Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 26.djvu/63

Henry VI to the coronation of Charles VII at Rheims on 17 July 1429. The English council was glad to have an opportunity to diminish Duke Humphrey's power, and on 6 Nov. 1429, ‘a clear and bright day,’ Henry was crowned at Westminster in the presence of parliament. Warwick led him to the ‘high scaffold set up in the Abbey,’ where he sat ‘beholding the people all about sadly and wisely,’ and showing great ‘humility and devotion.’ The function ended with ‘an honourable feast in the great hall, where the king, sitting in his state, was served with three courses’ (, p. 599;, Chronicle, pp. 165–170; , Political Songs, ii. 140–8). Parliament at once resolved that Gloucester's protectorship was at an end (Rot. Parl. iv. 337), and proclamation was made that the king would forthwith visit his French dominions (Ord. P. C. iv. 10–11).

On 24 Feb. 1430 the king, after service at St. Paul's, removed from London to Kennington. Thence on Palm Sunday he went to Canterbury, where he remained for Easter (16 April). On St. George's day, 23 April, he crossed from Dover to Calais, accompanied, it was believed, by ten thousand soldiers (Ann. S. Alban. i. 48–51; cf. Ord. P. C. iv. x.), and conducted by Cardinal Beaufort. He landed at Calais at about ten in the morning, and rode at once on horseback to high mass at St. Nicholas's Church (, iv. 389;, p. 360). On 17 July he proceeded to Rouen (Ann. S. Alban. i. 52), the capture of the Maid of Orleans on 23 May probably making the journey less dangerous. But the English cause had now sunk so low that Henry was kept many months at Rouen, while vigorous, though unsuccessful, efforts were made to clear the way to Rheims for his coronation. He was at Rouen during the trial and martyrdom of the Maid of Orleans, sometimes present during the proceedings (, Procès de Jeanne d'Arc, ii. 325, Soc. de l'Histoire de France), though Bedford, as a rule, kept him discreetly in the background.

Despairing of approaching Rheims, Bedford had to content himself with crowning his nephew at Paris. On Advent Sunday, 2 Dec., Henry made his triumphant entry into Paris by the Porte Saint-Denis. The city was gaily adorned, and municipality, university, and populace heartily welcomed him (Journal d'un Bourgeois de Paris, pp. 430–3, ed. Buchon,, Chronique, i. 90, Soc. de l'Histoire de France; , i. 130, 131, ed. Vallet de Viriville; , v. 1–6, ed. Douët-d'Arcq). Henry visited his grandmother at the Hôtel Saint-Pôl. He was lodged at Vincennes till two days before the coronation. He was crowned on 16 Dec. (not 17th, as Stubbs and Pauli say) at Notre-Dame by Cardinal Beaufort. The arrangements were badly managed. The English made themselves too prominent, and the withholding of the customary largesses and pardons disgusted the Parisians (Bourgeois de Paris, pp. 434–6). On 21 Dec. Henry presided at a great council. On 26 Dec. he left Paris for Rouen. Landing at Dover on 29 Jan. (, p. 173) he entered London on 14 Feb. (ib. p. 173; other authorities make the dates 9 Feb., 19 Feb., and 21 Feb., see, v. 228). Lydgate celebrated his return by a poem, and the Londoners welcomed him with great state. A change of ministers followed. On 12 May 1432 Henry opened parliament in person, sitting through the fiery debates arising from Henry Beaufort's challenge of his accusers, and finally declaring in favour of his great-uncle's loyalty.

Warwick meanwhile found that Henry was ‘grown in years, in stature of his person, and also in conceit and knowledge of his royal estate, the which cause him to grudge with chastising,’ while in private speech ‘he hath been stirred by some from his learning, and spoken to of divers matters not behovefull.’ He therefore obtained from the council fuller powers for the regulation of the household, the prohibition of unauthorised persons from access to the king, and authority to remove the king into sundry places ‘for the health of his body and the surety of his person.’ On the king's next visit to London the council appeared before him and admonished him to obey Warwick's precepts (Paston Letters, i. 31–5, ed. Gairdner). Next year the return of Bedford gave some prospect of stronger government.

Henry celebrated the Christmas of 1433 at Bury St. Edmunds, remaining there or at Elmswell until after Easter (28 March) (Archæologia, xv. 66–71, gives a long account of this visit, reprinted in Monasticon, iii. 113–114, ed. Ellis, &c., where is a picture of Henry praying before St. Edmund's shrine, from the Life of St. Edmund, the very beautiful Harl. MS. 2278, which Lydgate, the author, presented to Henry). On this occasion Henry was admitted to the fraternity of the abbey, which henceforth became a favourite resort with him. On 26 April 1434 Henry presided at a great council, where peace between Gloucester and Bedford was only secured through his personal mediation (, Const. Hist. iii. 120; Ord. P. C. iv. 210 sq.). Soon after Bedford left England for the last time. Henry's success as a peace-maker led him to further action in state affairs, in which he showed a precocious and unhealthy interest.