DESCENT OF THE HOUSE OF LANCASTER FROM HENRY III. Henry III. (1) Aveline de Fortibus-Edmund, called Crouchback = Blanche of Artois, (2) heiress of William, last b. 1245. Created Earl of Alice de Lacy, Isabel de Beaumont = Henry. Queen Dowager of Navarre. Henry Maud Chaworth. b. circa 1281. b. 1299. d. 1361. = Lollards, had been a partisan of Richard's. But the same Parliament urged the strict enforcement of the Statute of Provisors. Printed in the Statutes. In 1406 the Parliament passed a vote of confidence in the ministers, but insisted on an audit of public accounts, and on freedom of election for knights of the shires. (Rolls of Parliament, iii. 567-589.) In 1407 the Commons succeeded in establishing their right of declaring all grants of money by the mouth of their Speaker. (Rolls of Parliament, iii. 611.) In 1410 the Lollard party in Parliament proposed the conconfiscation of all the temporalities of the Church for the permanent endowment of 15 earls, 1500 knights, 6000 esquires, and 100 hospitals, leaving £20,000 over for the king. The scheme, which was probably impracticable, was rejected. See Stubbs, Constitutional History, vol. iii., §640. AUTHORS Stubbs, Constitutional History; Hook, Lives of the Archbishops, Thomas Arundell (Fitz-Alan); Mr. Wylie, History of the Reign of Henry IV.; Halle's Chronicle, though not a first-rate authority, is valuable to the English reader, from the fall of Richard II. onward. A handy modern edition of it is greatly to be desired. Briefly, Gairdner, Lancaster and York. HENRY V. 1413-1422 Married Catherine of France. DOMINIONS He succeeded to a more united dominion than his father; feuds in England were at least quiescent, and Wales was mostly in obedience to the crown. His great enterprise against France was suggested partly by a desire to keep occupied the turbulent nobility and the turbulent lower classes, whose attempted revolt, instigated by the Lollard party, he nipped in the bud in 1414; partly to revenge the persistent hostility of the French to his dynasty; partly to secure the command of the Channel; partly because England was vitally interested in supporting Burgundy, the ruler of Flanders, our great market, against the French; but chiefly, no doubt, to establish his dynasty by means of brilliant success abroad. Wider schemes of pacifying France, healing the Papal schism, and heading a crusade against the Turks were entertained by him, but the second only was accomplished partly by his aid. Though he laid aside the title of king for that of heir and regent of France after the treaty of Troyes, he really ruled more of France than any English king since Henry II. WARS In 1415 Henry took Harfleur, in Normandy, and marching to Calais purposely provoked the French to a pitched battle at Agincourt, October 25th, 1415, which resulted in a great victory and terrible slaughter of the French nobility. In 1416 the French attempted to retake Harfleur, but were defeated by sea and land. In August 1417 Henry invaded Normandy for the second time, and began a systematic conquest. A week before his arrival a Genoese fleet, which was blockading Harfleur, was beaten. In 1417 Caen and Bayeux fell. In 1418 the whole of the Cotentin, Cherbourg, and other strong places, were taken, and Rouen besieged; early in 1419 Rouen surrendered, and Picardy and places in Maine and the Isle of France were conquered. In 1421 the Scottish auxiliaries of the French defeated and killed Henry's brother Thomas, Duke of Clarence, at Beaugé, in Anjou; but in the same year Henry captured Dreux, in 1422 Meaux, and forced the Dauphin to abandon the siege of the Burgundian town of Cosne on the Loire. OFFICIALS Archbishops.-Thomas Fitz-Alan, d. 1414; Henry Chichele, translated from St. Davids, 1414-1422. Chancellors.-Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, afterwards Cardinal, 1413-1417; Thomas Longley, Bishop of Durham, 1417-22. Thomas Fitz-Alan, Earl of Arundel, was made Treasurer in 1413, when his uncle was removed from the chancellorship, so as not to break entirely with the powerful Arundel interest. Sir William Gascoigne, Chief Justice of the king's bench since 1401, was removed in 1413. ACTS AND DOCUMENTS In 1413, by 1 Henry V. c. 1, it was enacted that knights, citizens, and burgesses, chosen to represent shires, cities, and boroughs, should be resident in the said shires, cities, and boroughs. Printed in the Statutes. In 1414, on the petition of the Commons, the Alien Priories in England were finally suppressed, and their revenues taken into the king's hands. (Rolls of Parliament, iv. 22; Rymer's Foedera, ix., 280, 281, &c.) The property of the Alien Priories, that is, Priories in England attached to foreign monasteries, had been confiscated at times since Edward the First's reign: they were looked upon as a source of profit to foreigners and of injury to England, especially in time of war. They were 110 in number, and their revenues were employed partly in the public service, partly in the new foundations, partly in grants to private persons. In 1416 the Duke of Burgundy undertook to do homage to the king of England, and to aid him in gaining his rights in France. (Rymer's Foedera, ix. 394.) Burgundy before this had some secret understanding with Henry, who in his father's reign had consistently upheld the Burgundian alliance, but even after 1416 the duke intrigued also with the Dauphin and the Queen. He was murdered by the Dauphin's attendants in 1419, and his son immediately made a close alliance with England. In 1420 the Treaty of Troyes arranged that Henry should marry the French king's daughter Catherine, and be acknowledged as Regent of France during the life of the imbecile Charles VI., and king after his death. Coins, however, struck at Rouen after the negociation had begun, but before it was concluded, still bear the legend Henricus, Rex Francorum. (Rymer's Foedera, ix. 895.) AUTHORS Stubbs, Constitutional History. Freeman, Essays, first series, The Wars of Edward III. and Henry V. in France. Sir Harris Nicholas, Agincourt. For a brief account, Gairdner, Lancaster and York. Halle's Chronicle and Monstrelet's Chronicle (a Burgundian partisan) translated into English, will be interesting and valuable to those who can avail themselves of them. Sir James Ramsay's History of England in the Fifteenth Century, is particularly good upon the French wars. HENRY VI. 1422-1461 Married Margaret of Anjou. DOMINIONS Henry succeeded to the throne and claims of his father, and within less than two months to the throne of France by the death of Charles VI. The countries actually in possession of the English were the Duchy of Normandy, Calais, Ponthieu, Picardy, the Isle of France, Champagne, most of Anjou and Touraine north of the Loire, part of the Orleannais, Gascony, Guienne, including Perigord, Limousin, Angoulême, and part of Santoigne. In Guienne, however, the allegiance of the feudal nobility fluctuated considerably, and the Count d'Armagnac, the head of the party opposed to Burgundy, whose estates lay in that province, was strongly against the English. The Duke of Burgundy, who acknowledged Henry VI. |