Henry VI of England

choi

Full text attached to the bottom.


Allan Massie, The Wrong Man for the Job; As France balked and dynastic rivalry intensified, a gentle, pious man occupied the English throne. No one was less suited for medieval kingship. Wall Street Journal, May 30, 2019
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the ... the-job-11559170993
(book review on Lauren Johnson, The Shadow King. The life and death of Henry VI. Pegasus, 2019)

Note:
(1) Allan Massie is Scottish and lives in Scotland. He "attend[ed] Trinity College, Cambridge where he read history [ie, he has a bachelor's but not higher]."  en.wikipedia.org for Allan Massie.
(a) Massie (surname)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massie_(surname)

Jardine Matheson Holdings Limited (怡和洋行 (前名渣甸洋行); founded in 1932 and based in Hong Kong) is named after two Scots William Jardine 威廉·渣甸 and James Matheson 詹姆士·马地臣.
(b) The English, Scottish and French surname Massey is of Norman origin, "from any of various places in northern France which get their names from the Gallo-Roman personal name Maccius." Dictionary of American Family Names, by Oxford Iniv Press.

(2) " 'Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.' Shakespeare gives this line to Henry IV, who was more fortunate than several other medieval English kings, for he died in his own bed of natural causes, and still king. In the list of monarchs from 1087 to 1485, four—William II, Edward II, Richard II and Henry VI—were almost certainly murdered, and the fate of the boy king Edward V (the elder of 'the Princes in the Tower') remains a mystery. Of these uneasy rulers, it is Henry VI's story—enthrallingly told in 'The Shadow King' by Lauren Johnson, a British historian—that is perhaps the saddest."
(a)
(i) Uneasy Lies the Head That Wears a Crown
https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/396000.html

There is plain-English translation in
https://www.sparknotes.com/nofear/shakespeare/henry4pt2/page_387/
, which is page 2. Go to the bottom of page 1:
("Thousands of even my poorest subjects are sleeping right now. [which s not found in www.phrasefinder.com] * * * Will you even close the eyes of a ship boy, high up on the whirling mast, and rock him gently in a cradle made of rough, tossing seas and howling winds [corresponding to Shakespeare's 'Wilt thou upon the high and giddy mast Seal up the shipboy's eyes, and rock his brains  In cradle of the rude imperious surge  And in the visitation of the winds  Who take the ruffian billows by the top'] ")
(A) shipboy (n): "a boy who serves in a ship usually as a cabin attendant"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shipboy
(B) cabin (n): "2: nautical a: a room in a ship used as living quarters by an officer or passenger
* * *
3: the enclosed space in an aircraft or spacecraft for the crew, passengers, or cargo"
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language. 5th ed. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing (2016).
https://www.thefreedictionary.com/cabin

A cabin on a ship or boat may be either above or below deck.
(ii) Henry IV (reign 1399-1413; father of Henry V and grandfather of Henry VI -- his two consecutive successors)  Wikipedia.
(b) "monarchs from 1087 to 1485, four—William II, Edward II, Richard II 0111377-1399; surrendered to Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland and was starved to death] and Henry VI—were almost certainly murdered"
(i) William I (or William the Conqueror) reigned 1066-1087, and was succeeded by his son William II.
(ii) Richard III (reigned 1483-1485)
(iii) William II (reigned 1087-1100).
https://www.westminster-abbey.or ... s/royals/william-ii
("He was called William Rufus from his red hair * * * On 2nd August 1100 while on a hunting expedition in the New Forest he was accidentally killed by an arrow and was buried in nearby Winchester cathedral")
(iv) Edward II (reign 1307 – 1327): His wife, or queen, Isabella (of France) with their son (future Edward III) and her lover Roger Mortimer rebelled against Edward II, who abdicated, was held in Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire and died five months afterwards.  en.wolo[edia.org.

(3) Henry VI "was the son of Henry V, the storied victor at Agincourt, and of Catherine de Valois, the daughter of Charles VI of France [1368-1422; reign 1380-1422]. Charles was intermittently mad, and France was, at the time of Henry V's reign, weakened by Charles's rivalry with the Duke of Burgundy. Indeed, the Burgundians allied themselves with the English. By the terms of Treaty of Troyes in 1420, Henry V was declared the successor of Charles as the king of France"
(a) Henry VI (reign 1422-1461)
(b) Catherine de Valois is from House of Valois, which ruled France 1328 to 1589. House of Valois was founded in 1284 by Charles, Count of Valois (1270–1325). Valois is county (realm of a count) -- and later duchu when the count was elevated to duke.

