Henry V reigned over England for only nine years and four months, and died at the age of just 35, but he looms over the landscape of the late Middle Ages and beyond.
The victor of Agincourt was a model king for his successors. Shakespeare's version of Henry V saw his youthful folly redirected to sober statesmanship, and in the dark days of World War II, Henry's victories in France were recounted in British propaganda. Churchill called Henry 'a gleam of splendour in the dark, troubled story of medieval England', while for one modern medievalist, Henry was, quite simply, 'the greatest man who ever ruled England'.
For Dan Jones, Henry is one of the most intriguing characters in all medieval history, but one of the hardest to pin down. He was a hardened, sometimes brutal, warrior, yet he was also creative and artistic, with a bookish temperament. He was a leader who made many mistakes, who misjudged his friends and family members, yet always seemed to triumph when it mattered.
As king, he saved a shattered country from economic ruin, put down rebellions and secured England's borders; in foreign diplomacy, he made England a serious player once more. Yet through his conquests in northern France, he sowed the seeds for three generations of calamity at home, in the form of the Wars of the Roses.
Review: This is the biography of the English king Henry V by the historian and journalist Dan Jones. I listened to the audiobook narrated by the author. Most people will be familiar with this monarch through William Shakespeare’s play and the films based on the play. These concentrate on his martial achievements during his 9-year reign from 1413 to 1422. However, this book gives a more complete and nuanced account of his life.
Born in Monmouth in 1386, Henry was the son of the nobleman Henry Bolingbroke. When his father was sent into exile by the then king Richard II in 1398, the young Henry was taken into the court of King Richard. Henry Bolingbroke returned to England in 1399 to re-claim his inheritance, but instead forced Richard to abdicate and seized the throne as Henry IV. The young Henry subsequently became heir to the throne. During his teenage years he gained military experience during Owain Glyndwr’s Welsh rebellion and assisting his father put down a rebellion by the Percy family. It was during the latter rebellion, at the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403, that he received a near fatal injury from an arrow to the face. He survived thanks to the expertise of a doctor sent for from London.
When his father died in 1413, Henry succeeded him as King Henry V. During his reign he achieved military successes in his campaigns in France to assert his claim to the French throne. Probably the most famous was his victory at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, but there were other campaigns. Eventually, in 1420, a treaty was signed recognising him as heir to the French King Charles VI. Unfortunately Henry died in 1422 whilst on campaign in France, possibly from dysentery, prior to the death of Charles VI so never became king of France.
I found the book to be a balanced biography, illustrating Henry V’s skills as a military commander, but also describing his ruthless and brutal side when he felt it was necessary to protect his kingdom. As a more complete biography than the one we get from Shakespeare’s play, I would recommend this book to all interested in this period of history.
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