Henry VI
murdered 21st May 1471
.jpg)
Henry
came to the throne in 1422, as a nine month old baby; following the death of
his hero father Henry V, while on campaign in France. Henry was afflicted by the madness inherent
in the French royal dynasty through his mother, Katherine. At the age of eleven
months he became king of France, upon the death of his grandfather, Charles VI,
as agreed in the 1420 Treaty of Troyes. The treaty was drawn up after the
success of the battle of Agincourt (Azincourt in France). Henry’s senior Regent
was his uncle John Duke of Bedford, who was in charge of the ongoing war in
France. The Duke of Gloucester, Henry’s other uncle was appointed Protector
& Defender of the Realm. The earl of Warwick was appointed Henry’s tutor in
1428. |
| Jeanne d'Arc |
In 1429 the
French armies were energised by the leadership of the Maid of Orleans, Jeanne
‘dArc. Her victories led to the crowning of Charles de Valois as king of France
in Reims cathedral on 17th July 1429. The
English were stung into action. Henry was crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey on 6th November 1429, It took a further two years
to arrange his coronation as King of France at Notre Dame on 16th December 1431[i].
By then Joan had been captured by the Burgundians, sold to the English &
burnt at the stake for heresy in May 1431.
In 1440
Henry founded Eton College, as a charity school to provide free education for
poor boys. The following year he founded King’s College in Cambridge. A man who
preferred religion over politics, Henry favoured making peace with the French,
a position that was not acceptable to most of the nobility.
Henry moved into
the camp of his father’s half brother, Henry Beaufort, Cardinal Bishop of
Winchester. Henry was persuaded to marry Marguerite d’Anjou, a niece of Charles
VI’s wife. For the privilege of marrying Marguerite in April 1445, Henry gave
the counties of Maine & Anjou back to the French, a secret part of the
Treaty of Tours, the details of which became known in 1446 and created much
public bitterness.
In
1447 Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, was arraigned on the charge of treason and
was placed in custody in Bury St Edmunds, where he died. Richard, the Duke of York, now Henry's
heir presumptive, was sent to govern Ireland away from the centre of power;
while his opponents, the Earls of Suffolk and Somerset were promoted to Dukes[ii].
The new Duke of Somerset was sent to France conduct the war, which was going
badly for the English. By 1450 the French had retaken Normandy.
The monarchy was becoming increasingly unpopular due to:
·
a breakdown in law and order, caused in the main by the return of
unpaid troops from France
·
the increase of corruption
·
the distribution of royal land to the king's court favourites,
which exacerbated
·
the troubled state of the crown's finances
·
the steady loss of territories in France.
In 1447, this dislike of the regime resulted in a Commons campaign against the Duke of Suffolk, the most unpopular of the King's entourage and viewed as a traitor. Henry had to send him into exile, but Suffolk's ship was intercepted in the English Channel and his body was found on the beach at Dover.
In 1450 Jack
Cade led a popular rebellion in Kent, the rebels ending up occupying London
after ambushing the king’s army at the battle of Solefields. The Londoners
themselves re-possessed their city and the rebellion fizzled out after the
battle at London Bridge. Despite promised pardons & reforms many of the
rebels were declared traitors; Jack Cade was killed in a skirmish on the 12th
July.
In 1451
Guyenne was lost to the English and the following year the Duke of York
returned from Ireland, having been persuaded to do so to regain his place on
the king’s council. He raised an army at Shrewsbury, and marched them to London
where the king’s army was based. York demanded the arrest of Somerset, to which
Henry originally agreed. He was over-ruled by Queen Margaret.
By the
following year Somerset’s ascendancy was again paramount & the queen
announced that she was pregnant. Prince Edward was born in October 1453, three
months after the news of the loss of Bordeaux brought on the first of Henry’s
bouts of madness. This first bout lasted over a year, during which the Duke of
York was named Regent, following an alliance with Richard Neville, earl of
Warwick. Henry’s sanity was restored on Christmas day 1454, but York had made
good use of his time as Regent and now had many supporters, who believed that
he should take the throne.
For the
following six years the country was divided on sectarian lines, some supporting
the king – known as the Lancastrians & others supporting the Duke of York
and his ally the earl of Warwick – the party of the Yorkists. The lines were
drawn up for the Wars of the Roses, referring to the emblems of the two parties
– the red rose of Lancaster & the white rose of York.
 |
| Edward IV |
In July 1460, after capture at the
battle of Northampton by the Duke of York, Henry VI was forced by the Yorkists
to disinherit his son by the Act of Accord. Queen Margaret was not prepared to
accept her son’s disinheritance & the War of the Roses spiralled on. Richard,
Duke of York was killed at the battle of Wakefield in December & was
succeeded by his son Edward. Margaret took Prince Edward to France seeking
support from her cousin Louis XI of France; while Henry was kept prisoner in
the Tower of London. The new Duke of York, now Edward IV, reigned in his stead.
For eleven years this remained the
status quo, but on 13th October 1470 Henry was restored to the
throne by the earl of Warwick, following Edward’s flight into exile as a result
of the rebellion organised by Warwick. Queen Margaret had married Prince Edward
to Warwick’s daughter, following Warwick’s falling out with Edward. Warwick
then declared war on the Duke of Burgundy, who responded by assisting Edward to
reclaim his throne.
 |
| The earl of Warwick dies at Barnet |
The earl of Warwick died at the battle of Barnet on the 14th April and Prince Edward died at the battle of Tewkesbury on 4th May 1471. Three weeks later his father was murdered in the tower, as the last direct heir of the Lancastrian dynasty. Margaret was imprisoned at Wallingford and then the Tower of London. Her cousin King Louis XI ransomed her in 1475.
In an era when strong, not good or nice,
was a characteristic viewed as essential for kings by the people, Edward II,
Richard II & Henry VI were not seen by the English as having the necessary
strength to defend the country. Their successors felt the need to remove the
‘fallen’ kings from the scene, in an attempt to avoid rebellion.
If William Rufus was indeed murdered
then the reason behind the killing was to secure the throne for his brother
Henry, who had been left with a financial inheritance; rather than the kingdom
or dukedom left to his brothers.
Bibliography
The Wars of the Roses – John
Gillingham, Wiedenfeld & Nicholson 1990
The Reign of King Henry VI - RA
Griffiths, Sutton Publishing 1998
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.