Henry VI of England - 必应 Sign in Henry VI of England Henry VI (6 December 1421 – 21 May 1471) was King of England from 1422 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471, and disputed King of France from 1422 to 1453. The only child of Henry V, he succeeded to the English throne at the age of nine months upon his father's death, and succeeded to the French throne on the death of his grandfather Charles VI shortly afterwards. Henry inherited a long-running conflict in France, known as the Hundred Years' War, where Charles VII contested his claim to the French throne. Henry married Charles' niece, ... (展开) Margaret of Anjou, partially in the hope of achieving peace in 1445, but the policy failed, leading to the murder of William de la Pole, one of Henry 's key advisors. The war recommenced, with France taking the upper hand; by 1453, Calais was Henry 's only remaining territory on the continent.

Henry experienced a mental breakdown after the failure of the war, with Richard of York taking control of the government as regent until his recovery the following year. Civil war broke out in 1460, leading to a long period of dynastic conflict known as the Wars of the Roses. Henry was taken prisoner by Richard of York at Northampton on 10 July 1460 but was rescued that December by forces loyal to Margaret. He was deposed on 29 March 1461 following the victory at Towton by Richard's son, who took the throne as Edward IV. Henry was suffering from another breakdown and, despite Margaret continuing to lead a resistance to Edward, he was captured by his forces in 1465 and imprisoned in the Tower of London. Richard Neville, the Earl of Warwick, restored Henry to the throne in 1470, but Edward defeated Neville and retook power in 1471, imprisoning Henry in the Tower once again. Henry died in the Tower during the night of 21 May 1471, possibly killed on the orders of Edward. He was buried at Chertsey Abbey, before being moved to Windsor Castle in 1484.

Miracles were attributed to Henry after his death, and he was informally regarded as a saint and martyr until the 16th century. He left a legacy of educational institutions, having founded Eton College, King's College, Cambridge and All Souls College, Oxford. William Shakespeare wrote a trilogy of plays about his life, depicting him as weak-willed and easily influenced by his wife, Margaret. Henry VI (6 December 1421 – 21 May 1471) was King of England from 1422 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471, and disputed King of France from 1422 to 1453. … Grandmother of both Mary, Queen of Scots and Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, the parents of James VI and I. Henry VIII, King of England: 28 June 1491: 28 ... … Henry V (9 August 1386 – 31 August 1422) was King of England from 1413 until his death at the age of 36 in 1422. He was the second English monarch who ...

King of England from 1422 to 1461 and from 1470 to 1471, a pious and studious recluse whose incapacity for government was one of the causes of the Wars of the Roses. Henry VIII (28 June 1491 – 28 January 1547) was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. Henry was the second Tudor monarch, succeeding his ... Henry VI of England - New Songs, Playlists & Latest News - BBC Music Henry VI of England Add "Henry VI of England" to My Music Add "Henry VI of England"to My Music Share this page Read more about sharing. Henry VI of England Biography (Wikipedia) Henry VI (6 December 1421 – 21 May 1471) was King of England from 1422 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471, and disputed King of France from 1422 to 1453.

The only child of Henry V, he succeeded to the English throne at the age of nine months upon his father's death, and succeeded to the French throne on the death of his grandfather Charles VI shortly afterwards. Henry inherited the long-running Hundred Years War (1337–1453), where Charles VII contested his claim to the French throne. Henry married Charles's niece, Margaret of Anjou, partially in the hope of achieving peace in 1445, but the policy failed, leading to the murder of William de la Pole, one of Henry's key advisors. The war recommenced, with France taking the upper hand; by 1453, Calais was Henry's only remaining territory on the continent. Henry experienced a mental breakdown after the failure of the war, with Richard of York taking control of the government as regent until his recovery the following year. Civil war broke out in 1460, leading to a long period of dynastic conflict known as the Wars of the Roses. Henry was taken prisoner by Richard of York at Northampton on 10 July 1460 but was rescued that December by forces loyal to Margaret.

He was deposed on 29 March 1461 following the victory at Towton by Richard's son, who took the throne as Edward IV. Henry suffered another breakdown and, despite Margaret continuing to lead a resistance to Edward, he was captured by Edward's forces in 1465 and imprisoned in the Tower of London. Richard Neville, the Earl of Warwick, restored Henry to the throne in 1470, but Edward defeated Neville and retook power in 1471, imprisoning Henry in the Tower once again. This entry is from Wikipedia , the user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors and is licensed under an Attribution-ShareAlike Creative Commons License . If you find the biography content factually incorrect or highly offensive you can edit this article at Wikipedia . Find out more about our use of this data. Show more Protectors and Regents of England | Unofficial Royalty Protectors and Regents of England by Paul James March 27 2005 One of the weaknesses of a hereditary monarchy is the possibility of having a monarch who is too young to rule, requiring a regency or protectorate to govern in his name.

Whereas a monarch could stand above the factions of his subjects, anointed by God in his exalted position, a regent was a subject whose position could be aspired to by others. He faced the prospect of losing his position, and might be motivated to ensure his long-term power and status beyond the point of the rightful monarch coming of age. The Anglo-Saxons avoided this problem by not having a strictly hereditary monarchy. The Witan, or Great Council, chose the new king from among his predecessors relatives. While the new monarch would typically be the old king’s hereditary heir, he could be passed over if he was too young or deemed unsuitable in some other way. The first underage King of England was Henry III who succeeded his father, King John, when he was nine. He inherited a country in conflict, and partly under the control of Louis of France, who had been invited to take the English throne by barons who were in conflict with King John. England was fortunate that the designated regent, William Marshal, was generally respected and able to command the support of the majority of barons.

He was strong enough to defeat the rebellious barons and to persuade, or bribe, Louis to give up his pretensions to the crown and return to France. Marshal died in 1219, when Henry was 12 and power passed to the last great Justiciar of England, Hugh de Burgh. In addition to struggles with the barons, De Burgh faced a constant rivalry for power from Peter des Roches, Bishop of Winchester; a rivalry which continued beyond Henry’s assumption of direct rule in 1227. Henry’s son and grandson, Edwards I and II, were both adults when they came to the throne, but Edward II was a weak king, regarded with contempt by many subjects and by his own wife, Isabella. In 1327, Isabella and her lover, Roger Mortimer, contrived the overthrow and eventual murder of Edward and the proclamation of her and Edward’s son as King Edward III, at the age of 14. Although the new king’s cousin, Henry of Lancaster, was officially his guardian, Isabella and Mortimer exercised influence and power during his minority.

Edward finally broke their hold over him and the state when he came of age, and Mortimer was hanged, drawn and quartered as a traitor in 1330. Edward III had a long reign, but his eldest son (the famous and heroic Black Prince) pre-deceased his father by a year, leaving England with the prospect of his son as another underage king, who succeeded to the throne as Richard II in 1377, at the age of ten. No regency was established, and initially Parliament attempted to govern, but effective power soon passed to the king’s uncle, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. Richard began to assume direct control at only 14, when he was instrumental in quelling the Peasant’s Revolt of 1381. In later years, he came into conflict with John of Gaunt’s son, Henry, who deposed him and assumed the crown as Henry IV in 1399. Perhaps the most unfortunate period of regency in English history occurred when Henry IV’s grandson succeeded to the throne as Henry VI in 1422, at barely nine months old. England was deep in conflict with the French.

