NAME Henry V of England (1387–1422), King of England and heir and regent of France.
WHAT FAMOUS FOR Henry V is best known for his military brilliance during the Hundred Years’ War—most famously his astonishing victory at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415—and for becoming heir to the French throne under the 1420 Treaty of Troyes. His short reign transformed England into a dominant European power.
BIRTH Henry was born on September 16, 1386 at Monmouth Castle in Wales. For many years his birth date was disputed, with some sources claiming 1387, but historians now accept September 16, 1386 as correct based on records indicating his younger brother Thomas was born in autumn 1387 and that his parents were at Monmouth in 1386 but not in 1387. As he was not initially close to the line of succession, his birth date was not officially documented at the time.
FAMILY BACKGROUND Henry was the eldest son of Henry Bolingbroke, Earl of Derby (later King Henry IV), and Mary de Bohun. His mother was a co-heiress of the wealthy de Bohun family, which could trace its heritage back to William the Conqueror and were the foremost patrons of book production in fourteenth-century England.
His paternal grandfather was the powerful John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, a son of King Edward III.
At the time of Henry's birth, his father's cousin Richard II was the reigning monarch.
Henry had several siblings including Thomas of Lancaster, Duke of Clarence; John of Lancaster, Duke of Bedford; Humphrey of Lancaster, Duke of Gloucester; and two sisters, Blanche and Philippa.
CHILDHOOD Henry's mother Mary de Bohun died on June 4, 1394 when Henry was only seven or eight years old, before his father became king. When Henry's father was exiled in 1398, King Richard II took the boy into his own charge and treated him kindly. The young Henry accompanied Richard to Ireland and visited Trim Castle in County Meath.
In 1399, after Henry Bolingbroke usurped the throne from Richard II and became Henry IV, young Henry was recalled from Ireland. He was knighted and created Earl of Chester, Duke of Cornwall, and Prince of Wales on October 15, 1399, and soon afterward Duke of Aquitaine and Lancaster.
Shakespeare’s portrait of him as a wayward youth is largely myth; in reality, he was deeply involved in politics and military affairs from adolescence. Much of the “riotous youth” legend was fuelled by political enmity, not fact. (1)
EDUCATION Henry's uncle, Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, appears to have been responsible for his training. Despite his early entry into public life, he was well educated by the standards of his time. Henry grew up fond of music and reading and became the first English king who could both read and write with ease in the vernacular tongue.
There is evidence he received literary education, as his family inherited several illuminated manuscripts from his maternal grandfather's collection.
CAREER RECORD 1399: Created Prince of Wales and Duke of Lancaster after his father seized the throne.
1403: At age 16, served as Lieutenant of the Marches of Wales and played a central part in his father's victory against the Percy family at the Battle of Shrewsbury, where he was severely wounded in the face by an arrow.
1400–1408: Gained extensive military and administrative experience commanding forces against the Glyndŵr rebellion in Wales.
1410–1411: Headed his father's council, taking a central role in government due to his father's declining health.
March 21, 1413: Ascended the throne as King Henry V.
1415 Led the English army to victory at the Battle of Agincourt.
1417–1420: Conducted the systematic conquest of Normandy.
1420: Signed the Treaty of Troyes, making him heir to the French throne and marrying Catherine of Valois.
1421: Returned to France to continue campaigns until his death in 1422
APPEARANCE Henry was described as very tall, standing at six feet three inches, with a slim build and a clean-shaven face. His dark hair was cropped close and shaven round his head from his neck to an inch above his ears in a priest-like style.
He sustained a permanent facial scar from the arrow wound he received at the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403. Portraits conventionally show Henry in profile, which may have been to minimize the appearance of his facial scar.
 |
| Miniature of Henry in the Regement of Princes by Thomas Hoccleve, c. 1411–1413 |
FASHION Henry dressed in the fashionable styles of his era, including the houppelande (a flowing gown with wide sleeves), but adopted the distinctive priest-like cropped hairstyle mentioned above as a show of his deep Catholicism after becoming king.
