Henry V Lancaster King Of England

Other Events and Attributes:

• Category: English Royalty - Lancaster Line
• Name: Henry V Lancaster

Notes:

Acceded 1413-1422.

Henry V
Soon after his accession, Henry V (reigned 1413-22) laid claim to the French crown. Stern and ruthless, Henry was a brilliant general who had gained military experience in his teens, when he fought alongside his father at the battle of Shewsbury. In 1415, Henry set sail for France, capturing Harfleur. His offer to the French Dauphin of personal combat (Richard I and Edward III had made similar offers in their time) was, like those of his predecessors, refused; he went on to defeat the French at the Battle of Agincourt. In alliance with unreliable Burgundy, and assisted by his brothers (the Dukes of Clarence, Bedford and Gloucester), Henry gained control of Normandy in subsequent campaigns. By the Treaty of Troyes (1420), he gained recognition as heir to the French throne, and married Charles VI's daughter Katherine.
Well educated, Henry had a particular interest in liturgical music; he gave pensions to well-known composers of his time, and a hymn of praise to God, which he ordered sung after Agincourt, still exists. However, Henry's success was short lived and he died of dysentery in 1422 in Bois de Vincennes, France.

Henry married Katherine De Valois on 2 Jun 1420 in France. Katherine (daughter of VI Charles VI France King Of France and Isabeau De Baviere) was born in 1401 in Paris, France; died in 1438 in London, Middlesex, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Henry VI Lancaster

Notes:

Acceded 1422-1461.

Henry VI
Born at Windsor Castle, Henry VI (reigned 1422-61 and 1470-71) succeeded to the thrones of England and France before the age of one, when his father Henry V and his grandfather Charles VI of France died within months of each other. Henry was crowned King of England in 1429 and, in 1431, King of France. His minority was dominated by his uncles Cardinal Beaufort and the Duke of Gloucester (who opposed each other). Another uncle, the Duke of Bedford, was Regent of France; his death in 1435, combined with Burgundy breaking the alliance with England, led to the collapse of English rule in northern France. The dual monarchy proved too difficult for the King and England to maintain; the successes of the Dauphin and Joan of Arc began to weaken England's grip on its French possessions and Normandy was lost in 1450. Henry's cultural patronage and genuine interest in education (he founded Eton and King's College, Cambridge) were outweighed by his patchy and partisan interest in administration. Failure in France and domestic unrest (for example, the Cade rebellion of 1450) encouraged factionalism.

In 1453 the King became ill and Richard, Duke of York, was made Protector in 1454. The King recovered in 1455, but civil war between the Yorkist and Lancastrian factions broke out (the Wars of the Roses). For the rest of his reign, Henry's queen, Margaret of Anjou, was determined to fight, rather than negotiate a compromise, for the Lancastrian cause of her husband and son. Pitted against Henry was the Duke of York, asserting his legitimate claim to the throne as he was descended by his mother from Edward III's second surviving son (Henry VI was descended from Edward's third surviving son). The Wars of the Roses were therefore a struggle to decide if the succession should keep to the male line or could pass through females. The Duke of York was killed at the Battle of Wakefield in 1460.

In 1461, his son Edward, an able commander, defeated the Lancastrians at the Battle of Towton (out of the 120,000 men who fought, 28,000 died). London opened its gates to the Yorkist forces; Henry and his queen fled to Scotland. An unsuccessful military campaigner, Henry was captured and imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1465, but was restored to the throne in 1470. His brief period of freedom ended after the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471 (in which his son Edward, Prince of Wales was killed) when Edward IV regained the throne, and Henry was put to death in the Tower of London.

Henry married Margaret De Anjou on 23 Apr 1445 in Hants, England. Margaret was born between 23 Mar 1428 and 1429 in Lorraine, France; died on 25 Aug 1482 in Anjou, Normandy, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Edward Lancaster

Family/Spouse: Anne De Neville. Anne (daughter of Richard De Neville Earl Of Warwick and Anne De Beauchamp) was born on 11 Jun 1456 in Warwick Castle; died between 16 Mar 1484 and 1485 in Westminster Castle; was buried in Westminster Abbey. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]