Henry V of England

His only son Henry was born through Catherine of Valois on December 6, 1421 at Windsor Castle.

His sudden death on August 31, 1422, at the Château de Vincennes, seemingly from dysentery that he contacted during the siege of Meaux, resulted into crowning of his infant son as King Henry VI of England and also the disputed King of France.

Henry V was interred on November 7, 1422 in Westminster Abbey.

Henry V was born on August 9, 1386 in Monmouth Castle, Monmouth, Principality of Wales to Henry of Bolingbroke, who later became King Henry IV of England, and Mary de Bohun. He was usually referred as Henry of Monmouth before becoming King Henry V. His great grandfather was famous King Edward III of England.

Richard II was monarch of England at the time of Henry’s birth and the guardian of the king was John of Gaunt, Henry V’s grandfather. After exile of his father in 1398, the young boy came under guidance of Richard II who handled him kindly.

Following the death of Henry’s grandfather, Richard II disinherited his father who, on the other hand, invaded England in June 1399 and eventually succeeded in garnering support and overthrowing Richard II from the throne declaring himself as King Henry IV of England.

On October 13, 1399, Henry V was crowned the Prince of Wales during the coronation ceremony of his father. He was bestowed with the title of Duke of Lancaster on November 10, 1399. Thereafter, he was also made Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Cornwall and Earl of Chester.

According to a contemporary record, he was at The Queen's College, Oxford in 1399 under the supervision of his uncle Henry Beaufort, the then Chancellor of the university.

Almost three years hence a part of English forces came under the command of Henry V who led them against the Welsh ruler Owain Glyndŵr. Until 1408, he was engaged in combating the uprising.

Meanwhile, the Battle of Shrewsbury took place between the forces of Henry IV and that of English nobleman, Sir Harry Hotspur, on July 21, 1403. The battle concluded with a decisive royalist victory, and saw the 16-year old Henry V fighting fiercely for his father.

During the Battle of Shrewsbury Henry V getting severely injured when an arrow stuck his face. Although extracted with utter precision amidst best possible treatment by royal physician, it left permanent scars on his face speaking volumes of gallantry of the young prince.

Starting from January 1410 for the next eighteen months when Henry IV was ill, Henry V helped by his uncles, Henry Beaufort, and Thomas Beaufort, ran the government.

He implemented several policies most of which were, however, dismissed by Henry IV after his recovery. Father and son differed in their viewpoint on domestic and foreign policies which gradually led to a severe political discord between the two. Henry IV also dismissed his son from his council in November 1411.

Following the death of his father on March 20, 1413, Henry V ascended the throne. His coronation ceremony was held at Westminster Abbey, London, on April 9, 1413.

All domestic policies were handled by him and with time, he created a more expansionist policy out of them.

He moved ahead with a ‘let past offences or causes of conflict be forgotten and reconciled’ attitude. Such attitude saw him re-interring Richard II with honour, setting Edmund Mortimer, son of Richard II, free and making Mortimer and his brother Roger Knights of the Bath on April 8, 1413.

Although the cause of Mortimer's claim to throne became basis of uprisings against Henry IV and Henry V, and later taken up by Yorkists in the Wars of the Roses, Mortimer remained a significant and ardent vassal of Henry V and Henry VI.

Henry V’s generosity also saw him restoring titles and estates of the heirs whose predecessors suffered during his father’s rule.