prince
henry
prince
henry
Henry (or "Hal," as he
is more familiarly called by Shakespeare) was
born in September 1387 at Monmouth in Wales.
He was the eldest son of King Henry IV and his first wife Mary Bohun. He
was mostly brought up by his uncle, Henry Beaufort, and so most likely did not
know his father very well. During the period of his father's exile, young
Henry actually stayed at court under the care of King Richard II, with whom he
seemed to get along well. Richard even knighted him in 1399, when he was
only 12 years old.
After his father seized the crown and became Henry IV, Hal was named Prince of Wales and heir to the throne. He also held the titles of Duke of Cornwall and Earl of Chester. Though Shakespeare and many other writers have depicted Henry as a degenerate and rebellious young man, history would seem to argue with them. He was dedicated to war and politics from a very young age and was well-known for his athleticism, military skill, and intelligence. Taking his duties as Prince of Wales seriously, Henry led armies against Owen Glendower's rebellion there in 1400, first under the command of Sir Henry Percy (nicknamed "Hotspur") and then by himself. He was also instrumental in the victory over the rebels at Shrewsbury, though he was only 16 at the time. He bravely continued to fight even after an arrow struck him in the face. By some accounts, the wound was so serious that the royal physician had to invent a special instrument in order to remove the arrow tip. Though this injury did not permanently disfigure Henry, it surely left some scars as a remembrance of his fearlessness in battle.
Henry became an active part of the privy council of England around the year 1409, and for a while had practical control of the government, along with his uncles Henry and Thomas Beaufort, as the King was bedridden and could not effectively govern. Henry was abruptly dismissed from the council in 1411, however, apparently after one of his loyal proponents suggested that he should immediately succeed to the throne rather than waiting for his father to die. Henry IV died soon enough, though, and his son was crowned Henry V on 20 March 1413.
Most of Henry's reign was consumed with fighting against France, which he was determined to conquer; his ancestors had once held that land, and so he was convinced that he had a God-given right to it. With his first invasion of France in 1415, Henry single-handedly reopened the Hundred Years War. He gained dominance in France quickly, though, defeating a French army that greatly outnumbered his own at the famous Battle of Agincourt that same year. Hostilities against France ceased briefly in 1420 with the Treaty of Troyes, in which Henry agreed to marry Catherine of Valois (the younger sister of Richard II's Queen Isabel, with whom Henry had actually tried to negotiate a marriage contract years before) if her father, King Charles VI, would accept Henry as his successor. Despite this agreement (and despite the force of popular opinion), Henry continued to wage war on France for a while longer, hoping to consolidate his possessions there. He never actually became King of France as he had so desired, though: in 1422, still fighting after a hard winter, Henry fell ill with dysentery and died on 31 August, at the age of 35. He was succeeded by his infant son, Henry VI, but he proved to be a weak king and in the course of his reign lost everything his father had gained and then some.