The young king’s father, Henry V, had been recognized as heir to the French throne by the Treaty of Troyes two years earlier. The English controlled a large part of France, but French resistance to the arrangement (which had been imposed after English military victories), ensured that there would be no peace. When the French king, Charles VI, died a few months later, his son, Charles VII and Henry were proclaimed rival kings of France. At a time when England needed strong leadership, the protectorship of England was vested in the king’s uncle, Humphrey Duke of Gloucester, who found himself struggling to assert his authority and was in frequent conflict with other magnates, while another uncle, John Duke of Bedford, was Henry’s regent in France, ill-supplied and ultimately unsuccessful against French patriots inspired in part by Joan of Arc. By the time Henry declared himself of age in 1437, England had lost all its French territories except Calais, and at home England was driven by faction which would continue throughout Henry’s reign. A contributory factor to the Wars of the Roses was another period of regency caused not by the king’s age, but by his insanity.

While Henry VI was unable to govern in 1453-54 and again in 1455-56, his second cousin, Richard Duke of York, was declared Protector of the Realm. After both occasions, the weak-willed Henry gave into the demands of his domineering wife, Margaret of Anjou, and his Beaufort cousins to deprive York of power and influence. The factional conflict erupted into Civil War which resulted in Henry’s deposition in 1461 when Richard’s son inaugurated the reign of the House of York as Edward IV. Henry enjoyed a brief restoration in 1470-71 before being deposed again and murdered in the Tower shortly afterwards. The most notorious “Protector” in English history must be Edward IV’s brother, Richard Duke of Gloucester. Edward died in 1483 leaving a young son, Edward V, and Gloucester as Protector of the realm, but within two months Richard produced, or more likely concocted, evidence that his young nephew was illegitimate, on the doubtful grounds Edward IV had married Elizabeth Woodville while already contracted to marry Lady Eleanor Butler.

The boy-king was confined to the Tower, deposed, and his protector-uncle proclaimed king (Richard III) in his stead. The fate of Edward and his younger brother, Richard Duke of York, is not certain, but it is most likely that they were murdered on the new king’s orders. After Richard III’s defeat at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, only two further reigns passed before the kingdom was again faced with a child-sovereign, Henry VIII’s long-desired son, Edward VI, who became king at the age of nine in 1547. The late king’s will had provided that its 16 co-executors should act as a Council of Regency until Edward’s 18th birthday, but the new king’s uncle, Edward Seymour (soon to become Duke of Somerset), quickly established his dominance as Lord Protector. Factionalism was rife again, though, and Somerset was deposed, executed and succeeded as Protector in 1552 by John Dudley, who was created Duke of Northumberland shortly afterwards.

As Edward VI fell ill and England faced the prospect of a return to Catholicism under his sister Mary, he and Northumberland conspired both to protect the Protestant settlement and Northumberland’s own power by overriding Henry VIII’s will and proclaiming Edward’s cousin, Lady Jane Grey, as heir to the throne. Dudley married off his son to the 16 year-old Jane and intended to continue wielding power in his daughter-in-law’s name. The plan failed as the English nobility and people refused to back this illegal usurpation; Jane was proclaimed Queen but was removed and locked up in the Tower only 10 days later. Northumberland paid for his treason with his life, and Jane and her husband, pawns in his power game, were also executed after the Wyatt rebellion the following year. In the 331 years between 1216 and 1547, six of the 14 kings of England ascended the throne as minors. In the following four and a half centuries, there have been no underage monarchs, but there was one other reign in which a regency was required.

From 1811 until his death in 1820, George III displayed symptoms of insanity (now attributed to porphyiria, possibly the same illness which afflicted Henry VI), and Parliament legislated to allow his son and heir, the future George IV, to act as Regent. Thanks to the supremacy of Parliament and relative decline in the power of the Crown, this regency didn’t involve any of the murderous conflicts of previous ones. In subsequent reigns, Parliament provided for a regency when the heir to the throne at the time was a minor. In 1937, Parliament made permanent provision for the minority or incapacity of the sovereign, and decreed that the next person in the line of succession to the throne would be regent. Unusually, this excluded the young monarch’s surviving parent, who had been the first choice in previous regency acts. Had George VI died before the present Queen turned 18, the late Duke of Gloucester, rather than the Queen Mother, would have been regent. In 1953 a further act was passed under which the Duke of Edinburgh, if still living, would be regent if all his children were under 18.

That situation cannot now arise, and the 1937 act will control any future regency, barring further changes by Parliament.

– Paul James Page 2: United Kingdom Time Line Chronological Timetable of Events - Worldatlas.com (1346) English claimed first land victory in northern France of Hundred Years' War (1348) Black Death Plague ravished England; over 50% of population died (1377) King Edward III died; Richard II (age 10) crowned King; Poll tax introduced (1381) Peasant's Revolt against poll tax occurred (1399) King Richard II forced to resign; Henry IV crowned King 1400s (1404) Welsh hero, Owain Glyndwr, gained control of Wales; declared himself Prince of Wales (1409) Welsh surrendered to England (1413) King Henry IV died; Henry V new king (1415) English defeated French at Battle of Agincourt (1419) Henry V took control of Normandy, France (1422) Henry V died; Son Henry VI (aged nine months) succeeded; council established to rule England (1453) Final battle of Hundred Years' War occurred at Chatillon; War ended; England ousted from France

 (1455) War of the Roses began between parties of Plantagenets and Lancastrians (1471) Edward IV reclaimed crown from King Henry VI; Henry VI died (1483) King Edward IV died; dispute occurred about rightful king; Richard III crowned King (1485) Henry Tudor, descendent of Edward III, fought to take over English throne; King Richard III died during battle, Henry Tudor crowned King Henry VII; War of the Roses ended at Battle of Bosworth (1492) Kings Henry VII of England and Charles VII of France negotiated Treaty of Etaples; Christopher Columbus discovered Bahamas 1500s (1509) King Henry VII died; King Henry VIII crowned (1513) English defeated Scots and French invasion at Battle of Flodden Field (1533) King Henry VIII divorced Catherine of Aragon; married Anne Boleyn; Pope excommunicated Henry VIII from church (1534) King Henry VIII formed Church of England (1536) Anne Boleyn executed; Henry VIII married Jane Seymour (1542) Scottish forces attacked England at Battle of Solway; King James V of Scotland died

