' to such a policy.

In 1437, having toured the Midlands, Henry returned to London and on 21 October attended a great council at Sheen. It was not long before, on 12 November, the duke of Gloucester was formally divested of his role as chief councillor. The council remained in charge of policy, but for the first time the king was personally responsible for what were known as 'matters of grace.'

The transition from concilliar rule to that of Henry alone has been one of great historiographical debate.

Griffiths has emphasised how 'a group of councillors, without a nominated chief councillor, assisted the young and inexperienced monarch, with no formal control over him but stressing the wisdom of his taking advice on important matters' and that by 1437 he was king ' in fact as well as in name.'

Foreign policy

Following the diplomatic failure at Arras and the betrayel of the duke of BUrgundy, English policy in France focussed on defending Calais and Normandy, and in July 1436 the duke of Gloucester left England in an attempt to relive the siege of Calais. He was succesful in this, which led to a boost in domestic popularity as well, and allowed him to request reinforceents from the beleagured exchequer.

Henry however, as he grew up, showed increasing signs of disapproving of war- Griffiths suggests that this was because he believed it stood in the way of resolving the Great Schism that had fractured rlations between the Pope and his council.

In the interests of furthering the interests of peace Henry is believed to have personally authorised the release Charles, Duke of Orleans, who was the important of the French nobles captured at the Battle of Agincourt, in spite of this being contrary to Henry V's expressed intentions. Griffiths does point out, though, that in spite of this overture to Charles VII, Henry at no time considered 'surrendering hard-won territory at this stage, still less his title of king of France.'

The handling of foreign policy was made more difficult by the hostile relations between Hloucester and Beaufort- as Griffiths put it, they 'flung insults at each other whenever France was discussed.'

A peace conference held outside Calais (near Gravelines) in 1439 achieved nothing, except to confirm the release of the Duke of Orleans, which did little to further peace as intended. The following year it was agreed that Orleans would pay Henry a ransom of 40,000 nobles as a down payment, and twice that sum six months later. If, however, Orleans was succesful in brokering a peace between the countries, the ransom would be revoked. Orleans, returning to Rance in November 1440, as Griffiths notes, in the event 'failed to gain even an interview' with the French king.

After expeditions to France by the duke of York and the Earl of Salisbury in 1436, and then York again for four years from 1440, the next effort in the dierction of peace came in 1442. This was a proposal that Henry wouold marry the best-looking of the count of Armagnac's daughters, to which purpose the king commissioned portraits of them made. This marriage, had it gone ahead, would have allied England with Gascony; but the French king- 'outraged' at the suggestion- forced the abandonment of that particular proposition.

John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset led an expedition to France in 1443 which was notable by its failure, but did lead to what Grifiths has called 'the most far-reaching step in the search for an honourable peace'- the proposition, in 1444, that Henry marry the niece of the French queen. This was Margaret, daughter of René, Duke of Anjou, and a royal princess in her own right.

Economic policy

Henry was keen to utilise merchant in political issues; for instance in 1449 he was keen to gain the favour of Bristol merchants who had agents within Prussia.

He was a known patroniser of alchemists, even though legally this constituted a felony. Henry granted numerous licenses for men to carry out this work, in the hope of increasing circulating currency.

Marriage (1445)

When the king went to greet his new bride he borrowed 'many horses, as frieies, as for chares, charietts, someres, and other' to take with him.

Ascendancy of the duke of Suffolk (1447-1450)

Royal finances

Modern historians agree that the Exchequer was continually impoverished under Henry VI.

Griffiths has argued that this was a direct result of the king's own excessive generosity.

Rivalry of York and Somerset (1450-54)

Henry responded with personal proclamations stating his intention of holding anyone found in possession of scurillous 'schedules, bills or libels,' responsible for their creation until (if ever) the true author was found.

Wars of the Roses (1455-1461)

York's defeat, Yorkist victory (1459-1460)

After the Battle of Northampton the Yorkists used Henry's name in order 'to proclaim the keeping of the peace in London.'

Loss of the throne (1461)

Readeption (1470 - 1471)

The victorious partnership between Edward IV and the Earl of Warwick was not destined to last, however. Owing to various differences of opinion between them, which ranged from foreign policy (an alliance with either Burgundy or France) to the King's secret marriage (to Elizabeth Woodville), Warwick- and with him Edward's brother, George of Clarence- became increasingly discontented. They eventually rebelled against Edward, and in May 1470 they arrived together in France as exiles. At the court of King Louis XI Warwick allied with his old enemy, Margaret of Anjou.

Warwick and Clarence subsequently invaded England, and on 2 October 1470 Edward Iv, with certain loyal Yorkists, was in turn forced into exile, this time to Burgundy. Henry VI was re-crowned in Westminster Abbey the following day; what contemporaries labelled as his readeption to the throne.

Sir Richard Tunstall was indentured in 1470 to adjust the weight of the coinage.