At the siege of Le Havre, he wore "his full-sleeved gown, his hair cropped close and shaven round his head from his neck to an inch above his ears, buskins on his feet, for he wore buskins in preference to long boots or pointed shoes". (2)
The fashion of his time also featured parti-coloured hose, belts with long tongues, and various elaborate headwear including sugar-bag caps and turbans.
CHARACTER Henry was disciplined, deeply pious, politically shrewd, and fiercely driven. Far from the ale-soaked scamp of Shakespeare’s imagination, the real Henry was a tightly controlled and charismatic operator—relentless once he set his sights on a goal.
Contemporaries described him as hard and domineering, intolerant of resistance, and capable of ruthless cruelty when policy demanded it. Yet the same observers praised his unwavering love of justice, while French chroniclers—his enemies on the battlefield—admired him as brave, loyal, upright, and honourable in combat.
Henry inspired powerful devotion even though he was not naturally warm. He possessed an uncommon talent for leadership.
Upon taking the crown, became renowned for fervent piety. That piety, while genuine, could also lead him to harsh and hypocritical suppression of religious dissent.
What set Henry apart was his decisiveness. Once resolved, he bent every available resource toward his objective, whether in war, diplomacy, or domestic governance. His brilliance extended beyond the battlefield; Henry wielded language with astonishing skill, his rhetoric proving nearly as formidable as the swords he commanded.
SPEAKING VOICE Chroniclers describe Henry as articulate and clear-voiced, able to inspire loyalty in troops and command attention in court. His battlefield speeches were remembered for their clarity and force.
Shakespeare portrayed Henry as a powerful orator capable of delivering rousing speeches like the famous St. Crispin's Day address. However, in reality his epic speech before the Battle of Agincourt lacked the stirring language Shakespeare would give him. He “bade them all be of good cheer, for they should have a fair day” and a gracious victory over all their enemies. (1)
SENSE OF HUMOUR Historically, the evidence for Henry V's sense of humor points more toward a pragmatic wit and capacity for charm, especially in diplomatic settings.
Shakespeare's portrayal in the Henry IV plays depicted Prince Hal as witty and fun-loving in his youth, consorting with the comic character Falstaff, but scholars note this was largely dramatic invention. Shakespeare gave Henry "a cheeriness that the real Henry never had," according to historian Ian Mortimer. (3)
RELATIONSHIPS Henry married Catherine of Valois, daughter of King Charles VI of France, on June 2, 1420 as part of the Treaty of Troyes. While Shakespeare portrayed their relationship as a romantic love match, historical evidence suggests it was primarily a political marriage. Henry had previously sought to marry Catherine's older sisters before finally settling on her as his bride, indicating she was not his first choice but rather the only available princess in the Valois family.
 |
| Late-15th century depiction of Henry's marriage to Catherine of Valois. British Library, London |
They had one son, Henry VI, born in December 1421. Catherine was crowned in Westminster Abbey in February 1421.
Contemporary accounts describe her as very attractive, and when Henry met her at Meulan in June 1419, he became enamoured and gallantly kissed his betrothed. However, Henry spent little time with his wife, being frequently away on military campaigns. Catherine was effectively sidelined after Henry's death and later secretly married Owen Tudor. Their descendants founded the House of Tudor, reshaping English history.
Upon his accession, Henry V conspicuously rejected his former friends, most notably the fictional Sir John Falstaff (and historically, some of his less respectable associates) to demonstrate his commitment to his new regal responsibilities. However, he maintained trusted relationships with noble advisors and military leaders, such as the Duke of Exeter (his uncle) and his brothers, the Dukes of Clarence, Bedford, and Gloucester.
To finance his French campaigns, Henry required substantial funding. He was highly successful in arousing national enthusiasm for the war, which resulted in Parliament's generosity in funding his campaigns. In November 1414, Parliament granted him a double tax for his war.
