Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 26.djvu/60

Henry V he breathed his last about two o'clock on the morning of 31 Aug. 1422. The body was embalmed, and after a solemn service at Paris was removed to England. The funeral procession was very magnificent, and passed slowly through France, only reaching London on 11 Nov. Henry was buried in the chapel of the Confessor at Westminster Abbey. A chantry was endowed in his honour, and on his tomb was placed a recumbent effigy carved in oak, and covered with silver-gilt, the head being of solid silver. The precious metal was stolen in 1545, and the figure now remains bare and headless (, Annals, p. 362, ed. 1615; Acts of the Privy Council, new ser. i. 328). Above it hang the shield, helmet, and saddle, which were part of the original funeral equipment.

Henry was deservedly more loved by his subjects than any English king before or since. All writers, whether French or English, are singularly united in his praise. In private life he was temperate, chaste, and frugal; sincere and consistent in his devotions, generous and courteous in his dealings with others, making it a point of honour to be affable to all men. He spoke little, but when he did straightforwardly and to the point, never giving any answer but ‘It is impossible,’ or ‘It shall be done.’ Despite his early entry into public life, his education had not been neglected. He was fond of music and reading. In notices of books lent to the king occur the ‘Romance of Guyron le Courtois,’ ‘The Chronicles of Jerusalem,’ ‘Voyage of Godfrey of Bouillon,’ and St. Gregory's ‘Works’ (Fœdera, ix. 742, x. 317). He is said to have been the friend at Oxford and patron in later life of John Carpenter [q. v.], bishop of Worcester, and Thomas Rudborn [q. v.], warden of Merton College, and is credited with the wish to found a great college at Oxford (, p. 208). This intention was frustrated by his death, and his only foundations were the three religious houses erected at Sheen early in his reign. Lydgate translated the ‘Siege of Troy’ at his request, and Hoccleve dedicated his ‘De Regimine Principum’ to him. Henry's own letters are good specimens of the English of the time; an autograph written in a fine clear hand is in ''Cotton. MS''. Vesp. F. iii. f. 5.

As a ruler he chiefly impressed his contemporaries with his inflexible justice. No king had a higher conception of his rights, or was more stern in their enforcement, but he showed at the same time scrupulous regard for those of all classes among his subjects. His treatment of the lollards and of such Frenchmen as offered him a stubborn resistance may seem to have erred on the side of harshness. But the defence of the catholic religion and the maintenance of his claims on the French throne were to Henry matters of sacred duty; he was never needlessly cruel, nor did he act out of a mere wish for revenge. In war he was full of consideration for his soldiers, and was merciful towards defenceless opponents; all plundering and violence to women were strictly forbidden, and as sternly punished (see, for some remarkable instances,, p. 13, and , i. c. 226). As a general he far surpassed all of his own time; his plans were laid with care and forethought, and executed with patient strategy or brilliant daring as the occasion required; no detail was too slight for his personal superintendence (cf., pp. 10, 63; , pp. 46, 103, 136, 160; Proc. Privy Council, ii. 290). He shared all the hardships of his soldiers, and encouraged them by the example of conspicuous valour. As a diplomatist he was able, firm, but conciliatory, and even in the midst of his busy warfare found time to form and maintain a system of alliances which included almost all the states of Western Europe, and of which he was himself the centre. In the work of civil administration he was less engaged, yet in England he healed the animosities which had distracted the two previous reigns, and even when abroad gave constant attention to the affairs of the realm, frequently corresponding with his representatives at home; while in France he went far to reconcile the people to his rule by the contrast between the justice and firmness of his government and the turbulent violence which had gone before (, pp. 182, 187;, p. 567).

Of Henry's plans it is not altogether easy to speak. His great war, although unprovoked and unjustifiable, was undertaken from a firm conviction of his own rights. It was not a war of idle conquest. Henry's first aim may indeed have been to provide an outlet for the turbulent spirits which had vexed his father's reign, or to secure in Normandy a refuge for his own family. Some colour is given to the latter theory by his special attention to Normandy; but more probably this was due to the fact that it was the only conquest which he had attempted to organise thoroughly. The inducements held out to Englishmen who would settle at Harfleur, Caen, Honfleur, and Cherbourg (, L'Emigration Normande, &c.; Cott. MS. Claud. A. viii. ff. 2 b, 3;, Coll. ii. 487) only aimed at securing these points of entry, and there were no further attempts at anything like an English settlement. At the same time it is clear that Henry would at first have been content with very much less