Second reign

However, Edward returned to England in March the next year. Landing at Ravenscroft in Yorkshire with his brother Gloucester, Hastings and an army of XXXX, at first Edward claimed he had returned only for his dukedom of York. This was the same strategm that Henry VI's own grandfather had used when returning from exile in 1399- just before he overthrew Richard II.

Death

At some point during the night of 21 May 1471 Henry died in the Tower of London. Although the exact causes or chronology of events is unknown, this was almost certainly on the direct order of the King. The following day Henry's body was escorted to St Paul's Cathedral; conteporaries report that his corpse bled onto the paving stones when it arrived. Henry's body lay in state until the 23 May, in an open coffin so all might see that he was dead, as the Great Chronicle reported. The next day it was shipped up-river to Chertsey Abbey for a quiet and plain burial, and, as one contemporary wrote, "no-one from that stock remained among the living who could now claim the crown."

Assessment, reputation and character

Contemporary

Contemporary views of Henry VI were coloured by partisanship and other emotion, says Griffiths and this was an influence which continued into at least the sixteenth century. Watts sums up the views of Henry's sympathetic contemporaries like Fortescue and Ashby as being that while Henry had 'more or less' behaved as a king should, 'the visciousness of his contemporaries had prevented successful rule.' He notes less sympathetic commentators, however, referred to Henry's 'simplicity' and called him 'a natural fool' and 'a sheep.'

see Wollfe ch1, Griffiths H6 Intro + 2402, 248-54,

Present day

Allmand expressed Henry's inheritance as beng 'as good a hand as any player could hope for.'

Griffiths posits that whilst Henry 'practised Christian virtues... his piety was orthodox.' He does however state that he had other qualities that were more unusual in medieval English kings, including compassion, sensitivity and humanity. A contemporary chronicler, John Blacman describes how the king lacked confidence around females (at least as a child) and was horrified at the sight of men and women bathing together at Bath in 1449. Likewise, he expressed concern that the pupils at Eton were protected from any the licentiousness doubtless known to be amongst the courtiers in nearby Windsor Castle.

On the other hand, he hunted enthusiastically, gamed, and dressed fashionably,

as well as possessing the most important trait in a medieval lord, that of generosity in gifts and patronage.

Henry had a 'special devotion to both St Edward and St Edmund' and was a great benefactor to the latter's Abbey at Bury St Edmunds.

Until the 1980s, historians traditionally took a dim view, reflecting the criticisms of Henry's contemprary critics. Personality-wise, K.B. McFarlane believed the root cause of Henry's problems was his "inanity," whilst J.R. Lander described Henry as a 'saintly muff,' In 1981 B.P. Wolffe and R.A. Grifiths, in two major studies, both suggested that actually contemporary views were distotred by the olitical upheavals of the Wars of the Roses. The latter stated that "no king who loses his crown and dies in prison, and whose reign ends in civil war, can be counted a success," whilst acknowledging that his original inheritance was "daunting." Griffiths fundamentally puts Henry's failures down to a lack of personal ability to impose himself on his nobility and their issues. Bertram Wolffe likewise stressed that, at least in his early years, he was personally involved in the administartion of government to a great degree.

The navy too, whch had been built up by Henry V, fell into decline under his son.

Legacy

Architecture and education

Henry's interest in both building and education has been desribed by Griffiths as a 'passion,' which expressed itself in his planning and foundation of Eton College and King's College, Cambridge. Griffiths traces this interest in part at least to Henry's childhood, when he had read both books and chronicles and displayed an admiration for King Arthur, who was seen as a noted promoter of education, and whom Henry tried to have canonized in 1442. The same spirit is reflected three years later in Henry's founding of a library for Salisbury Cathedral, or, as the writ says, 'for the keping of the bookes to the said Churche belanging.'

Throughout the 1440s Henry endowed both of his colleges generously and continued to provide them with both grants and land, as well as taking an active part in their building. For example, he both laid foundation stones and adjusted the architectural plans occasionally.

This was at a time when universities were complaining of a lack of money and students, and was 'largely the result of the low estimation in which scholarship was held at this time.'

Griffiths has noted henry's 'encouragement of university reform and clerkly education,' which he puts down to a genuine desire to improve the quality of education. One concrete cosequence, says Griffiths, is that from around 1436, most of the bishops who were appointed over the next eight years were theologically trained and capable individuals.

Posthumous cult

R. A. Griffiths put the fact that a cult of veneration quickly grew up around Henry VI to be primarilly down to both the fact that he was the last of his dynasty, but also suspicions as to the manner of his death; miracles attributed to Henry are recorded from around 1481 onwards.

The Tudors even gave serious consideration to advocating his sanctification, continuing a process of veneration. that began soon after he died, to the extent that York Minster, whch had had a statue of Henry before its Rood screen was forced to remove it. Henry VII petitioned various popes throughout his reign, and arranged the production of a compilation of miraculous events associated with his namesake, while his son, Henry VIII, personally visited the tomb in Windsor..

In 1484, King Richard III broke with his brother's policy of trying to surpress the growing cult around Henry, and moved the dead king's body back to Windsor, where it was installed in St George's Chapel.

Ancestry