Henry V

Henry V (1387-1422), king of England (1413-1422), known for his victorious campaigns against France, born at Monmouth in August or September 1387. He was the son and successor of Henry IV. In 1403 Henry led the royal army that defeated the rebellious Percy family, led by Sir Henry Percy, at Shrewsbury. He also commanded the English forces that put down the revolt of the Welsh chief Owen Glendower. In 1410-1411, when his father was incapacitated by illness, Henry headed the royal council, but was removed after a political quarrel with his father. On succeeding to the throne in 1413, Henry V restored Sir Henry Percy's son to his lands and titles; he also honourably reburied at Westminster Abbey the remains of Richard II, who had been deposed by Henry IV and had died in prison during the latter's reign. The new king continued his father's policy in persecuting the religious sect known as the Lollards and executed their leader, Sir John Oldcastle, in 1417.

Laying claim to the former Plantagenet possession of Aquitaine, the old Angevin lands in northern France, and other territories besides, Henry began his war against France in 1415, winning in that same year the Battle of Agincourt. The following year he allied himself with the Holy Roman emperor Sigismund, and in 1417 he began the conquest of Normandy, completing it with the capture of Rouen two years later. He concluded a peace treaty with Charles VI of France at Troyes in 1420, obtaining Charles's daughter, Catherine of Valois, in marriage and securing the promise of succession to the French throne on the death of Charles. When Henry returned to England in 1421, leaving his brother Thomas, Duke of Clarence, as governor of Normandy, the French rose in opposition to English rule and defeated the Duke. Henry returned to France for a third campaign, but he fell ill and died. He was the most influential ruler in Western Europe at the time of his death in Vincennes in France on August 31, 1422. He was succeeded by his son Henry VI. His early career and brilliant victory at Agincourt were celebrated by William Shakespeare in his plays Henry IV, Parts I and II and Henry V.