The en.wikipedia.org has a page for "Catherine of Valois," which says "Catherine was said to be very attractive" and married at 19 to Henry V (at 33; until then unwed) on June 2, 1420 -- 13 days after Treaty of Troyes was signed. She gave birth to their only child, the future Henry VI on Dec 6. 1421.
(i) counts and dukes of Valois
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counts_and_dukes_of_Valois
("The medieval county and duchy of Valois was [note the past tense] located in northern France in northeastern [present-day] Île-de-France [the most populous of the 18 regions of France that also includes Paris]")
(ii) Valois
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Valois
(pronunciation)
(A) From name of many places in France, the French surname Valois "is an adjective derivative of Old French [noun masculine] val valley (see Vale)." Dictionary of American Family Names.
(B) The English noun is from Modern French noun masculine réservoir of the same meaning. The "oi" in "reservoir" and "Valois" are pronounced the same -- neither r nor s, respectively is pronounced in French, unless followed by a vowel. See French phonology
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_phonology
(section 1 Consonants, section 1.2 Liaison)
(iii)
(A) Hundred Years' War (1337-1453)  en.wikipedia.org.  Encyclopaedia Britannica succinctly describes the start and the end:
https://www.britannica.com/event/Hundred-Years-War
(B) Battle of Agincourt
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Agincourt
(Oct 25, 1415; near Azincourt [a commune of 307 in 2016]; English longbow of 6 feet long)

, whose French spelling is bataille d'Azincourt. The French spelled the place Azincourt even in medieval time.

John Lichfield, Agincourt Remembers Battle Lost in Mists of Time. London: The Independent, Aug 11, 2001
https://www.independent.co.uk/ne ... f-time-9198733.html
("the Medieval History Centre at the site of the battle of Agincourt, which opened this summer * * * The centre, in the main street of the village of Azincourt (mis-spelled by contemporary English chroniclers and William Shakespeare) * * *" )
(c)
(i) "Burgundy (French: Bourgogne) is a historical territory [in France] * * * It takes its name from the Burgundians, an East Germanic people * * * "  en.wikpedia.org for Burgundy.
(ii) Burgundy
https://www.etymonline.com/word/burgundy
("from LL [Late Latin] Burgundiones, literally 'highlanders' * * * Burgundians were a Germanic people, originally from what is now Sweden, who migrated and founded a kingdom west of the Rhine in 411")
(iii) Why highlanders?

The highest peak in mountainous Burgundy is Haut-Folin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haut-Folin
(901m)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/br ... _years_war_01.shtml

(4) Treaty of Troyes
(a) Joseph Bergin, A History of France. Palgrave, 2015, at page 49
https://books.google.com/books?i ... PA49&dq=france+"charles+vi"+"refuge"+troyes+1420&source=bl&ots=aQfoZ4RFxi&sig=ACfU3U2No53BHoaMrDJiheBaxXLRHxSkog&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiKqtvW9dLiAhVkleAKHS9vCzcQ6AEwEXoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=france%20"charles%20vi"%20"refuge"%20troyes%201420&f=false
("Charles VI's younger brother, Louis of Orleans. Orleans' murder in 1407 on the orders of his first cousin and main rival, the formidable John 'the Fearless,' duke of Burgundy, unleashed a vicious civil war between the two evenly balanced factions, the Armagnacs (or Orleanists) and Burgundians; the tit-for-tat murder of the duke of Burgundy himself in 1419 only perpetuated these murderous rivalries. Paris and several other towns changed masters and experienced brutal purges several times during these years.  It was in this context, in which rival factions pursued foreign alliances with promises of territorial concessions, that rekindled English interests in the lost Plantagenet empire and the French crown itself")
(b) In 1407 John the Fearless had Louis of Orleans assassinated in Paris street, and justified it by labeling the latter as a tyrant. The assassination triggered Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War (1407-1435).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armagnac–Burgundian_Civil_War
(c) Duchy of Burgundy had capital in Dijon, which is famous for Dijon mustard.

