King of England (142261, 14701), born in Windsor, S England, UK, the only child of Henry V and Catherine of Valois. During Henry's minority, his uncle John, Duke of Bedford, was Regent of France, and another uncle, Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, was Lord Protector of England. Henry was crowned King of France in Paris in 1431, two years after his coronation in England. But once the Burgundians had made a separate peace with Charles VII (1435), Henry V's French conquests were progressively eroded, and by 1453 the English retained only Calais. Henry had few kingly qualities, and from 1453 suffered from periodic bouts of insanity. Richard, Duke of York, seized power as Lord Protector in 1454, and defeated the king's army at St Albans in 1455, the first battle of the Wars of the Roses. Fighting resumed in 1459, and although York himself was killed at Wakefield (1460), his heir was proclaimed king as Edward IV after Henry's deposition (1461). In 1464 Henry returned from exile in Scotland to lead the Lancastrian cause, but was captured and imprisoned (146570). Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, restored him to the throne (Oct 1470), his nominal rule ending when Edward IV returned to London (Apr 1471). After the Yorkist victory at Tewkesbury (May 1471), where his only son was killed, Henry was murdered in the Tower.
| Henry VI | ||
|---|---|---|
|
By the Grace of God, King of England and France and Lord of Ireland |
||
| Reign |
Aug 31,1422 - March 4, 1461 and Oct 31,1470 - April 11, 1471 |
|
| Coronation | November 6, 1429 | |
| Born | December 6, 1421 | |
| Windsor Castle | ||
| Died | May 21/ 22, 1471 | |
| Tower of London | ||
| Buried | Windsor Castle | |
| Predecessor | Henry V | |
| Successor | Edward IV | |
| Consort | Margaret of Anjou (1429-1482) | |
| Issue |
Edward, Prince of Wales (1453-1471) |
|
| Royal House | Lancaster | |
| Father | Henry V (1387-1422) | |
| Mother | Catherine of Valois (1401-1437) | |
Henry VI (December 6, 1421 – May 21, 1471) was King of England from 1422 to 1461 (though with a Regent until 1437) and then from 1470 to 1471, and King of France from 1422 to 1453.
The child king
Henry was the only child of King Henry V of England and was his heir, and therefore great things were expected of him from birth.
On 28 September 1423, the nobles swore loyalty to Henry VI. Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, Henry IV's youngest son, was appointed Protector and Defender of the Realm and the Church until the King came of age, but his appointment was revocable by the Council at any time. Bishop Henry Beaufort (Cardinal from 1426) who was Henry V's half-uncle, had an important place on the Council. Henry IV's elder surviving son, John, Duke of Bedford, was the senior regent, having been appointed Regent of France (in charge of running the ongoing war) as well as replacing Gloucester as Regent of England whenever Bedford was personally in the country.
From 1428, Henry's tutor was the Earl of Warwick, whose father had been instrumental in the opposition to Richard II's reign. Henry was also influenced by Henry Beaufort, and later William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk.
Henry's half-brothers, Edmund and Jasper, the sons of his mother's second marriage, were later given earldoms, Edmund being the father of Henry Tudor, later to gain the throne as Henry VII of England.
Coronation
Henry was eventually crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey on November 6, 1429 a month before his eighth birthday, and King of France at Notre Dame in Paris on December 16, 1431.
As to his uncles, John, Duke of Bedford and Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, who in the early part of the child king's reign were the most powerful of the regents, the former died in 1435;
Henry's marriage to Margaret of Anjou
| English Royalty |
|---|
| House of Lancaster |
| Henry VI |
| Children |
| Edward, Prince of Wales |
As a result of his successes in the Hundred Years' War, Henry V had left England in possession of considerable territories in France, but the momentum was lost on his death. Since Henry VI was still a child, and England was ruled by a regency government, much of the ground his father gained was lost.
On gaining his majority, Henry VI proved to be a deeply spiritual man, lacking the worldly wisdom necessary to allow him to rule effectively.