He sought loans from the City of London and other sources, using future tax revenues as security. On March 10, 1415, Henry summoned the mayor, aldermen, and substantial citizens of London to the Tower to request loans, telling them he intended "to visit the parts beyond sea, that so we may duly re-conquer the lands pertaining to the heirship and crown of our realm". He even used Richard II's gold crown, worth £800, as security against loans. (4)
FOOD AND DRINK Specific details about Henry V's personal food preferences are limited in historical sources. The standard medieval royal diet was meat-heavy, with an estimated 80% of food intake consisting of meat and other proteins. Water was generally avoided at court in favour of ale and wine. During campaigns, conditions were more primitive, and dysentery was a constant threat from poor food and water quality.
MUSIC AND ARTS Henry V loved music and was himself an accomplished musician and composer. He played the harp from an early age and even had a harp delivered to him in France in 1421, complete with a leather case and twelve spare strings. He also played the recorder and the flute.
 |
| Image by Chat GBT |
As a composer, he wrote settings of the Gloria and the Sanctus, two parts of the Mass. These works appear in the Old Hall Manuscript (created between 1415 and 1421) attributed to "Roy Henry," and it is now thought both works are by Henry V, perhaps written before Agincourt. The music is highly skillful and marks the work of an accomplished musician.
Henry’s greatest intersection with music came after Agincourt, when the famous victory song was composed. He disliked triumphalist gloating and requested that no official celebration songs be written—yet the balladmakers ignored him, and the “Agincourt Carol” remains one of England’s most iconic medieval works.
LITERATURE Henry V grew up fond of reading and was well educated. His family owned illuminated manuscripts, and there is evidence Henry maintained his father's literary interests.
As king, Henry V made a historic contribution to English literature and culture by promoting the use of English in government and administration. Beginning in 1417, he suddenly began writing official letters and documents in English rather than Latin or Anglo-Norman French, making him the first monarch since the Norman Conquest to systematically use the vernacular language for official purposes. This development of "the King's English" had lasting impact on the development of standard English.
NATURE Henry spent much of his life outdoors due to near-constant campaigning. He was familiar with the mud, cold, and miserable weather conditions that shaped so many of his battles, especially Agincourt’s famously sodden fields.
PETS Given his status and love of sports and hunting, he would have possessed highly valued hunting dogs and possibly falcons, which were essential companions for medieval noble pastimes.
Horses were essential to medieval nobility and, while not typically considered pets, were highly valued and sometimes became cherished companions. Henry would have had access to expensive warhorses strong enough to carry an armoured knight and his weaponry, as well as ceremonial horses.
HOBBIES AND SPORTS As a young nobleman, Henry trained in the aristocratic martial arts: archery, swordsmanship, jousting, and horsemanship. His greatest “sport,” however, was war itself. Even as king, he preferred to fight on foot in the thick of battle beside his men—a habit that contributed heavily to his heroic reputation.
Tennis (real tennis) was a sport enjoyed by the rich, originating in France in the twelfth century and played indoors. In Shakespeare's Henry V, the Dauphin's mocking gift of tennis balls to Henry alludes to the king's supposedly misspent youth.
SCIENCE AND MATHS Henry’s most significant brush with medieval “science” involved the treatment of his Shrewsbury arrow wound. The surgeon John Bradmore used an ingenious metal extractor resembling a corkscrew and a plug, flushing the wound repeatedly with honey and white wine as disinfectants. This operation is considered one of the most remarkable cases of battlefield surgery from the Middle Ages.
Henry's systematic approach to military campaigns, including logistics, siege operations, and strategic planning, demonstrated practical application of organizational and mathematical principles.
PHILOSOPHY & THEOLOGY Henry V was renowned for his intense piety and unwavering religious devotion, traits that shaped both his private conduct and his rule. A strict adherent of Catholic orthodoxy, he vigorously suppressed the Lollard reform movement, even when it meant confronting former friends. In January 1414 he faced the Oldcastle Rebellion, an abortive Lollard uprising led by his one-time companion Sir John Oldcastle. Their friendship did nothing to soften Henry’s determination: Oldcastle was hunted down and, after years as a fugitive, was finally captured and burned while hanging on the gallows in December 1417. Henry’s relentless persecution of the Lollards served a dual purpose—affirming his Catholic loyalty while eliminating a potential political threat.