Larry Gormley, The Duchy of Burgundy, Medieval Powerhouse.eHistory, undated.
https://ehistory.osu.edu/article ... medieval-powerhouse
(d)
(i) For Louis of Orleans, see Louis I, Duke of Orléans
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_I,_Duke_of_Orléans
("was the second son of King Charles V of France and Joanna of Bourbon and was the younger brother of Charles VI")

Following his assassination, Louis's son Charles succeeded him as duke of Orleans.

Orleans is a city 89 miles southwest of Paris.
(ii) Armagnac (party)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armagnac_(party)
("The Armagnac Faction took its name from Charles' father-in-law, Bernard VII, Count of Armagnac (1391-1418), who guided the young Duke [of Orleans Charles] during his teens and provided much of the financing and some of the seasoned Gascon troops * * * It was composed of two elements: the Orleanists and those following the Count" of Armagnac)
(A) "Cognac [brandy] is made in Cognac and Armagnac [brandy] is made in Armagnac, [both] in the Gascony region."  from the Web.
(B) Armagnac
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Armagnac
(pronunciation)
(e) The (4)(c) indicates Duchy of Burgundy had capital in Dijon. Troyes is also in the same duchy, Why then was the treaty signed in Troyes?
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Troyes
(pronunciation)
(i) Troyes, the Epicentre of Anglo-French Relations. Troyes, undated
https://en.tourisme-troyes.com/d ... lo-french-relations
("On 21 May 1420, with the French royal family having taken refuge in Troyes, the city’s cathedral played host to" treaty signing)
(ii) "take[] refuge"?

Henry V of England
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_V_of_England
(section 6 Foreign affairs, section 6.2 6.2.3 1417–20 campaign, section 6.2.3 1417–20 campaign: "By August, [1419] the English were outside the walls of Paris. The intrigues of the French parties culminated in the assassination of John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, by the Dauphin's partisans at Montereau on 10 September. Philip the Good, the new duke, and the French court threw themselves into Henry's arms. After six months of negotiation, the Treaty of Troyes [was signed]")

Neither Armagnacs nor Burgundians helped French cities under attack (by Henry V).

Henry V entered Paris later that year (1420), to have treaty ratified.
(f) In 1419, Dauphin of France -- the fourth son of Charles VI (his 3 elder brothers had died by natural causes) and the future Charles VII -- avenged Louis assassination by assassinating John the Fearless, duke of Burgundy. John's eldest son, Philip the Good, succeeded as duke. Philip allied with Henry V of England, who together convince the now mentally incapacitated Charles VI to sign the treaty: marry off daughter Catherine; enlist Henry V as regent and heir once Charles VI died; and disinherit Dauphin Charles.

Ratification du Traité de Troyes. Archives nationales (France), Aug 5, 2013 (number: AE/III/254)
https://www.facebook.com/Archive ... tification-du-traité-de-troyes-conclu-entre-henri-v-et-charles-vi-acte-rédigé-/570078483055514/
(an image of the treaty)
(g) Anne Curry, Brexit and the Treaty of Troyes. BBC, Dec 21, 2016.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-38326618

(5) "For England, Agincourt and the Treaty of Troyes represented the high-water mark of its wars with France. When Henry V died [died from dysentery, unexpectedly, at 35 in France], England held Normandy [John I of England, who signed Magna Carta, lost Normandy and Anjou in 1204], Maine, Anjou and Gascony. Ten years later, when his son was belatedly crowned King of France [in 1431 at Notre-Dame de Paris], the tide was turning in favor of the French, their resistance to the English freshly inspired by the remarkable peasant girl Joan of Arc."
(a) Maine (province)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maine_(province)
(b) Anjou
ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anjou
(takes its name from the Celtic tribe of the Andecavi)
(c)
(i) Gascony
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gascony
(French: Gascogne; The region is vaguely defined; The name Gascony comes from the same root as the word Basque)
(ii) Two pages in www.etymonline.com for "Gascon" (native of Gascony) and "Basque" says they are from the same Latin roots: Latin [noun masculine] Vasco, singular of Vascones (inhabitants of Vasconia, which is the Roman name for the up-country of the western Pyrenees).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrenees
("The Pyrenees is -note the singular form of the verb] a range of mountains" separating France and Spain; extends for about 491 km (305 mi) from the Bay of Biscay to the Mediterranean Sea; highest peak: Aneto (elevation 3,404 m (11,168 ft) ); section 1 Etymology)
(d) Joan of Arc (c 1412 - 1431 (burned at stake at Rouen, Normandy (then under English rule) ); French: Jeanne d'Arc; father: Jacques d'Arc; military campaigns on behalf of Charles VII who was crowned in 1429)