Cardinal Beaufort and Suffolk meanwhile persuaded the king that the best way of pursuing peace with France was through a marriage with Charles VII’s niece, Margaret of Anjou. Henry agreed, especially when he heard reports of Margaret’s stunning beauty, and sent Suffolk to negotiate with King Charles. Henry had procrastinated about keeping his end of the bargain with Charles VII, knowing that it would be a hugely unpopular move and that Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester and the war party would be especially critical of it. Most public anger was directed at Suffolk, for having negotiated the Treaty of Tours, but Henry and Margaret were determined to protect him, knowing they were vulnerable too, having also had full knowledge of the conditions of the marriage.
In 1447, the king, the queen and the group surrounding them (Suffolk, Somerset, and the ageing Cardinal Beaufort) summoned Gloucester before parliament on a charge of treason in Bury St Edmunds, and he died in captivity, whether of natural causes or foul play was not clear. The death of Gloucester left York as Henry’s heir presumptive, but Henry never officially acknowledged this and York continued to be excluded from the court circle, being banished to govern Ireland, while Henry and Margaret promoted Suffolk and Edmund Beaufort to Dukedoms, (a title normally reserved for immediate relatives of the monarch). Henry came to London with an army to crush the rebellion, but was persuaded to keep half his troops behind while the other half met Cade at Sevenoaks.
In 1450, the Duchy of Aquitaine, held since Henry II's time, was also lost, leaving Calais as England's only remaining territory in France.
However, English success in Aquitaine was short-lived, and on hearing the news of the English defeat in August 1453, Henry slipped into a mental breakdown and became completely unaware of everything that was going on around him. This was to last for more than a year, and Henry failed even to respond to the birth of his own son and heir, who was christened Edward (Edward of Westminster and Prince of Wales).
Henry presumably inherited his illness from Charles VI of France, his maternal grandfather, who coped with intermittent periods of insanity over the last 30 years of his life.
The Wars of the Roses
Disaffected nobles who had grown in power during Henry's reign (most importantly the Earls of Warwick and Salisbury) took matters into their own hands by backing the claims of the rival House of York, first to the Regency, and then to the throne itself. After a violent struggle between the houses of Lancaster and York, (see Wars of the Roses), Henry was deposed on March 4, 1461 by his cousin, Edward of York, who became King Edward IV of England. But Edward failed to capture Henry and his queen, and they were able to flee into exile abroad. Henry was captured by King Edward in 1465 and subsequently held captive in the Tower of London.
Queen Margaret, exiled in Scotland and later in France, was determined to win back the throne on behalf of her husband and son, and with the help of King Louis XI of France eventually formed an alliance with Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, who had fallen out with Edward IV. After marrying his daughter to the Prince of Wales, Warwick returned to England, defeated the Yorkists in battle, liberated Henry VI and restored him to the throne on October 30, 1470. By this time, years in hiding followed by years in captivity had taken their toll on Henry, who had been weak-willed and mentally unstable to start with. By all accounts Henry looked lethargic and vacant as Warwick and his men paraded him through the streets of London as the rightful King of England, and the contrast with the imposing King Edward whom he had replaced must have been marked.
Death and legacy
Henry VI was imprisoned in the Tower of London, where he was murdered on May 21, 1471. Popular legend has accused Richard, Duke of Gloucester of his murder, as well as the murder of Henry VI's son Edward of Westminster. Each year on the anniversary of Henry VI's death, the Provosts of Eton and King's College, Cambridge, lay roses and lilies on the altar which now stands where he died.
King Henry VI was originally buried in Chertsey Abbey;
Ironically for one so personally pious and peace-loving, Henry left a great legacy of strife and civil war.
Henry's character
Henry’s character as king is best summed up as pious, indecisive and easily-led, and of course later in life, he became severely mentally unstable.
Henry seems to have been a decent man, but completely unsuited to kingship. During the Wars of the Roses it was his queen, Margaret, who was the driving force behind the Lancastrian faction, while Henry was captured first by one side, then the other.
In the 1590s, William Shakespeare wrote a trilogy of plays about the life of Henry VI: Henry VI, part 1, Henry VI, part 2, and Henry VI, part 3. Henry also appears as a ghost in Richard III.
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