As a child Henry attended Mass every day, convinced that God had marked out a destiny for him. Before departing for France in 1415, he undertook a pilgrimage to a shrine, seeking spiritual preparation for the coming campaign. On the morning of St. Crispin’s Day, he rose at dawn and heard Mass three times before fighting at Agincourt, a victory he believed was sealed by divine approval. He attributed the triumph specifically to the intercession of St. John of Beverley, Archbishop of York (d. 721), whose translation feast coincided with the day of the battle.
Though known for uncompromising force—he was, after all, the king who crushed the Lollards and executed their most famous leader—Henry also issued orders for the protection of civilians during the French campaigns, a notable departure from standard medieval warfare. He financed monastic houses and religious institutions, sometimes cutting his own household expenses to do so.
Henry’s religious imagination extended far beyond his own kingdom. His final ambition was to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and lead a new crusade. On his deathbed, he declared that his greatest wish was simply to live long enough to restore Jerusalem—a crusader’s dream that remained unfulfilled.
REIGN Henry V reigned as King of England from 1413 until his untimely demise in 1422, and for someone who ruled less than a decade, he left behind the sort of legacy that makes other monarchs look like they forgot to do their homework. His reign was a whirlwind of military daring, national myth-making, and administrative tidying-up—rather like if a first-rate battlefield commander had also been an enthusiastic clerk with a sharp quill and a deep sense of destiny.
If Henry V is remembered for one thing, it is Agincourt, that eternally astonishing moment in 1415 when a mud-splattered English army, badly outnumbered and probably exhausted, managed to beat the living daylights out of a vastly larger French force. This was achieved largely through the English longbow, a weapon so efficient that it must have seemed, to the French knights, like being pelted by several thousand very annoyed sewing machines.
Not content with one improbable victory, Henry followed up by conquering Normandy from 1417 to 1419, including the monumental capture of Rouen. The French, who by this point must have felt the universe had turned unfair all at once, signed the Treaty of Troyes in 1420. It officially named Henry as heir to the French throne—an arrangement made even more official when he married Catherine of Valois, daughter of the French king. (Diplomacy, it turns out, is greatly improved when you also control most of northern France.)
While Henry’s foreign policy was all swords and banners, his domestic rule was surprisingly tidy. He had an impressive knack for convincing quarrelsome nobles to stop quarrelling, a feat akin to persuading a roomful of toddlers to sit quietly with their hands folded. This new atmosphere of unity meant England enjoyed a rare stretch of calm—no small accomplishment in a century not exactly known for its serenity.
One of his more farsighted innovations was making English, rather than French or Latin, the language of government. It’s hard to imagine now, but official England once functioned in a linguistic soup. Henry’s decision helped give the English people a shared voice—literally—and nudged the country toward a modern national identity.
Henry wasn't just a battlefield prodigy; he was an unexpectedly adept diplomat. After Agincourt, European rulers treated him like the man who had just solved the puzzle they’d all been staring at upside-down. He managed to befriend Sigismund, the Holy Roman Emperor, and even played a key role in ending the long-running papal schism by supporting the election of Pope Martin V in 1417. It was, in its own way, an impressive feat—almost no one in the Middle Ages managed to get the Church to agree on anything.
And then, just when he seemed poised to collect the French crown and possibly reorganize all of Europe before breakfast, Henry died at the age of 35. It was a curiously abrupt ending for a man who seemed carved from oak.
But his legacy endured. England’s sense of nationhood strengthened. France remained permanently cautious about muddy fields. And Shakespeare eventually turned Henry into one of literature’s most stirring leaders—a man who could rouse an army with a speech and still, somehow, remember to update the paperwork.