; daughter Mary crowned Queen of Scots (1547) King Henry VIII died; Edward VI (age nine) became King (1549) Book of common prayer introduced; First Act of Uniformity passed, banning Roman Catholic mass (1553) King Edward VI died; Lady Jane Grey declared Queen of England for nine days; Mary I crowned Queen (1558) French retook Calais; Queen Mary I died; Elizabeth I crowned Queen (1559) Mary, Queen of Scots, claimed her royal right to the English throne (1565) Walter Raleigh brought tobacco to England (1567) Mary, Queen of Scots, abdicated, son James declared King (1587) Queen Elizabeth ordered execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, for treason (1588) Spanish Armada sent to attack England; the English overwhelmingly defeated the Spanish fleet (1593) William Shakespeare's first published work 1600s (1600) East India Company established (1603) Queen Elizabeth I died; James VI of Scotland became James I of England, the first Stuart king (1604) Kings James I of England and Philip III of

 Spain signed Treaty of London, ending war (1605) Plan to blow up Parliament, the Gunpowder Plot, failed (1614) Parliament called Addled Parliament for not passing one act during sitting; James I dissolved Parliament (1620) Mayflower with Pilgrims arrived in America (1621) Thirty Years War began (Protestants against Catholics) (1625) King James I died; son Charles I crowned (1640) Long Parliament sat (until 1660) (1642) English Civil War began (1645) Civil War ended, Charles I defeated (1648) Second Civil War occurred (1649) King Charles I tried for levying war; found guilty and was executed; son Charles II declared himself King (1653 - 1658) Lord Cromwell ruled as Lord Protector (1654) England declared war on Spain (1660) Monarchy restored with King Charles II (1665) Great Plague struck London; over 75,000 died (1666) Great Fire of London destroyed more than 12,0

00 houses, 80 churches (1685) King Charles II died; brother James, Duke of York, crowned King James II (1688 - 1689) Glorious Revolution took place, King James II deposed by Parliament (1689) William III and Mary II jointly crowned King and Queen of England (1690) Battle of the Boyce occurred, King William III defeated armies of James II (1691) King William III took control of Ireland (1694) Queen Mary II died; Bank of England established 1700s (1702) King William III died; daughter of James II, Anne, crowned Queen (1707) Act of Union passed - united England and Scotland as Great Britain (1714) Queen Anne died; George Ludwig, great grandson of James I became King George I, the first German-speaking monarch (1720) The South Sea Bubble financial crisis struck (1721) Whig politician, Robert Walpole, became first Prime Minister of Great Britain (1727) King George I died; son, George II new king (1745) French defeated Great Britain and

 Austria at Battle of Fontenoy; Bonnie Prince Charlie, claimant to throne, defeated by King George II supporters (1752) Gregorian calendar (also known as New Style) adopted by Britain and all British colonies (1756) Seven Years' War began (1760) King George II died; George III new king (1763) Treaty of Paris ended Seven Years' War (1770) British troops sent to American colonies; Boston Massacre occurred; British troops quickly removed from Boston (1773) Colonists in America dumped chests of tea into sea protesting taxes (Boston Tea Party) (1775) American Revolution began (1776) American Declaration of Independence signed by thirteen colonies declaring break from Britain (1781) American Revolution ended; America won its independence (1801) Act of Union placed Ireland under British Parliament control 1800s (1805) British defeated Napoleon's French fleet at Battle of Trafalgar (1811) King George III deemed unfit to rule; son George, Prince of Wales, appointed Prince Regent (1812-1815) War of 181

2 (1811 - 1817) Luddite Movement occurred - rioting against unemployment due to Industrial Revolution; potato famine ravished Ireland (1820) King George III died; George IV became king (1829) Roman Catholic Relief Act passed, gave political rights to Catholics for loyalty to Protestant monarchy (1830) King George IV died; succeeded by brother, Duke of Clarence, as King William IV (1832) Great Reform Act passed, male property owners allowed to vote; cholera struck Britain, more than 20,000 died (1820) Factory Act banned child workers under nine (1834) Charles Babbage invented mechanical calculating machine, prototype for modern computer (1837) King William IV died; his niece crowned Queen Victoria of Britain (1845) Potato crops across Europe ruined (1851) Great Exhibition took place - more than six million visited (1854 - 1856) Britain victorious in Crimean War (1863) First underground railway in London opened (1867) Second Reform Act passed - male household heads allowed to vote (1869) S

uez Canal opened; women rate payers given right to vote in local elections (1870) Education Act passed, school mandatory for children up to 11 years (1872) Ballot Act passed - voting now secret (1875) Captain Michael Webb first person to swim across English Channel (1877) Queen Victoria declared Empress of India (1878) Pleasure boat, Princess Alice, sank in Thames River, more than 600 died (1892) First Labour MP elected (1896) Britain won three gold medals at first modern Olympic Games in Athens 1900s (1899 - 1902) Boer War took place; Britain defeated South African Dutch settlers (1901) Queen Victoria died; son Edward VII new king (1903) Suffagrette movement founded (1910) Edward VII died, son George crowned King George V (1912) Titanic left Southampton, sank in North Atlantic, 1,513 people died Henry VI Part 1: Character Profiles | Novelguide Henry VI Part 1: Character Profiles Average Overall Rating: 5 Total Votes: 1

11 Generally speaking, the characterization in Henry VI, Part One is weak and in some cases inconsistent, reinforcing some commentators’ views that the play was an early work and/or that it was a product of collaboration.

King Henry VI King Henry VI (1421-1471) ruled England from 1422-1461. He succeeded to the English throne at the tender age of nine months, when his father, Henry V, died, but was not crowned until 1429. The English called him the King of France between 1422 and 1453, though he was not recognized as such by the French. He was described by contemporary chroniclers as a pious and peace-loving man unsuited to the role of monarch in a turbulent time. Shakespeare follows this account of Henry’s character in his play, Henry VI, Part One. Henry’s chief preoccupation is his desire for peace between his warring nobles. He is perceptive enough to realize the destructive effect of dissent on the nation. To the last scene, he is at the mercy of the whims of his nobles and goes along with whoever proves most persuasive at the time. Henry does not make his first appearance until the beginning of Act 3. This underlines his insignificance and weakness, qualities reinforced by his youth. The audience gains the impression that England is in the control of the nobles, not the monarch.

Duke of Bedford The English noble, the Duke of Bedford is John of Lancaster, Regent of France, Henry IV’s third son, and uncle to King Henry VI. In Henry VI, Part One, Shakespeare portrays him as a courageous warrior in the old English tradition who, even when old and sick, exposes himself to the dangers of battle because he wants to keep up the morale of the fighting English soldiers and witness the defeat of the French (Act 3, scene 2, lines 89-90). Duke of Gloucester The English noble, the Duke of Gloucester is Humphrey of Lancaster, Henry IV’s fourth son, and uncle to King Henry VI. He is the Lord Protector of England during Henry VI’s minority (the years in which a monarch is too young to rule in his own right). In Henry VI, Part One, he is constantly squabbling with his uncle the Bishop of Winchester, who later in the play becomes a Cardinal. Gloucester is shown as morally superior to Winchester in that he backs down from quarreling out of respect to the king (Act 3, scene 1, line 121).