(6) "Even after Henry [VI] recovered, his condition was fragile. His wife, Margaret of Anjou [niece of Charles VII of France], was energetic * * * Her authority was challenged by Richard, [3rd] Duke of York"
(a) Both Henry VI and Richard, 3rd Duke of York were descendants of Edward III of England.
(b) Edward III (reign 1327-1377) passed the throne to 10-year-old grandson as Richard II (as Edward III's eldest son and Richard's father died before Richard III). Edward III created duke of Lancaster for another son, John of Gaunt. This would be House of Lancaster.
(c) Mentioned in paragraph (2) of this note, Richard II (reign 1377-1399) was deposed by Henry (son of John of Gaunt) of Lancaster.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_II_of_England
(section 10 Death)

Henry crowned himself as Henry IV, who did spare Richard II's son/ heir. The usurpation (by Henry IV) underlined Richard of York's claim to throne.

Henry IV's son and grandson (Henry V and VI, respectively) were of course in House of Lancaster.

(7) "On 1455, Richard's party --the Yorkists -- won the Battle of St Albans and were able to control the government. Five years later, Richard was killed in battle, and his son Edward assumed the Yorkist leadership. He boldly declared Henry [VI] deposed and won a major victory at the notably savage Battle of Towton in 1461. (Ms Johnson accepts the figure that puts the battle's death toll at 28,000.) Edward was now crowned Edward IV, King of England   * * * When fate turned against Edward for a time -- he fled to Flanders -- Henry was released from the Tower * * * Henry was told that he was 'king once more,' but he wore the crown only briefly. Edward gathered an army in Flanders and returned to England, defeating Lancastrians at Tewkesbury, where Henry's heir, the Prince of Wales, was killed. Edward was king again and Henry a prisoner back in the Tower. With Henry's heir dead, there was no longer need to prudence: He was quickly murdered. .
(a) War of the Roses
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wars_of_the_Roses
(1455-1487; section 4.1 Start of the war: Battle of St Albans with Yorkists capturing Henry VI but keeping him as king for now)
(b) Battle of Towton
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Towton
(Mar 29, 1461; near the village of Towton in Yorkshire; table: Result  Decisive Yorkist victory. Casualties and losses  Torkists 8,000 killed + Lamcastrians 20,000 killed)

Edward IV had ascended to throne on Mar 4, 1461.
(c)
(i) Readeption of Henry VI
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Readeption_of_Henry_VI
(section 4 Edward IV's return)
(ii) Tewkesbury
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tewkesbury
(The name Tewkesbury comes from Theoc, the name of a Saxon who founded a hermitage there in the 7th century,)

(8) "he [Henry VI] founded Eton College and King's College [founded in 1441], Cambridge"

Eton College
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eton_College
(an English 13–18 independent boarding school and sixth form for boys in the parish of Eton, near Windsor in Berkshire; was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI)

choi

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'The Shadow King’ Review: Why Henry VI Was the Wrong Man for the Job
As France balked and dynastic rivalry intensified, a gentle, pious man occupied the English throne. No one was less suited for medieval kingship.
By Allan Massie
May 29, 2019 7:03 p.m. ET

"Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown." Shakespeare gives this line to Henry IV, who was more fortunate than several other medieval English kings, for he died in his own bed of natural causes, and still king. In the list of monarchs from 1087 to 1485, four—William II, Edward II, Richard II and Henry VI—were almost certainly murdered, and the fate of the boy king Edward V (the elder of "the Princes in the Tower") remains a mystery. Of these uneasy rulers, it is Henry VI's story—enthrallingly told in "The Shadow King" by Lauren Johnson, a British historian—that is perhaps the saddest.

Henry was a king before he was a year old. He was the son of Henry V, the storied victor at Agincourt, and of Catherine de Valois, the daughter of Charles VI of France. Charles was intermittently mad, and France was, at the time of Henry V's reign, weakened by Charles's rivalry with the Duke of Burgundy. Indeed, the Burgundians allied themselves with the English. By the terms of Treaty of Troyes in 1420, Henry V was declared the successor of Charles as the king of France, but within two years Henry V was dead.

