1415: Henry V's Year of Glory

by Mortimer, Ian

  Tuesday 10th

  The late duke of York left no children. His estate thus fell to the crown, and Henry handed out the manors to various recipients, including the countess of Hereford, Henry’s grandmother. She was then aged about seventy and busy rebuilding Walden Abbey in Essex, where she intended to be buried. The dowager duchess of York, Philippa, thus lost not only her husband but was left with only a third of her husband’s income. She also lost her estate in the New Forest, which Henry IV had given to her. By way of compensation, Henry granted her the Isle of Wight and Carisbrooke Castle for life.27

  *

  When in June Ralph Pudsay esquire had discovered Mordach Stewart, the kidnapped son of the duke of Albany, he had only stabilised the situation. Mordach had been returned to prison in England where he had spent the intervening months. No change-over of prisoners had taken place before the king had gone to France, and so Henry Percy too had languished in his Scottish prison all this time. Now Henry decided the time had come to rescue his young third cousin, and to restore Mordach while his aged father the duke of Albany was still alive and still regent.

  The men he appointed to ride north to arrange the transfer were Sir Ralph Eure, Sir William Claxton, Dr John Huntman and Richard Holme. He directed them to arrange a day before 15 March 1416 when the duke of Albany was to send Henry Percy to Carlisle. They were also to arrange for Mordach Stewart to be brought to Carlisle from his current prison; there they would be exchanged under the command of John Neville, son of the earl of Westmorland and guardian of the West March. In case the Scottish ambassadors did not agree on the transfer taking place without some further security, then the commissioners were to say that the king would authorise the Scottish earl of March to co-supervise the exchange. And if the Scottish ambassadors found fault with this, then the commissioners were to arrange for the earl of Westmorland to send Mordach to Newcastle upon Tyne, and there deliver him to Lord Grey, guardian of the East March, who would then take him to Berwick on Tweed for the hand-over. Official letters for Lord Grey and John Neville empowering them to carry out the transfer would be drawn up the following day.28

  *

  At Colomiers, John the Fearless considered the dauphin’s reply to his diplomatic entreaties of 5 December. The dauphin would not tolerate his presence near the capital unless he first disbanded his army. If he wished to come with a few household officers to Meaux to negotiate with the dauphin’s representatives, then that would be fine; otherwise that city, like Paris, would be barred against him.

  After his late-morning dinner, John set out for Paris. By the end of the day he had come to Lagny-sur-Marne, sixteen miles from the capital. Here he planned to wait and gather more men. Considerable reinforcements were expected to arrive over the next few days from Picardy.29

  *

  This evening, at his house near one of the gates of Paris, a pâtissier called Robert Copil was arrested as a supporter of John the Fearless. He was accused of having agreed to open one of the gates of the city when the Burgundian army was within four miles. This would either be the Porte Montmartre or the Porte St Honoré. He had sent letters to the duke by a lad of ten or twelve years of age, promising to do this, but the boy had been caught and searched.30

  Wednesday 11th

  In the chamber of the chancellor of France, the dauphin, the queen, and the provost and captain of Paris, together with many members of the great council and representatives of the parlement, met to discuss the crisis. The duke of Burgundy was approaching Paris, they acknowledged, with a great company of men-at-arms drawn from Savoy, Lorraine and Germany, as well as other places. Already his men had collectively done a great deal of damage in France in the regions of the Seine and the Marne. He claimed he wanted to see the dauphin – but he had refused to go to Meaux to negotiate with the king’s ambassadors. Now he had arrived at Lagny-sur-Marne, just one day’s march from the capital.