Duke of Exeter The Duke of Exeter is Thomas Beaufort, Henry IV’s brother, and an English noble. He is Henry VI’s great-uncle and his co-guardian with the Bishop of Winchester. In Henry VI, Part One and Henry V, Exeter fulfills the function of a chorus, a character or group of characters who, in ancient Greek drama, commented on the action. Exeter worries about the downward trajectory of England’s fortunes since the death of Henry V. Duke of Burgundy The Duke of Burgundy is a French-born but English-based noble who begins by fighting on the English side. Joan easily wins him over to join the French side, so he is (from the viewpoint of the English) a traitor. Duke of Somerset The English noble Somerset is a conflation of two historical personages: John Beaufort, First Duke of Somerset (1403-44) and his younger brother Edmund Beaufort, Second Duke of Somerset (1406-55). In Henry VI, Part One, he is portrayed as involved in a quarrel with Richard Plantagenet about the succession to the throne.

This quarrel leads to the Wars of the Roses, a civil war in which Richard aligns himself with the Yorkist side by choosing a white rose, and Somerset with the Lancastrian side by choosing a red rose. Somerset is portrayed as responsible for Talbot’s death, as he fails to send reinforcements to support Talbot via Richard Plantagenet because of his disagreement with Richard. He is unable to see past his own petty concerns to the greater matter of the national interest. Bishop of Winchester (later Cardinal) The Bishop of Winchester is Henry Beaufort, Exeter’s younger brother, and great-uncle to Henry VI. In Henry VI, Part One, he is portrayed as a ruthlessly ambitious and morally dubious Roman Catholic clergyman. In fact, at the time the play is set, the whole of England was Roman Catholic as the Protestant Reformation had not taken place. But as editor Michael Taylor points out in the Oxford World’s Classics edition of the play (general editor Stanley Wells, 2004, reprint, 2008, p.

91), this fact “did not prevent a later audience from identifying the Bishop and the French as Catholic and the rest of the English as somehow not.” Winchester bribes the Pope to make him a Cardinal and reveals that he wants power for himself. Richard Plantagenet (later Richard, Duke of York) As the grandson of Edmund Langley, fifth son of King Edward III, Richard has a strong claim to the throne of England. In Henry VI, Part One, he is portrayed as involved in a quarrel with Somerset about the succession to the throne. This quarrel leads to the Wars of the Roses, a civil war in which Richard aligns himself with the Yorkist side by choosing a white rose, and Somerset with the Lancastrian side by choosing a red rose. Richard’s father, the Earl of Cambridge, was executed for treason in the reign of Henry V, and the family lands and title were forfeited. Henry VI restores these to Richard and makes him Duke of York. Richard, however, is not grateful but only frets that the king chose a red rose to wear and therefore seems to favor the Lancastrian side.

Richard gains some moral superiority over his opponent, Somerset, when he becomes angry over Somerset’s delay in sending reinforcements to support Talbot in the war against the French. On this occasion, Richard genuinely seems to care about the fate of his nation, whereas Somerset appears motivated by petty self-interest. Earl of Warwick The Earl of Warwick, Richard de Beauchamp, is an English noble who sides with Richard Plantagenet in the Wars of the Roses. Warwick is called on to judge the merits of each side in the dispute between Somerset and Richard Plantagenet, but says he has no skill in legal matters. Earl of Suffolk The Earl of Suffolk, William de la Pole, is an English noble who sides with the Lancastrian cause in the Wars of the Roses by choosing a red rose. Suffolk’s disregard for the legal rectitude of either side in the dispute on the grounds that he intends to “frame the law unto my will” (Act 2, scene 4, line 9) is ominous as it implies that he considers himself above the law of the land. Suffolk confirms himself as self-serving in his usage of Margaret of Anjou in Act 5.

Ostensibly, he woos her for Henry VI, but he has fallen in love with her himself, even kissing the future wife of the king. In the play’s final scene, he reveals that he intends to use his power over her to gain power over the king and England. Of England’s self-serving nobles, he appears the most ambitious and ruthless. Earl of Salisbury The Earl of Salisbury is an English noble whose name is Thomas de Montague. He is a courageous military leader, devoted to Talbot, who is killed at the siege of Orléans. According to Talbot, he was victorious over the French in thirteen battles. Lord Talbot Lord Talbot is John Talbot, First Earl of Shrewsbury, a renowned military hero who fought in France for Henry V. If Henry VI, Part One can be said to have a hero, it is Talbot. He epitomizes the traditional ideal of the aristocracy as warriors who fought bravely for king and country, selflessly setting aside personal concerns to serve the greater good of the nation. The aristocratic ideal combined military courage with graceful manners and the ability to talk charmingly and wittily in polite company, including that of ladies.

Talbot has these qualities too, as is seen in his dealings with the Countess of Auvergne, but they never overwhelm his military judgment. He graciously accepts the Countess’s invitation to her castle, but never allows himself to overlook the possibility that it may be a trap. He takes his army with him, so that when the Countess does indeed betray him, he has only to call them in. He explains that his men have the same relationship to him as, in a human body, the body and limbs have to the head. In this speech, Talbot expresses a central theme of the play: the duty of the aristocracy to think and act as leaders of a unified nation, not out of petty self-interest. The Countess is not only defeated physically, but won over emotionally by Talbot’s wisdom and intelligence. The ideal of chivalry that Talbot represents is shown as transcending even national loyalties: even the French Countess of Auvergne ends up admiring his character.

In the play, the chivalric ideal personified in Talbot falls victim to the cowardice of Sir John Fastolf, who betrays Talbot by running away from battle, and to the petty politicking of Somerset, who denies Talbot reinforcements because of his own dispute with Richard, Duke of York. Somerset is shown as responsible for Talbot’s death. Fastolf the coward and Somerset the self-serving politician are seen as the natural heirs to the decayed state of England under Henry VI. Talbot is the last surviving link to England’s heroic past, and his death, along with that of his young son John, is portrayed as the end of a glorious era for England. Young John Talbot Young John Talbot is Talbot’s son. The historical Young John Talbot, according to the chroniclers, died with his father at the battle of Castillon. Shakespeare portrays him as a military hero. He arrives at the battle of Bordeaux to learn the art of war from his father, but it soon becomes evident that he is likely to be killed. He chooses to die honorably in battle beside his father, rather than flee and save his life, as Talbot urges him to do.

Young John Talbot’s death is shown as particularly tragic because, as Talbot’s son, he is his heir and is supposed to carry on his father’s great military reputation. The fact that Young John Talbot dies with his father lends an air of pessimism to the play, suggesting that England’s age of military glory and dominance over France has indeed gone, sacrificed to the self-seeking ambition of the modern nobility. Edmund Mortimer Mortimer is a conflation of more than one historical character. He is the uncle to Richard Plantagenet, who visits him in prison in the Tower of London. Mortimer was next in line to the throne after Richard II. When Henry IV deposed Richard II, Richard Plantagenet’s father, the Earl of Cambridge, pressed Mortimer’s claim to the throne. Cambridge was executed for treason and Mortimer was imprisoned in the Tower. Mortimer’s story of why he was imprisoned and of the Earl of Cambridge’s execution for treason provide the rational argument supporting Richard Plantagenet’s desire for redress. The emotional argument is provided by the sight of Mortimer, old, sick, and confined to his chair.