So it was that the infant Henry VI was king of both England and France. No one could has been less suited late-medieval kingship. 'Kings,' Ms Johnson writes, 'needed to bear children, lead armies and dispense justice, all of which required more energy and strength of will than Henry demonstrated.' He was well-meaning, gentle and pious, but he was neither a soldier nor a man of government.

For England, Agincourt and the Treaty of Troyes represented the high-water mark of its wars with France. When Henry V died, England held Normandy, Maine, Anjou and Gascony. Ten years later, when his son was belatedly crowned King of France, the tide was turning in favor of the French, their resistance to the English freshly inspired by the remarkable peasant girl Joan of Arc.

The attempt to maintain English empire in France would dominate the first three decades of Henry's nearly 40-years reign. and his inability to take the lead, coupled with his unpopular preference for a negotiated peace, made failure seemingly inevitable. England depended on the Burgundian alliance, but, as the war turned against English, th eDuke of Burgundy switched sides. Yet the war dragged on -- expensive, unsuccessful and broadly resented.

The 1450s -- the last decade of Henry's reign, when he was in his 30s -- were a terrible time for the English. In 1450 there was a peasant uprising in Kent, brutally suppressed. Three years later, England's defeat in the Battle of Castillon, in southwestern France, led to the loss of Bordeaux and Gascony, which had been in English possession for 300 years. The next month Henry suffered a mental collapse, "smitten with a frenzy," according to a contemporary chronicler. Henry, Ms. Johnson writes, "could not talk. He could not walk. He did not recognize his companions. He was barely able to hold up his head, sitting slumped and silent in their presence like a rag doll." He remained in this state for months.

Even after Henry recovered, his condition was fragile. His wife, Margaret of Anjou, was energetic, capable and devoted to his interests but also French and unpopular. Her authority was challenged by Richard, Duke of York, who had, some thought, a better claim to the throne than Henry. It was at this point that England entered the period of turmoil and dynastic struggle—between the Yorkists and the Lancastrians—known as the War of the Roses.

At first Richard only claimed a right to regency, on account of Henry's incapacity., but soon enough he and his followers sought full power, and civil war broke out. On 1455, Richard's party --the Yorkists -- won the Battle of St Albans and were able to control the government. Five years later, Richard was killed in battle, and his son Edward assumed the Yorkist leadership. He boldly declared Henry deposed and won a major victory at the notably savage Battle of Towton in 1461. (Ms. Johnson accepts the figure that puts the battle's death toll at 28,000.) Edward was now crowned Edward IV, King of England.

The war continued, but Henry, no more than a pawn now, was taken prisoner in 1465 and brought to London, where he was paraded through the streets with his feet tied under his horse. He was confined to the Tower of London and spared death from prudence rather than mercy. When fate turned against Edward for a time -- he fled to Flanders -- Henry was released from the Tower, where he was found to be 'neither so cleanly kept nor so well-dressed as * * * expected,' Ms Johnson writes. Henry was told that he was 'king once more,' but he wore the crown only briefly. Edward gathered an army in Flanders and returned to England, defeating Lancastrians at Tewkesbury, where Henry's heir, the Prince of Wales, was killed. Edward was king again and Henry a prisoner back in the Tower. With Henry's heir dead, there was no longer need to prudence: He was quickly murdered.

Henry would come to be revered after death. 'More than 300 miracles,' Ms Johnson writes, were reported to the monks who tended Henry's tomb.' Perhaps only the Protestant Reformation half a century later prevented his canonization. Arguably, this ineffectual king has left a greater mark on history than his hero father, for he founded Eton College and King's College, Cambridge, and cherished both these seats of learning, where so many prime ministers and men of influence have been educated.

There are great difficulties in writing biographies of medieval kings -- the lack of personal letters, diaries and memoirs being among the most obvious. Ms Johnson has overcome them wonderfully. She gives  us a convincing picture of Henry, a gentle man unsuited to hos position, and of his bloody and brutal times. One soon loses count of the number of beheadings she records. "The Shadow King" si a scholarly work aimed at the common reader -- and the common reader is richly rewarded.

Mr Massie is the author of "The Royal Stuarts: A History of the Family That Shaped England."