  Those assembled were told about Robert Copil. It was decided to take precautions to secure the gates and to prevent sedition causing a commotion within the walls. At Les Halles, Robert Copil was beheaded. His corpse was placed in a gibbet this evening, for all to see. Many other Burgundian sympathisers were arrested and locked up.31

  Thursday 12th

  Henry would have had little knowledge of the crisis in Paris; it is unlikely that he knew that John the Fearless had left Troyes. His concern was rather that of rewarding his brother Humphrey for his service on the Agincourt campaign. He granted him and his male heirs the manor and barton of Bristol, which had previously been a possession of the duke of York.32

  *

  From Lagny-sur-Marne, John the Fearless sent another embassy to the dauphin, this one led by his secretary Master Eustache de Laître (who had been chancellor of France in 1413). De Laître begged the dauphin humbly to allow John to enter his presence. The dauphin consulted the council and decided to send a high-powered embassy, consisting of Bishop Boisgilon of Chartres, Jean de Vailly, president of the parlement, and Simon de Nanterre. They were to explain once again that it was not possible for John to come to Paris while he had so many men-at-arms with him. If he were to disband his army and come with just the officers of his household, then he would be welcome in the capital; otherwise he was not to come any closer.33

  Friday 13th

  Icelandic fishing was not the only issue that divided Henry and his brother-in-law, Eric, king of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. An argument had broken out between the men of Lynn and the merchants of the Hanse. Henry IV had issued orders preventing the Hanseatic merchants from trading in the Norfolk town. The Hanseatic merchants now complained that this was a monopoly unfairly obtained by the petition of three Lynn merchants, namely John Copenot, Nicholas Alderman and Thomas Grym.

  The clerks of the keeper of the privy seal, having consulted a number of documents from the previous reign, drew up a letter refuting this. In it they stated that the prohibition had been for violent disturbances – including the accusation of murder – which had developed between the men of Lynn and the Hanseatic merchants. This was in fact the case: the original prohibition of 9 September 1411 referred to injuries done to English merchants, so Henry IV had had good reason to impose the ban. The final letter was drawn up yesterday, addressed to King Eric’s officials at North Berne in Norway, and sealed today, after the king had inspected it.34

  Henry’s other item of business concerned the estates of the late Lord Zouche, who had died on 3 November. These were due to be inherited by a young heir, who was just thirteen years old. Thus they formed another potentially lucrative wardship – eight years of lordly income. Henry decided to give this income to his uncle Ralph Neville, earl of Westmorland, in recognition of his faithful service guarding the northern border.35

  *

  The most important event took place in Narbonne. This was the agreement of the framework for the deposition of Benedict XIII. After months of persuasion, negotiation, travel and argument, the last recourse of diplomacy had proved fruitless. Now all the secular lords and almost all the prelates had agreed to repudiate him as a spiritual leader. The Holy Roman Emperor and the ambassadors from the council were described by Cardinal Fillastre as being ‘joyful and exultant’.

  The agreement took the form of twelve articles. The first outlined the basis for the deposition; the second the right of the council of Constance to summon all the members of the Catholic Church; the third the unity of the members of Benedict’s supporters with the rest of the convocation; the fourth the right of the council to quash any and all the papal acts of the three ex-popes; and so on. Most of the actual clauses were technicalities, and in fact another twenty months of wrangling would pass before the final deposition of Benedict XIII. But the text was agreed today and finally ratified by all parties on the following day, at noon.36 The kings of Aragon, Castile and Navarre, the count of Foix, and representatives of the count of Armagnac – all of them agreed that they would no longer support Benedict. The only kingdom in Benedict’s obedience that
did not have a delegate at Narbonne was Scotland; but as Benedict was Aragonese and preferred the Mediterranean warmth of southern Spain, it was unlikely that he would seek a final refuge among the Scots.37

  The end of the schism, which had divided the Church since 1378, could now be foreseen. When the news reached the city of Constance, on 29 December, there was rejoicing in the streets, and lauds were rung five times on all the bells. The emperor’s representative, the duke of Bavaria-Heidelberg, ordered everyone to celebrate the next morning as if it were a holy festival.38

  Saturday 14th

  King James of Scotland was the one monarch who did not join in the repudiation of Benedict XIII. He was still languishing in gaol in Pevensey Castle under the guardianship of Sir John Pelham, where he had been since 22 February. Henry had allocated £700 annually for the king’s upkeep and safe custody – £421 2s 11½d was paid today.39