Even centuries later, Henry V stands tall as a symbol of English resolve and improbable triumph, forever anchored to that unforgettable day at Agincourt when a young king and a few thousand archers rewrote history in the mud.
POLITICS Henry V provided England with justice and stability at home. His political genius lay in his ability to unite the magnates and the nation behind his costly foreign policy, securing immense parliamentary support and taxation for the French war. He ruthlessly suppressed domestic threats, including a Lollard uprising (1414) and the Southampton Plot (1415), ensuring a united front before his invasion of France. Internationally, he skillfully managed diplomacy to secure the neutrality of the Duke of Burgundy, isolating France strategically.
SCANDAL The most significant scandal of Henry V's life may have been the circumstances surrounding his family's rise to power. His father, Henry Bolingbroke, had usurped the throne from Richard II in 1399, and Richard was probably murdered soon after at Henry IV's orders. Throughout both Henry IV's and Henry V's reigns, rumours circulated that Richard II was still alive. In 1413, John Whitelock, a former servant of Richard II, took sanctuary in Westminster and proclaimed treasonous claims that the old king was alive and working to unseat the Lancastrians. This sedition forced Henry V to respond by having Richard II's body exhumed and publicly processed through the kingdom to prove he was truly dead before reburial.
In July 1415, just before departing for France, Henry faced the Southampton Plot, a conspiracy to depose him and place Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March, on the throne. The plot was revealed by Mortimer himself, and the conspirators—Richard, Earl of Cambridge; Henry Scrope, Lord Scrope of Masham; and Sir Thomas Grey—were promptly arrested and executed.
Henry's harsh suppression of the Lollards, including the execution of his former friend Sir John Oldcastle, was controversial, particularly given his use of religious persecution for political purposes.
MILITARY RECORD Intense, courteous, and pious, Henry V inspired a fierce loyalty in the men who fought under him. A brilliant soldier—immortalized by Shakespeare as the “warlike Harry”—Henry first saw major action at just 15, when he took part in the Battle of Shrewsbury on July 21, 1403. The clash pitted the Lancastrian forces of his father, Henry IV, against the rebel army of Henry “Hotspur” Percy of Northumberland. The young prince was wounded by an arrow to the face but continued fighting.
He then spent five years fighting against Owen Glendower's rebellion in Wales, gaining extensive combat experience.
By 1411, most of England’s continental possessions were lost, and Henry’s own political position was insecure. Determined to assert both legitimacy and destiny, he revived England’s claim to the French throne, effectively reopening the Hundred Years’ War.
His most celebrated triumph came at the Battle of Agincourt on October 25, 1415, where his outnumbered army crushed the French. The French suffered around 6,000 dead to roughly 1,600 English casualties. Henry fought on foot beside his men in the thick of the battle. In the melee he rescued his younger brother, the Duke of Gloucester, though not before his own crown was knocked off and his helmet dented by a battle-axe.
 |
| King Henry V at the Battle of Agincourt, 1415, by Sir John Gilbert in the 19th century |
Henry came home from his victory at Agincourt a conquering hero and he was greeted by cheering crowds at Blackheath Common. The victory made Henry the leading monarch in Europe and accelerated the decline of the heavily armoured knight.
However, the triumph was matched by brutality: fearing revolt among the French captives, Henry ordered the mass killing of prisoners. Fewer than fifty survived, and the slaughter devastated a generation of French nobility.
Henry’s campaigns continued relentlessly. He became the only English king ever to enter Paris in triumph. After two years of preparation following Agincourt, he launched a major new offensive in 1417, quickly conquering Lower Normandy and besieging Rouen. The six-month siege hardened Henry’s reputation; he refused passage to 12,000 starving civilians, who died trapped between the walls and the English lines.