He is a graphic representation of the wrongs done to the rightful heir to the throne by Henry IV and his Lancastrian line of monarchs. Sir John Fastolf Sir John Fastolf is an English military officer. Shakespeare follows the chroniclers in making him a coward. The historical figure, however, appears to have had a mostly distinguished military reputation, marred by accusations of occasional cowardice from some chroniclers. In the play, Fastolf’s cowardice leads to the capture of Talbot by the French. Thus Fastolf is a foil (contrasting character) to the brave and heroic older generation of warriors, such as Talbot and Salisbury. The first known published version of Henry VI, Part One in the First Folio edition of Shakespeare’s plays (printed in 1623) gives Fastolf’s surname as Falstaff or Falstaffe. Many modern editions, including the Oxford World’s Classics edition (2004, reprint, 2008) used in this study guide, call him Fastolf. In this, they follow Raphael Holinshed’s Chronicles (published 1587), Shakespeare’s chief source for Henry VI, Part One.

Modern editors’ choice of Fastolf serves to distinguish him from Shakespeare’s character of Sir John Falstaff, with whom this character has nothing in common. Sir William Glasdale Glasdale is an English solider who fights at the siege of Orléans. Sir Thomas Gargrave Gargrave is an English soldier who is killed at the siege of Orléans. Sir William Lucy Lucy is a messenger who begs Richard, Duke of York to hurry with his forces to help Talbot. Lucy acts as a chorus or commentator, remarking on how dissension between the nobles will lose Henry V’s conquests in France. Richard Woodville Woodville is Lieutenant of the Tower of London: in effect, he is the prison warder who presides over Mortimer’s captivity. Mayor of London The Mayor intervenes to break up a fight between Gloucester and Winchester, rebuking them for breaching the peace, and marvels at how nobles can argue over trifles. As the representative of the citizens of London, the Mayor shows how the nobles’ behavior causes public disorder, disrupts the social fabric, and sets a bad example to the people. Vernon Vernon is one of Somerset’s men.

He chooses a red rose in the dispute in the garden, thus following his master’s Lancastrian allegiance in the Wars of the Roses. He wants to fight with Basset, one of Richard, Duke of York’s men, because Basset chose a white rose in line with his master’s allegiance. The episode shows how the disagreement between the nobles filters down to affect the wider society. Basset Basset is one of Richard, Duke of York’s men. He chooses a white rose in the dispute in the garden, thus following his master’s Yorkist allegiance in the Wars of the Roses. He wants to fight with Vernon, one of Somerset’s men, because Vernon chose a red rose. The episode shows how the disagreement between the nobles filters down to affect the wider society. Lawyer The Lawyer is only present in the scene in the Temple Garden that formally begins the War of the Roses (Act 2, scene 4). He plucks a white rose, as he feels that Plantagenet’s case in the dispute (presumably about the succession to the English throne) is stronger in law than Somerset’s. This is certainly Shakespeare’s view, who consistently suggests that the Yorkists have the better claim than the Lancastrians.

Here, Shakespeare is effectively nominating the Yorkist position as the more lawful one. Papal Legate The Papal Legate is an ambassador to the Pope whose sole function is to accept Winchester’s bribe to the Pope in payment for making him a Cardinal. The episode shows what Shakespeare wanted to paint as the corruption of the Catholic Church. Charles Charles is the Dauphin (the French word for “Dolphin,” the term used for the eldest son and heir to the throne of France) of France. Historically, he was King Charles VII of France. In Shakespeare’s play, his aim is to recapture his country and his throne from the English. When he first meets Joan he fights her in single combat but loses to her. He subsequently allies himself to her to fight the English. Charles is sexually attracted to, and enthralled by, Joan. His deference to a woman in military matters would have made him seem effeminate to an anti-French Elizabethan audience. Led by Joan, Charles and his army succeed in recapturing half of France from the English.

In the end, he makes peace with the English in order to avoid more French losses, accepting the title of viceroy of France, under Henry VI of England. Charles, in common with many of the French characters, is portrayed as unreliable and lacking in solidity. In Act 5, scene 5, he at first refuses to accept the English terms but then is persuaded by Reignier and Alençon to accept the terms in name but break them when it suits him. Joan la Pucelle (also known as Joan of Arc) The historical Joan of Arc (1412-31) is viewed in France as a national heroine and a great military leader, and by Catholics as a saint for her role in reversing France’s fortunes during the Hundred Years’ War with England. In Shakespeare’s Henry VI, Part One, Joan is a young French girl who presents herself to Charles with the claim that she has been given a sacred mission by the Virgin Mary to rid France of the English. She tells him that she will lead the French troops to defeat the English at the siege of Orléans, and her words prove correct. As befits the anti-French propaganda of the play, Shakespeare undermines her claims of a God-given mission.

He presents her variously as a whore, a witch who draws upon evil spirits for her power, a liar, and an ungrateful and snobbish daughter to her father. At odds with the suggestion of witchcraft is her strongly pragmatic nature and undoubted leadership skills. She manages to unite a hitherto weak collection of French nobles into a highly effective army. Joan has no patience with the pomp and ceremony that goes along with the old chivalric ideas of warfare. In Act 4, scene 7, she cuts short Lucy’s encomium of Talbot by pointing out that now he is just a corpse that “Stinking and flyblown lies here at our feet” (line 76), and readily agrees to its removal. This incident allies her with the rising new meritocracy that is replacing the chivalrous ideals of the old aristocracy, embodied in characters like Talbot and Salisbury. Reignier Reignier (called in some editions René) is a French noble who fights alongside Charles. He is Duke of Anjou and titular King of Naples and Jerusalem.

He is also the father of Margaret, trading her hand in marriage to Henry VI in return for England’s acknowledgement of him as ruler of Maine and Anjou. Duke of Alençon The Duke of Alençon is a French noble who fights alongside Charles. Countess of Auvergne The Countess of Auvergne is an invented character with no historical counterpart. She is a French noblewoman who invites Talbot to her castle, ostensibly because she admires him. In reality, she is luring him into a trap because she intends to take him prisoner in order to gain fame for herself as the captor of the great warrior. Thus she exemplifies the duplicity and treachery of many of the French characters in this anti-French play. Margaret Margaret, known historically as Margaret of Anjou, is the daughter of Reignier. Suffolk falls in love with her and woos her for Henry VI, even though she has a smaller dowry and a less politically powerful father than the daughter of the Earl of Armagnac, to whom Henry is already betrothed. Suffolk later reveals that he intends to gain power over the king and the nation through his influence over Margaret.