  *

  When the dauphin’s ambassadors met John the Fearless, they explained the position of the council. John was furious to be told he was not welcome in the capital. He protested that he did not intend to sit back and watch any further downturn in the finances of the realm. Moreover he was a prince of the blood royal, and the dauphin’s father-in-law; they had no right to refuse him. But there was no getting around the situation: the dauphin had declared his intention of marching against John at the head of an army, if he approached.40

  It looked as though a battle was going to take place outside the walls of the capital. That would have pleased Henry V: to see his Burgundian and Breton allies fighting against the French royal family and the Armagnacs. But that was not how things turned out – not in the short term at least.

  Monday 16th

  At Westminster Henry ordered John Colchester, mason, to ‘arrest’ men to repair the walls of Harfleur. In particular he was to find stone-cutters, tile-makers and tilers and other labourers for the repair of the town.41 The recent tension in and around Paris had saved Harfleur from a major direct onslaught, even though some of the French king’s counsellors had advised that they should seize the opportunity to take the town and throw the English out before the walls were rebuilt. According to the official French chronicler at St Denis, the troops now billeted around Paris had been raised for precisely this purpose; it was only the danger of John the Fearless’s march on the capital that had led to the change of strategy.42

  For the English at Harfleur, the best form of defence was to attack. Three days later the garrison made an assault on the neighbouring countryside. They rounded up eight hundred peasants, and herded them into the town. Presumably they were ransomed for whatever they could provide. No one in the vicinity of Harfleur can have had much of a Christmas, whether they were within the walls or outside.43

  Wednesday 18th

  The dauphin died today.

  His death was an almighty blow for France. Chroniclers knew the man was not faultless: he was fat, self-indulgent, thieving, lazy and immoral, and he had nothing about him of grace. The official royal chronicler at St Denis was just one of several writers who took this opportunity to list his personal failings in great detail. But he had at least shown some aptitude for leadership. Just as importantly, he was loyal to his father. His death left the kingdom of France in the throes of a civil war, led by a king who was mentally unstable and who was estranged from his eldest surviving son, the duke of Touraine. The other leading members of the royal family could hardly step into the gap – the duke of Berry was too old, and the duke of Anjou was also not long for this world. The duke of Bar had been killed at Agincourt, the dukes of Bourbon and Orléans and the count of Eu were prisoners in England, and the duke of Lorraine had taken arms with John the Fearless. With the death of the dauphin, the French royal family had been stripped of a potential leader. The count of Armagnac might be the obvious person to lead the French government in its new crisis, but he was a provincial of insufficiently high birth to restore the dignity of the French monarchy.

  As for John the Fearless, he was left in a quandary. He risked a hostile reception if he decided to advance on the city during this period of mourning; yet if ever there was a time to move into Paris, it was now. Not only was the city disorganised and panic-stricken, he could present the death of the dauphin as a sign from God that the government did not have divine approval. But he did not advance. Perhaps he realised his support in the capital was not as strong as it had been. He was still at Lagny-sur-Marne at the end of the month, when the count of Armagnac arrived to take up his role as constable of France. In all he stayed at Lagny-sur-Marne for six weeks, until 28 January, and Parisians began to mock him as ‘Jean de Lagny’. Then he marched away.

  One would have expected greater resolution from a man known to history as ‘the Fearless’. But John was nothing if not suprising.

