Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 09.djvu/833

* HENRY V. 769 HENRY VI. and restored the son of Hotspur to the lands and honors which his father had lost by robellion. He followed in the fuutslojis of his father in persecuting the Lollards with lire and luilter, the celebrated leader of the Lollards, Sir John Old- castle (q.v.), being jjut to death in 1417. The great event of his reign was the attempted eon- quest of France, in which he virtually succeeded. In his first campaign he besieged and took the town of Hartleur, and gained the battle of Agin- court (q.v.), October 25, 1415, against enormous odds. Two years after he again invaded France, and made Normandy once more subject to the English Crown. Rouen was captured in January, 1419, after a long siege, an incapable King and civil discord in France aiding him greatly. On May 21, 1420, a treaty was concluded at Troves between Henry and the French King, Cliarles VI., by which Henry obtained the regency of France, the eldest daughter of the French King for his wife, and the succession to the French crown on the deatli of the King. He was married to Catha- rine of France on .Tune 2, 1420. He had hardly returned to England when the defeat at Beauge of his brother, the Duke of Clarence, whom he had left as Governor of Normandy, rekindled the hopes of the French, who supported the Daipliin Charles in his repudiation of the Trea'ty of Troyes, to which he had not agreed. Henry re- turned to France for a third campaign, and his wonted success in arms was following him when he was seized with illness, and died on August 31, 1422, at Vincennes, at the age of thirty-five years, leaving an infant son, Henry VI., to succeed him. His private life was exemplary; as a King he ■was noted for his strict justice; in war he was ■one of the ablest generals of his time. Consult: Pauli. Geschichte von Enf/laiid (Leipzig. 1804- 75) ; Stnbbs. Constitviional Historif of Enr/lnnd (Oxford, 1891): Wylie, History of ncnrii IV. (London. 1884-98) ; Church, Eenrij Y. (London and New York, 1889). HENRY VI. (1421-71). King of England from 1422 to 1401. He was the only child of Henry V. and Catharine of France, and was born at Windsor, December 0, 1421. He was not quite nine months old at his father's death, when he became King of England, and a few weeks later, on the death of Charles VI. of France, he was also proclaimed King of that country. His claim to France was disputed by Charles VII. ; but the latter was too indolent to make any serious attempt to conquer the kingdom. The Ihdce of Bedfoi'd, brother of Henry V., who was Regent of France, was successful in holding the country for Henry VI. until 1429. Then .Joan of Arc (q.v.), by her heroism, aroused the valor of the French nation, defeated the English at Or- leans, and led Charles VII. to Rheims to be crowned. The jMaid of Orleans fell into the hands of the English the following year and was burned in 1431. and a few months later Bed- ford was able to have Henry crowned at Paris. He had already received the English Crown at West- minster, on November 0. 1429. But France gradu- ally passed out of the control of the English, as the French united against foreign nde. On Bed- ford's death, in 1435, the Duke of Burgundy broke off his alliance with the Emrlish and joined Charles VII. From this time the Enclisli lost ground steadily, and by the end of 1451 Calais ^^•as the only English possession in France. Dur- ing Henry's minority lliere was no opposition to the King in England; Init his marriage willi -Margaret of Anjuu, in 1445. was unijopular, as the bride brought no dowry and one of the condi- tions of the marriage was llie surrender of some English territory in France. Henry's own weak- ness, the lack of success in France, and economic troubles at liome aroused l)itt<'r o])])osition, for Henry was virtuous and amial)l(', but unciiual to the task of ruling. When he was tliirty-two years old his weak intellect gave way, and lie becamo insane. At times he recovered his reason, but was always suliject to a relapse into insanity. As the wars c-eased in France, disorderly bands of soldiers returned home and sought service with the powerful nobles, who maintained great armies of followers, in defiance of the law. The King was too weak to enforce order in his king- dom, and many illegal usurpations of property by the great nobles went unpunished. The sj's- tem of inclosing lands for pasturage threw many agricultural laborers out of ciiiployiiient. The result was a rising on the part of the people. In 1450 the Duke of iSufi'olk, who had negotiated the marriage with JIargaret, and ^^■as the King's favorite Minister, was impeached by the Com- mons and condemned to banisliment, but was murdered on his way to the Continent. Not content with the fall of Suffolk, the men of Kent, led by Jack Cade (q.v.), rose against his appointees, who still held the chief offices. They demanded a redress of grievances, and that the Duke of York should be made the head of the Government. The latter was a' descendant of Lionel, the third son of Edward III., and consequently by hereditary right his title to the crown w'as superior to that of Henry VI., who was descended from Edward's fourtli son. From this time York was supported by the discontented people and generally opposed by the nobles. During two periods wliile the King was temporarily insane York was made Protector, but' each time the King recovered liis reason York was in danger of destruction. In 1455 the battle cf Saint Albans was fought between the King's favorite, Somerset, and the Duke of York, in which Henry was taken prisoner. This is gen- erally called the first battle in the War of the Roses (q.v.). After some desultory strife Henry VI. was again captured by the Yorkists in the battle of Northampton, in 1400, and York asserted his claim to the throne. The lords arranged a com- promise that Henry should keep the crown, but that York should be acknowledged as his suc- cessor. Tliis arrangement only led to a long war, because ^Margaret was enraged that lier son should be deprived of the succession to the crown. She sought aid in the north, raised an army of 18.000 wild warriors, and won the battle of Wakefield, in 1400, where York was slain. But the depredations and cruelties of her rough fol- lowers alarmed the people in the south, who ral- lied to Edward. Earl of March, the son of York. The latter, by his victory at Towton (!Iarcli. 1461), gained the throne, and was crowned as Edward IV. on .June 29. 1401. Margaret and Henry escaped, and there were several engage- ments before 1465. when Henry was taken pris- oner. Jlargaret was implacable, and finally ob- tained the aid of the Earl of Warwick (see War- wick, RicnAED Neville, Earl of), who in 1470