She is therefore a pawn in a power game. Bastard of Orléans The Bastard of Orléans is a French noble who introduces Joan to Charles. The character is based on the historical figure of Jean, Bastard of Orléans (1402-1468), the illegitimate son of Louis, Duke of Orléans. Master Gunner The Master Gunner is a French soldier who fights at the siege of Orléans. Boy The Boy is the Master Gunner’s son. At the siege of Orléans he fires the cannon that may have been responsible for the death of Salisbury. Shepherd The Shepherd appears at the play’s end. He claims to be Joan’s father and there is no reason to doubt his word. Joan repudiates him, saying he cannot be her father as she is of noble birth, revealing herself to be a snob as well as a liar. The Shepherd curses her and begs the English to burn her, as hanging is too good for her. Thus the character has pro-English propaganda value, the implication being that if even Joan’s father thinks she deserves to be burnt, then the English authorities’ execution of Joan by burning was justified.

Henry VI - 1st reign, 1422-1461 | Armstrong Economics 1422-1461 Restored to throne 1470-1471 Henry VI was the only son of Henry V and his queen, Katherine of France, and was born at Windsor, in 1421. At the age of nine months be succeeded his father, 1st September, 1422, the government being intrusted to his uncles the Dukes of Gloucester and Bedford, of whom the former was named Protector of the Realm of England, and the latter Regent of France. The guardianship of the young king was intrusted to Richard Beau-champ, Earl of Warwick. Henry was crowned at London in 1429, and at Paris in 1431. The war in France was continued, and several victories were gained by the English, but in 1429 the extraordinary intervention of the Maid of Orleans compelled them to raise the siege of that city, and the English power in France rapidly declined.

In 1444 the king married Margaret of Anjou, daughter of René, King of Sicily and Duke of Anjou, who by her high spirit, ambition, and audacity, gained a complete ascendancy over her ‘meek’ and feeble husband. The king had little influence personally on the course of events, and the government was weakened by the quarrels of his uncles. The measures of the ministers, Suffolk and Somerset, excited much popular irritation, and insurrections broke out in 1450; the most serious of which was that headed by Jack Cade. In 1453 the brave Talbot was defeated and killed at Castillon, Bordeaux was soon after taken by the French, and nothing was left in France under English dominion but Calais. The same year the king fell into a state of mental aberration and incapacity for governing; and about the same time his son Edward was born. Then began the Civil Wars of the Roses, which filled up the remaining years of Henry’s reign; and, after various alternations of fortune, victory remained with the Yorkists. The accession of Edward IV and the exile of Henry took place in 1461.

The war, however, continued; chiefly through the courage and energy of the Queen Margaret, but in 1466 Henry was captured and imprisoned in the Tower. Released by the great Earl of Warwick in 1470, he was again imprisoned by Edward in the following year, and was soon after found dead in the Tower. Whether he was murdered or died a natural death from overpowering grief is uncertain. Henry was a man of sincerely religious character, but without the strength and capacity to rule, and his misfortunes and tragic end may justly be pitied. An endeavour was made by Henry VII. to get him canonized, but unsuccessfully.

Monetary System 10 - August 1414 an English delegation was sent to France to propose the marriage of Henry V to Charles VI's daughter, Catherine, and the receipt of French lands in full sovereignty > the French refused - June 1414 the proposal was replaced with the threat that if it was not accepted Henry V would invade France, take the territories claimed and seize the French crown > the French refused 3) Agincourt (October 25, 1415) - the French lost 5,000 men; the British lost 300 4) the Treaty of Troyes (1420) - Henry V returned to France in 1417 and pursued the strategy of besieging towns, one by one, beginning with Normandy - with the support of the Duke of Burgundy he succeeded in forcing this agreement on Charles VI - Henry V was to marry the king's daughter, Catherine, and succeed the French throne after the death of Charles VI 5) Henry V died while still besieging French towns in 1422 - more turbulent barons went to France - Parliament voted needed taxes 3) House of Commons extended its powers - petitions introduced in the exact

 form of statutes - won the right to consent to all legislation - the right to vote in county elections was limited to freeholders worth 40 shillings a year > kept the House of Commons in the hands of wealthy landowners and merchants - as the importance of the House of Commons grew, many men who were not residents of the towns sought election, and prominent townsmen were replaced by non-resident lawyers, gentlemen and government employees B.

Personal Rule - years of incompetence - due in part to Parliament's refusal to keep paying for the war and French resistance to English rule - Joan of Arc > in 1428 inspired the French to drive the English out of Orlï¿½ans and to support the claim of Charles VII to the French throne > captured by the Burgundians, sold to the English and burned at the stake as a heretic in 1431 - the turning point of the war 1435 > the Duke of Bedford died > the Burgundians deserted the English for the French > by 1453 the English were driven from all of France except Calais a) failures of the war blamed on the King's Council and the Court - Truce of 1444 > Henry VI married Charles VII's niece, Margaret of Anjou - the new Queen persuaded her husband to give up a piece of French territory - revenge was taken out on those who arranged the truce - discontent led the men of Kent to rebel under the leadership of Jack Cade - they demanded the removal of evil councilors; an end to corruption; better methods of tax collection; a return of royal lands that had been given to favorites - after terrorizing London

 for several days, the king managed to raise an army and drive the rebels out of London C.

The War of the Roses (1455-1485) - the feebleness of the King - a struggle for power among contending factions of noblemen - bastard feudalism > men were retained by a contract to serve s lord in exchange for a payment, livery and maintenance; this allowed powerful lords to raise private armies which were used to seize properties, settle disputes and intimidate law courts - Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset vs. - Richard, Duke of York, opposed the Court 3) Battle of St.

Alban's 1455 - Lancastrians were defeated and Somerset killed - the Duke of York seized the Protectorate of England - Queen Margaret and the Lancastrians regained control of the Court 4) Hostilities resumed in 1460 - when Richard, Duke of York, claimed the throne as a hereditary right, encouraged by the support of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick (Kingmaker) - Battle of Wakefield, December 1460 > the Yorkists were defeated and Richard, Duke of York died - Battle of Towton, March 1461 > the new Duke of York, Edward, defeated the Lancastrians who never recovered - Queen Margaret fled to France with her son, Edward, Prince of Wales 5) Edward, Duke of York, benefited from the popular discontent with Lancastrian rule - March 1461 Edward was pronounced King by a Yorkist council and an assembly of London citizens by hereditary right 6) Restoration of Henry VI to the English throne - conflict with the Earl of Warwick who proposed an alliance with France sealed by Edward IV's marriage to a French princess - Edward IV favored an alliance with Burgundy and revealed he was already married to Elizabeth Woodville - and he shower

ed favors on her large family which was greatly resented - the Duke of Warwick allied with Queen Margaret and with French support overthrew Edward IV in 1470 - Edward IV fled to Burgundy 7) Battle of Barnet 1471 - Edward IV returned from Burgundy with a large army, defeated and killed Warwick - shortly after Margaret was captured and Prince Edward killed in battle (or murdered?) - a few weeks later Henry VI had died in the Tower "of pure displeasure and melancholy" (or murdered?) - Edward IV was now the undisputed king of England IV.