  Thursday 19th

  Philip Morgan, to whom Henry had entrusted his ‘secret business’ with John the Fearless, arrived back in England today. He had left London with eleven men and eleven horses on 19 August and, as far as we know, had been at John the Fearless’s court for the entire intervening period. It seems that whatever negotiations he had been deputed to conduct, they did not come to an end with the sealing of the agreement between Henry and the duke, which had been received at Westminster on 10 October. His protracted stay at the court of Henry’s Burgundian ally closely parallels that of Henry’s envoys to the duke of Brittany. One can only conclude that it was policy, not accident, that kept these diplomatic negotiators in France until Henry himself had returned to England.44

  Friday 20th

  Henry had decided to lodge his most important French prisoners – the dukes and counts – at Windsor Castle for the time being. A royal esquire, the old William Loveney, was appointed to arrange for their upkeep; today he received £26 13s 4d towards their expenses.45

  Monday 23rd

  The lesser lords, those who were not members of the French royal family, were lodged at the Tower of London. Sir William Bourchier, constable of the Tower, was in charge of seventeen of them. In return for keeping George de Clere, his three companions and thirteen other knights ‘lately taken at Harfleur’ he received £1 6s 8d per day. Given the expenditure of keeping these men – £40 per month – their ransoms were only going to increase with time.46

  *

  In Paris, the day had come for the funeral of the dauphin. His body had been embalmed and laid in a lead coffin at the hôtel de Bourbon. Many prelates and lords had come to pay their last respects. This morning the hearse arrived to transport the body to the cathedral of Notre Dame.

  The service, which began about 10 a.m., was attended by the aged duke of Berry and the dauphin’s younger brother, Charles, count of Ponthieu, and many hundreds of dignitaries and representatives. The king did not attend his son’s funeral, being too ill. Afterwards the body was interred in the same church, as a temporary measure, to be transferred to the abbey of St Denis, the traditional burial place of the French royal family for the previous eight centuries, when a suitable tomb had been constructed.47

  With the dauphin was buried France’s hope for the immediate future. Not until the new dauphin, the duke of Touraine, had been poisoned, and Charles VI had died would there emerge a king around whom France could unite to throw out the English. And that would not happen in Henry V’s lifetime.

  Wednesday 25th: Christmas Day

  A year had passed since Henry had held his Christmas feast in the hall at Westminster with his brothers, uncles, friends and the rest of the court. Now the holly and ivy had been cut to decorate the hall once more, and the fasting of Advent had culminated in the roasting of beef, pork and goose. The hall at Lambeth Palace where Henry ate his Christmas feast this year, seated beside Archbishop Chichele, would have been similarly filled with the light of many candles lifted on great chandeliers into the beams. As Henry saw the various dishes offered to him by the archbishop’s servants, he had good reason to reflect on the events of the last twelve months.48

  A ye
ar ago there had been men who said that he was not the rightful king of England. There had been doubts about the legitimacy of his entire dynasty. He had silenced them – first by taking direct action against the plotters at Southampton in early August, and secondly by proving himself at Agincourt. In so doing he had provided England with that one thing that writers on kingship for the last hundred years had said should be the king’s highest priority: to establish peace between the great lords of the kingdom. As recent events in France had shown, rifts between magnates and their factions threatened the kingdom’s stability and prosperity far more than any external threat; and this was especially so for England, which had only one international border (with Scotland). Significantly there had been no backlash against his actions against Cambridge, Scrope and Gray during his absence in France. The earl of March was a chastened individual, unlikely ever to risk incurring Henry’s wrath again. As things appeared to the king this Christmas Day, he had succeeded in doing what only Edward III had achieved in the last hundred years: unifying the English nobility under his kingship. In that respect, everything about his role had changed: the legacy of his father’s dubious accession no longer cast a shadow over the kingdom.

  There were other things to celebrate too. A year ago Glendower had still been at large, and the Welsh rebellion, although it had lost strength, still prevented the king exercising control over parts of North Wales. The parliament of May 1414 had described Wales as ‘a country at war’. That was no longer true. When Glendower was laid to rest, so too was his cause, and even the most ardent Welsh patriots realised the Welsh rebellion was over. Henry could take some of the credit for this, for, although the political will to maintain an English force in Wales had been his father’s, and the determination to mount an annual expedition into Wales had also been down to his father, Henry had played his part on the ground, eventually taking command of the campaign against Glendower. As it would have appeared to Henry, he had defeated Glendower himself. Now, with the man dead and no obvious candidate to take his place, he had proved victorious in Wales as well as France.