Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VIII.djvu/659

 HENRY V. (ENGLAND) 645 born, it is supposed, in Monmouth, Aug. 9, 1388, died at Vincennes, France, Aug. 31, 1422. But little is known of his childhood. On his father's banishment Henry was seized by Richard II., who took him with the expedi- tion to Ireland, and knighted him. When Rich- ard returned to England, to meet the youth's fa- ther, he placed him in the castle of Trim. His father caused him to be liberated and brought to London ; and he was created prince of Wales, Oct. 15, 1399. He took part in the proceed- ings against the insurgent Welsh in 1401, while he was still a boy. He was then appointed to the command of the royal forces in Wales, and was made lieutenant of Wales in 1403. He had a prominent part in the battle of Shrews- bury. On March 11, 1405, he defeated the rebels at Grosmont. The constant rebellion that prevailed in England prevented the king from sending much assistance to his son, and he was thrown upon his own resources, which tended to the development of his character and prowess ; and the speaker of the house of com- mons in 1406 bore testimony to his good quali- ties as a son and as a man. At the close of 1407 he commanded an expedition that was sent into Scotland, and after some successes made a truce with the Scotch. The house of commons thanked him for his conduct, at the instance of his father. His immediate connec- tion with Wales is believed to have ceased in 1409. He was made warden of the cinque ports and constable of Dover the same year, and cap- tain of Calais in 1410. The king gave him his house of Coldharbor, in London, which accounts for the prince's connection with the city. Councils were there held, at which the prince presided, as he did when they were held at other places. The stories respecting his irregu- larities, loose life, and association with high- waymen rest upon very insufficient evidence. The prince seems to have been in theory and action above the average morality of his time. The popular idea of him is taken from Shake- speare, whose " Prince Hal " is not the histori- cal Henry of Monmouth, but almost as ideal a character as Hamlet himself. Henry V. was proclaimed March 21, 1413, the day after his father's death. His accession caused great re- joicings. Parliament voluntarily tendered the oath of fealty and allegiance, an act without precedent. He behaved with magnanimity to- ward the enemies and rivals of his house, par- ticularly in the instance of the earl of March, who was the legitimate heir to the crown. His legislation is not open to the same praise. He continued the persecution of the Lollards; he was attached to Catholicism both from convic- tion and from supposed interest; and he sent representatives to the council of Constance to help to heal the schism in the church. He de- termined to renew the claim of the English sov- ereigns to the crown of France, though it was far less strong in his person than it was in that of Edward III. ; and his determination is attrib- uted to the advice of the clergy, who wished to draw off the attention of the people from church questions, and to save the church's pat- rimony, the seizure of which had been called for by the house of commons. He first claimed the entire kingdom of France when negotiating an alliance for a marriage with Catharine, daughter of Charles VI. ; and when that claim was scouted, the English envoys, waiving it without prejudice to their principal's rights, "demanded the sovereignty of the duchies of Normandy and Touraine, the earldom of Anjou, the duchy of Brittany, the earldom of Flanders, with all other parts of the duchy of Aquitaine, the territories which had been ceded to Ed- ward III. by the treaty of Bretigny, and the land between the Somme and Gravelines ; to be held by Henry and his heirs, without any claim of superiority on the part of Charles or his successors. To these demands were added the cession of Provence, and payment of the arrears of the ransom of King John, amount- ing to 1,600,000 crowns. It was also intima- ted that the marriage with Catharine could not take place unless a firm peace were also established with France, and that 2,000,000 crowns would be expected as her dower." These monstrous terms were rejected by the French, who however offered to make great concessions. The English parliament strong- ly supported the king, and the guilt of one of the most unjust wars ever waged lies rather upon the nation than upon its sovereign. Par- liament commenced the system of loans for the support of this war. French ambassadors were sent to England to labor for peace, but with- out success. A powerful force was assembled at Southampton ; and a conspiracy was there detected, which was the first act in the con- test between the houses of York and Lancas- ter. The earl of Cambridge, a grandson of Ed- ward III., and the husband of the sister of the earl of March, was at the head of the plot, which had for its object the restoration of the crown to the legitimate line of Clarence. Cambridge and others suffered for their con- duct. The expedition sailed from Southamp- ton, Aug. 11, 1415, and reached France in two days. Harfleur was taken, Sept. 22, after a siege of five weeks. Henry challenged the dau- phin to a personal conflict, to decide the issue of the war, but his proposition was not accept- ed. Resolving to return to England by the way of Calais, Henry left Harfleur with a small army, his forces having suffered from sickness, and on Oct. 25 encountered a great French army at Agincourt, which he totally defeated. In a moment of panic, he caused his prisoners to be massacred. He returned to England Nov. 17. The English rejoiced much over the victory, but they found the war very burden- some, and it was not vigorously prosecuted. Sigismund, emperor of Germany, sought to mediate, and visited both France and Eng- land ; but failing, he joined the latter. Little was done in 1416. In 1417 Henry invaded France again, and met with considerable sue-