On 25th October 1415, King Henry V of England and his army won a resounding victory against the French at Agincourt. The triumph was greeted with celebrations in England – where it was viewed as a God-given victory – and in both England and France the defeat of the French army was considered to be a punishment for the sins of the French.
The victory at Agincourt ultimately paved the way for Henry V to negotiate a new succession of the French crown – deposing the Dauphin Charles, Charles VI’s only surviving son and heir, in favour of the English king and his heirs.
After Agincourt – How Henry Staked His Claim
After Henry V’s major victory in the Battle of Agincourt, he immediately staked a claim to the throne of France – but the French did not immediately accept his claim. To secure his final victory, Henry relied on military strategy in a series of conquests.
Whilst Agincourt was a crucial turning point, it was not until 1419 that Henry’s victory over France was completed. In 1417, he and his armies began a conquest of Normandy. After two long years of bloody battles and strategic planning, Henry V had achieved his conquest, and claimed the duchy of Normandy.
Henry V owed much of his success against the French to his – and his advisor’s – strategy, but a major contributing factor to his ultimate victory was the pre-existing internal divisions in the French kingdom – particularly the rivalry between the leading factions.
France in Turmoil
From 1397 onwards, the king of France, Charles VI, was incapacitated by severe mental illness, which led to a massive power vacuum at the very heart of the French government. Powerful nobles within France began to battle for control of the country.
By the time Henry V began his invasion of Normandy in 1417, the power struggle in France had polarized into two competing factions: the Burgundians and Armagnacs.
Fighting for Control – the Burgundians
The Burgundians were led by the king’s cousin, the duke of Burgundy, a man known as John the Fearless. He held the lands of Burgundy and Flanders, as well as lands outside of the borders of the French kingdom. The Burgundians were to play a crucial role in the so-called Dual Monarchy in which the English king was also the king of France.
The Saviours of the Dauphin – the Armagnacs
The Armagnacs were a remnant of a faction that was originally led by the king’s brother, Louis, duke of Orleans. Louis was assassinated on the command of John the Fearless in 1407, but his followers continued the hostilities with the Burgundians, leading to open civil war in 1410. After the Battle of Agincourt, when the leaders were mostly killed or captured, leadership of the faction was assumed by Bernard, count of Armagnac, the head of the royal army, giving the faction a new name.
In 1418, the Armagnac’s had been in control of the country for 5 years – but Burgundian supporters in Paris revolted and opened the gates to a Burgundian force, allowing John the Fearless to return to power.
Despite a series of massacres against the Armagnacs, the Armagnacs still managed to smuggle the Dauphin Charles out of Paris, and set up a rival government south of the Loire, under Charles, who took on the title of Lieutenant-General.
An English King on the French Throne
By 1420, Henry V’s military strategy had paid off. With the Burgundians on his side, forming an Anglo-Burgundian alliance that would last until 1435, Henry V was able to negotiate the terms of the Treaty of Troyes, signed in May 1420. The Treaty, made directly between Charles VI of France and Henry V of England, named Henry V (and thus his heirs) to be his heir, revoking Dauphin Charles’s claim to the crown. In addition, Henry V was to rule France as regent until Charles VI’s death. This was a decisive moment in history – but sadly, the Dual Monarchy was to be more short-lived than Henry V might have hoped.
Henry V died on 31 August 1422, two months before Charles VI’s death on 21 October, never reigning as king of France. Instead, his infant son, Henry VI, inherited the English and French thrones – but his minority was fraught with trouble in France, and the young king failed to show any interest in his French crown. By 1453, the Dauphin Charles, crowned Charles VII in 1429 at Rheims, had completely regained control of France, and the English were defeated, retaining only the port of Calais.
Sources:
Curry, A (2003), The Hundred Years War, London, Palgrave Macmillan
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