On the 31st of August, 1422, King Henry V died from dysentery in France, and his son, Henry VI became king at the age of 9 months. I confess that I am struggling to believe that I haven’t written about Henry V, victor of Agincourt before. My work in progress, Cade’s Point, the sixth book in the Sir Anthony Standen Adventures, takes its title from Shakespeare’s King Henry VI part two.
King Henry V (1386–1422) is remembered as one of England’s greatest warrior kings. His short reign transformed England’s fortunes during the Hundred Years’ War and left a legacy that endured long after his untimely death. Although celebrated for his military brilliance, Henry was also an able administrator, a determined lawgiver, and a deeply religious ruler whose ambitions reshaped the politics of medieval Europe.
Henry was born on the 16th of September, 1386, at Monmouth Castle in Wales, the eldest son of Henry Bolingbroke, later King Henry IV, and Mary de Bohun. As a boy he received an education befitting a prince, learning languages, theology, history, and the arts of warfare. His youth was marked by political upheaval. In 1399 his father deposed King Richard II and became Henry IV, making the thirteen-year-old prince heir to the throne.
The young Prince Henry quickly gained military experience. During the Welsh rebellion led by Owain Glyndŵr, he commanded royal forces with determination. At the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403, fought against the rebellious Percy family, Henry was struck in the face by an arrow. The arrow penetrated deeply beside his nose, and the renowned surgeon John Bradmore carried out a remarkable operation to remove it using specially designed instruments. Henry survived, though the wound left a permanent scar, demonstrating both his resilience and the sophistication of medieval surgery.
Henry succeeded his father on the 20th of March, 1413. Unlike his father’s troubled reign, which had been overshadowed by rebellion and financial difficulties, Henry’s accession was generally welcomed. One of his first acts was to reconcile factions within the kingdom, including arranging the honourable reburial of Richard II at Westminster Abbey. He also dealt firmly with threats to his authority, suppressing the Southampton Plot of 1415, a conspiracy that sought to place Edmund Mortimer on the throne.
Henry’s greatest ambition was to revive England’s claim to the French crown. Negotiations with France broke down, and in August 1415 he invaded Normandy with an army of around 12,000 men. After capturing the strategic port of Harfleur, disease weakened his force dramatically. Nevertheless, Henry decided to march his exhausted army towards the English-held port of Calais.
The march culminated in the famous Battle of Agincourt on the 25th of October, 1415. Outnumbered by perhaps three or four to one, Henry chose his ground carefully. Heavy rain had turned the narrow field into thick mud, hampering the advance of the heavily armoured French knights. English longbowmen devastated the French attacks with volleys of arrows before many of the exhausted French soldiers were overwhelmed in the mud. The battle ended in an astonishing English victory, with much of the French nobility killed or captured while English losses remained comparatively light. Agincourt became one of the most celebrated victories in English military history.
Rather than treating Agincourt as a single triumph, Henry used it as the foundation for a systematic conquest of Normandy. Between 1417 and 1419 he captured town after town, including the strategically vital city of Rouen after a long siege. His disciplined armies generally maintained stricter standards than many contemporary forces, although sieges inevitably brought suffering to civilian populations.
Henry’s greatest diplomatic achievement came with the Treaty of Troyes in 1420. Under its terms, the mentally ill French king, Charles VI of France, recognised Henry as his heir and regent. Henry married Charles’s daughter, Catherine of Valois, strengthening his claim. Their only child, the future Henry VI, was born in December 1421.
As king, Henry was energetic in government. He promoted the use of English in official documents and administration at a time when French and Latin had long dominated official business. He worked closely with Parliament to finance his campaigns and sought to uphold justice throughout his kingdom. Personally, he was known for discipline, piety, and hard work. Contemporary chroniclers admired his devotion to religious observance and his willingness to share hardships with his soldiers.
Henry’s brilliant career ended suddenly. While campaigning in France, he contracted dysentery, probably during the siege of Meaux. He died at the Château de Vincennes on the 31st of August, 1422, at only thirty-five years of age. Just weeks later Charles VI also died, leaving the infant Henry VI technically king of both England and France under the Treaty of Troyes. In reality, however, the French rallied behind the Dauphin, who became Charles VII, and the English position gradually deteriorated.
Henry V was buried with great ceremony in Westminster Abbey, where his tomb remains today. His reputation has only grown with time. Chroniclers praised him as the model Christian king, while later generations admired his courage and leadership. His fame was immortalised by William Shakespeare in the play Henry V, particularly through the stirring St Crispin’s Day speech, which celebrates comradeship and resolve in the face of overwhelming odds.
Although his conquests ultimately proved temporary, Henry V’s military genius, political skill, and force of personality secured his place among England’s most celebrated monarchs. His reign lasted only nine years, yet its impact on English history, national identity, and literature has endured for more than six centuries.