By 1419, the English stood outside Paris, and France—paralysed by civil war and the madness of King Charles VI—was forced into negotiations. The resulting Treaty of Troyes (May 21, 1420) recognized Henry as regent of France and heir to the French throne. However, military conflict continued even after the treaty as some French nobility refused to recognize the agreement. (1)
HEALTH AND PHYSICAL FITNESS Henry's most serious injury occurred at the Battle of Shrewsbury in July 1403 when he was struck in the face by an arrow beside the nose on the left side. The arrowhead broke off and remained lodged six inches deep in the bone of his skull. His surgeon, John Bradmore, performed a remarkable operation over thirty days to extract the embedded arrowhead using specially designed forceps. The young prince's survival was considered miraculous. Henry was left with a permanent facial scar from this wound.
Though a strong and capable fighter, Henry suffered lingering effects from his Shrewsbury wound and the physical wear of constant campaigning. His health began to deteriorate during the lengthy sieges in France, particularly at Melun and Meaux. He died prematurely in 1422 of dysentery (known as "camp fever"), a common and deadly affliction caused by the insanitary conditions of medieval sieges.
DEATH Henry V died on August 31, 1422 at the Château de Vincennes near Paris, just before his thirty-fifth birthday. He contracted dysentery, a common killer of medieval soldiers, during the siege of Meaux. Some sources suggest he may also have suffered heatstroke.
The disease weakened him rapidly, and realizing his condition was terminal, he made arrangements for the education of his infant son, for the government of England and France, and for the continuation of his policies. On his deathbed, five days before death, he added codicils to his will making provisions for his son's minority, appointing Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, as the principal guardian. Henry expressed his final wish that he might live to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem in a new crusade.
His premature death occurred just six weeks before the death of Charles VI of France, which would have made Henry king of both England and France. Instead, his death left his nine-month-old son Henry VI on the throne, with the infant inheriting the English realm at its greatest territorial extent but ultimately unable to maintain his father's conquests.
Henry's body was returned to England and buried at Westminster Abbey on November 7, 1422.
 |
| Effigy of Henry V in Westminster Abbey (the head is modern) By VCR Giulio19 |
APPEARANCES IN MEDIA Henry V's life and reign have been extensively portrayed in literature, theatre, and film.
William Shakespeare's history play Henry V (written c.1599) is the most influential portrayal, immortalizing the king and the Battle of Agincourt in the popular imagination. Shakespeare also depicted Henry's youth as Prince Hal in Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, though these portrayals are largely dramatic inventions.
Shakespeare's Henry V has been adapted multiple times for film, most famously by Sir Laurence Olivier in 1944 and Kenneth Branagh in 1989. Olivier's wartime production was conceived as a morale-booster, presenting a patriotic hymn to "Englishness" that paralleled the 1944 Allied invasion of Normandy. The film was shot in Technicolor, combining theatrical and cinematic elements, and Olivier received a special Oscar for "outstanding achievement as actor, producer and director". Branagh's 1989 version offered a darker, more realistic interpretation that confronted the play's inherent complexities and the brutal realities of war. The film received three Academy Award nominations including Best Director and Best Actor for Branagh, winning Best Costume Design.
William Walton composed acclaimed film scores for both the 1944 Olivier production and arranged the music into a concert suite.
A more recent adaptation, David Michôd's The King (2019), has further established Henry's reputation in popular culture.
On TV, he's been portrayed by Robert Hardy in the BBC series An Age of Kings (1960) and Tom Hiddleston in The Hollow Crown (2012).
Henry also featured in novels like Georgette Heyer's Simon the Coldheart and Bernard Cornwell's Azincourt.
Henry V has been the subject of numerous historical biographies, scholarly works, and remains a frequent topic in medieval history courses and popular history books.
ACHIEVEMENTS One of England’s greatest military commanders.
Victor of Agincourt, a battle that transformed European warfare.
Temporarily united the crowns of England and France under the Treaty of Troyes.
The only English monarch ever to enter Paris in triumph.
A disciplined, deeply religious king whose soldiers adored him and whose legacy—though marked by both heroism and brutality—remains one of the most dramatic in English history.
Sources (1) Encyclopaedia of Trivia (2) Fashion Era (3) Ianmortimer.com (4) Agincourt600
No comments:
Post a Comment