Edward IV (1471-1483) - Began the Revival of Royal Power A. Establishment of the Financial independence of the Crown - persuaded Parliament to vote him customs for life - pursued peace - Treaty of Picquigny 1475 > gave the King an annual income from the French B. Traditional Instruments of Government replaced with: - the king's council that met in the Star Chamber - his Household, especially the Chamber which administered royal lands - the Court was used to assert the majesty of the monarch C. Edward IV died suddenly at the age of 40 - he was a popular ruler for the peace and prosperity he brought to England V.

Edward V (April 9-July 5, 1438) - fear of misrule and civil war due to a minority rule enabled the boy's uncle, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, to inherit the throne - by experience and blood, Richard was the best suited to act as a Protector for his nephew, but he knew the Woodvilles would never allow this - Richard seized Edward V, imprisoned most of the Woodville relatives, and proclaimed himself Protector - he executed the young King's uncles; had Edward declared a bastard; and took the throne as the rightful heir of his brother - a year later Prince Edward and his 10 year old brother disappeared from the Tower of London - the fate of the princes was blamed on Richard III and he lost his support - the Duke of Buckingham turned against his ally and attempted to place Henry Tudor on the throne - the rebellion failed, Buckingham was beheaded and Henry Tudor became an enemy of the King - Henry Tudor's claim to the throne was weak B.

Fall of Richard III - Richard III continued to lose support, especially when he resorted to forced loans - Henry Tudor launched an invasion from France and rather than being met with resistance, he found new recruits to his cause - Battle of Boswell (1485) > two key commanders refused to fight against Henry Tudor >Richard III died on the battlefield Wikijunior:Kings and Queens of England/The House of Lancaster - Wikibooks, open books for an open world Wikijunior:Kings and Queens of England/The House of Lancaster From Wikibooks, open books for an open world This is the latest reviewed version , approved on 12 September 2012. (+) Quality: average Henry IV (1399- 1413)[ edit ] Henry IV Henry IV was born on 3 April 1367 at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, which was why he was also known as Henry Bolingbroke. His father was the third son of King Edward III of England, John of Gaunt. After landing in Yorkshire in 1398, Henry had enough support to be declared king by parliament in 1399.

As king, Henry consulted with parliament often, but he sometimes disagreed with them, particularly over church matters. Henry was the first English king to allow the burning of heretics. Henry spent much of his reign defending himself against plots, rebellions and assassination attempts. Rebellions continued throughout the first ten years of Henry's reign. These included the revolt of Owen Glendower, who declared himself Prince of Wales in 1400, and the rebellion of Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland. The king's success in putting down these rebellions was due partly to the military ability of his eldest son, Henry, who would later become King. In 1406, English soldiers captured the future King James I of Scotland as he was going to France. James remained a prisoner of Henry for the rest of Henry's reign. Marriages and children[ edit ] In 1381, 18 years before becoming king, Henry married Mary de Bohun. They had two daughters and four sons, one of which was the future King Henry V of England.

Mary died in 1394, and in 1403 Henry married Joanna of Navarre, the daughter of Charles d'Évreux, King of Navarre. She was the widow of John V of Brittany, with whom she had four daughters and four sons, but she and Henry had no children. The later years of Henry's reign were marked by serious health problems. He had some sort of disfiguring skin disease, and more seriously suffered acute attacks of some grave illness in June 1405, April 1406, June 1408, during the winter of 1408-09, December 1412, and then finally a fatal bout in March 1413. Unusually for a king of England, he was buried not at Westminster Abbey but at Canterbury Cathedral, as near to the shrine of Thomas Becket as possible. Henry V (1413-1422)[ edit ] File:King Henry V From NPG.jpg King Henry V. Henry V was born in Monmouth in 1387.

He was king from 1413 to his death in 1422 By the time Henry died, he had not only consolidated power as the King of England but had also effectively accomplished what generations of his ancestors had failed to achieve through decades of war: unification of the crowns of England and France in a single person. Life before became King[ edit ] When Henry's father, Henry Bolingbroke, was exiled in 1398, Richard II took the boy into his own charge and treated him kindly. In 1399 the Lancastrian revolution brought Bolingbroke. He was created Duke of Lancaster on 10 November 1399, the third person to hold the title that year. In 1403 the sixteen-year-old prince was almost killed by an arrow which became lodged in his face. An ordinary soldier would have been left to die from such a wound, but Henry had the benefit of the best possible care, and, over a period of several days after the incident, the royal physician crafted a special tool in order to extract the tip of the arrow without doing further damage. The operation was successful.

The Welsh revolt of Owen Glendower took up much of Henry's attention until 1408. Then, as a result of the King's ill-health, Henry began to take a wider interest in politics. From January 1410, he had practical control of the government. In 1413 his father died and Henry became king. Reign[ edit ] When he became king, Henry had to deal with three main problems: the restoration of domestic peace, the healing of rift in the Church and the recovery of English prestige in Europe. Henry tackled all of the domestic policies together, and gradually built on them a wider policy. From the first he made it clear that he would rule England as the head of a united nation. The heirs of those who had suffered in the last reign were restored gradually to their titles and estates. Henry then turned his attention to foreign affairs, in particular the war with France and his claim to be King of it. 25 October 1415 saw Henry score a great success in this campaign at Agincourt. The command of the sea was secured by driving the Genoese allies of the French out of the English Channel.

Successful diplomacy saw the Holy Roman Emperor, Sigismund, cease his support of Henry's French foes, whilst the Treaty of Canterbury helped end the rift in the Church. With the French having lost the support of the Genoese and the Holy Roman Emperor, with these 2 allies gone, the war was renewed on a larger scale in 1417. Lower Normandy was quickly conquered, and Rouen was cut off from Paris and besieged. The French were paralysed by the disputes of Burgundians and Armagnacs. Henry skilfully played them off one against the other, without relaxing his warlike energy. In January 1419 Rouen fell. By August the English were outside the walls of Paris. The internal disputes of the French parties ended with the killing of John of Burgundy by men loyal to the heir to the French throne. Philip, the new Duke of Burgundy, and the French court threw themselves into Henry's arms. After six months' negotiation Henry was recognised as heir and regent of France. On 2 June 1420, Henry married Catherine of Valois, the French king's daughter.

Following his death, Catherine secretly married a Welsh courtier, Owen Tudor, grandfather of the future King Henry VII of England. Death[ edit ] Henry then made plans for a new Crusade began to take shape as the French situation became clearer. Henry visited to England in 1421, but returned to France after forces led by the Duke of Clarence were defeated at the Battle of Baugé. The hardships of the longer winter siege of Meaux broke down his health, and he died of dysentery at Bois de Vincennes on 31 August 1422. Had he lived another two months, he would have been crowned King of France. Henry was buried in Westminster Abbey. He was succeeded by his infant son, Henry. Henry VI (1422-1461, 1470-1471)[ edit ] Henry VI Henry VI was born at Windsor Castle on 6 December 1421, the son of King Henry V. He was King of England from 1422, when he was nine months old. In 1423, parliament was called and a regency council was appointed.

Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, Henry IV's youngest son, was appointed Protector and Defender of the Realm and the Church until the King came of age, but the Council had the power to replace him at any time. His duties were limited to keeping the peace and summoning and dissolving Parliament. Henry was eventually crowned King of England in Westminster Abbey on 6 November 1429 a month before his eighth birthday, and as King of France at Notre Dame in Paris on 16 December 1431. However, during the rule of the regency council, much of the ground his father gained in France was lost. A revival of French fortunes, beginning with the military victories of Joan of Arc, led to the French nobles preferring the French dauphin, who was crowned as King of France at Reims. Diplomatic errors as well as military failures resulted in the loss of most of the English territories in France. Henry assumed the reins of government when he was declared of age in 1437. On gaining his majority, Henry VI proved to be a deeply spiritual man, lacking the worldly wisdom necessary to allow him to rule effectively.

Right from the time he assumed control as king, he allowed his court to be dominated by a few noble favorites, and the peace party, which was in favour of ending the war in France, quickly came to dominate. Marriage[ edit ] It was thought that the best way of pursuing peace with France was through a marriage with King Charles VII of France's niece, Margaret of Anjou. Henry agreed, especially when he heard reports of Margaret's stunning beauty. Charles agreed to the marriage on condition that he would not have to provide the customary dowry and instead would receive the lands of Maine and Anjou from the English. These conditions were agreed to in the Treaty of Tours, but the cession of Maine and Anjou was kept secret from parliament. It was known that this would be hugely unpopular with the English populace. The marriage went ahead in 1445 and Margaret's character seems to have complemented that of Henry's in that she was prepared to take decisions and show leadership where he was content to be led by her. In this much Margaret proved a more competent ruler than Henry ever was, even though she was only sixteen at that time. The issue of Maine and Anjou finally became public knowledge in 1446.

Reign[ edit ] The government's increasing unpopularity was due to a breakdown in law and order, corruption, the distribution of royal land to the king's court favourites, the troubled state of the crown's finances, and the steady loss of territories in France. In 1447, this unpopularity took the form of a Commons campaign against the Duke of Suffolk, who was the most unpopular of all the King's favourites was widely seen as a traitor, partly because of his role in negotiating the Treaty of Tours. Henry was forced to send him into exile, but his ship was boarded in the English Channel, and he was murdered. His body was found on the beach at Dover. In 1449, the Duke of Somerset, who was leading the campaign in France, started more battles in Normandy, but by the autumn had been pushed back to Caen. By 1450, the French had retaken the whole province. Returning troops, who had often not been paid, added to the sense of lawlessness in the southern counties of England, and Jack Cade led a rebellion in Kent in 1450.

Henry came to London with an army to crush the rebellion, but was persuaded to keep half his troops behind while the other half met Cade at Sevenoaks. Cade triumphed and went on to occupy London. In the end, the rebellion achieved nothing, and London was retaken after a few days of disorder, but the rebellion showed that feelings of discontent were running high. In 1450, the Duchy of Aquitaine, held since Henry II's time, was also lost, leaving Calais as England's only remaining territory in France. By 1452, Richard, Duke of York, who had been sidelined by being made ruler of Ireland, was persuaded to return amd claim his rightful place on the council, and put an end to bad government. His cause was a popular one, and he soon raised an army at Shrewsbury. The king's supporters raised their own similar-sized force in London. A stand-off took place south of London, with the Duke of York giving a list of grievances and demands to the king's supporters. One of the demands was the arrest of the Duke of Somerset. The king initially agreed, but Margaret intervened to prevent it.

By 1453, the Duke of Somerset regained his influence, and the Duke of York was again isolated. In the meantime, an English advance in Aquitaine had retaken Bordeaux and was having some success, and the queen announced that she was pregnant. However, English success in Aquitaine was short-lived, and on hearing the news of the English defeat in August 1453, Henry slipped into a mental breakdown and became completely unaware of everything that was going on around him. This was to last for more than a year, and Henry failed even to respond to the birth of his own son and heir, Edward. The Duke of York, meanwhile, had gained a very important ally, the Earl of Warwick, who was one of the very influential and rich. The Duke York was named regent as Protector of the Realm in 1454, and the queen lost all her power. Somerset was held prisoner in the Tower of London. The Duke of York's months as regent were spent tackling the problem of government overspending. On Christmas Day 1454, however, Henry regained his senses.

Henry's character[ edit ] Henry was kind and generous to those he cared about, giving away land and titles to his advisors. He dressed simply. He was keen on reading and 'book-learning' but did not like leading his country in battle. Keen on the promotion of education, Henry gave generous grants for the foundation of both Eton College near Windsor, for the education of students from poor backgrounds, and King's College, Cambridge, where they could continue their education. Henry seems to have been a decent man, but completely unsuited to kingship. He allowed himself to dominated by the power-hungry factions which surrounded him at court and was later powerless to stop the outbreak of bloody civil war. It was too much for him to cope with, as his recurring mental illness from 1453 onwards showed. The Wars of the Roses[ edit ] Nobles who had grown in power during Henry's reign, but who did not like Henry's government, took matters into their own hands by backing the claims of the rival House of York, first to the regency, and then to the throne itself.

After a violent struggle between the houses of Lancaster and York, Henry was deposed on 4 March 1461 by his cousin, Edward of York, who became King Edward IV. But Edward failed to capture Henry and his queen, and they were able to flee into exile abroad. During the first period of Edward IV's reign, Lancastrian resistance continued mainly under the leadership of Queen Margaret and the few nobles still loyal to her in the northern counties of England and Wales. Henry was captured by King Edward in 1465 and subsequently held captive in the Tower of London. Queen Margaret was exiled, first in Scotland and then in France. However, she was determined to win back for her husband and son, and with the help of King Louis XI of France she eventually allied with the Earl of Warwick, who had fallen out with Edward IV. Warwick returned to England, defeated the Yorkists in battle, set Henry VI free and restored him to the throne on 30 October 1470. Henry's return to the throne lasted a very short time. By this time, years in hiding followed by years as a prisoner had taken their toll on Henry, who had been weak-willed and mentally unstable to start with.

Henry looked tired and vacant as Warwick and his men paraded him through the streets of London as the rightful King of England. Within a few months Warwick had went too far by declaring war on Burgundy, whose ruler responded by giving Edward IV the assistance he needed to win back his throne by force. Death[ edit ] Henry VI was again held prisoner, this time in the Tower of London, and he was murdered there on 21 May 1471. Popular legend has accused Richard III of his murder, as well as the murder of Henry VI's son, Edward. Each year on the anniversary of Henry VI's death, the Provosts of Eton and King's College, Cambridge, lay roses and lilies on the altar which now stands where he died. King Henry VI was originally buried in Chertsey Abbey. In 1485 his body was moved to St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. He was succeeded as king by Edward, son of Richard, Duke of York.

Question: Who succeeded to the English throne in 1422 at the age of nine months?
Answer: HENRY VI