The period in these volumes of the History, ending within a year of the death of Henry V in 1422, begins in 1386. An alternative point of departure might well, on general grounds, have been 1376.
The violent nature of this double event, coupled with the suspiciously obscure circumstances of Richard’s death in captivity at Pontefract (so obscure that it encouraged persistent rumours of his survival and plots to restore him), never ceased to darken the reign of Henry IV. This was, indeed, a time of trouble, disillusion and growing pessimism, especially because of internal commotion and insurrection. A protracted revolt in Wales led by Owen Glendower was so successfully exploited by discontented members of the English aristocracy (notably by the Percys and their allies in 1403, 1405 and 1408) that serious, large-scale rebellion ensued: in one instance (at Shrewsbury in 1403) this culminated in a hard-fought and bloody battle and, in another (in Yorkshire in 1405), it led to the execution of the northern primate, Archbishop Scrope, and his ally, the Earl Marshal. The King’s health deteriorated so badly under the constant strain that confidence in his personal capacity to govern was undermined, and this in turn helped promote dissension, eventually an open breach, within the ranks of the Lancastrian royal family itself.
In view of such circumstances, Henry IV’s relations with his Parliaments were constantly uneasy and fraught. With royal expenditure rising because of internal conflicts, and ordinary royal income, by the same token, falling, the frequent calls for extraordinary revenue by way of parliamentary taxation gave ample opportunity for Parliament, particularly the Commons, to complain and criticize, and even, however much the King might resist such threats to his prerogative, to impose controls over governmental activities, albeit on a temporary basis. The appointment of royal councillors, a basic royal prerogative, was sometimes (as in 1404, 1406 and 1410) subjected to the requirement that they should be nominated in Parliament. In the field of parliamentary taxation, not only was there never any question of Henry IV being allowed the wool subsidy for life, as Richard II had been in 1398; but, even in the matter of direct taxation, Parliament demanded recourse for a time (1404-6) to the appointment of special treasurers for wars.
The reign of the second Lancastrian King, Henry V, provided a great contrast with those of his two predecessors, as it witnessed a revival of public confidence in, and support for, the monarchy on a scale not experienced since the palmy days of Edward III. Indeed, it soon gave a promise of better things. Admittedly, Henry’s personal reputation can only have been, in the eyes of some at least, tarnished by his unfilial conduct during his father’s last years. But whatever activities on his part had given rise to disapproval or suspicion were, after all, only evidence of an impatience to reign and rule natural in an heir apparent of mature age with considerable practical experience of affairs. Besides, he was now soon credited from the outset by contemporary commentators with a desire for moral regeneration and a sincerely held intention to fulfil his kingly office with all due seriousness of purpose.
Such decisiveness also characterized Henry’s policies abroad, notably in the position he took up regarding the General Council of Constance (1414-18) and its settlement of the papal schism, but more especially in the case of France. Having been only too ready when, as prince of Wales, he had held the reins of government in 1410-11, to interfere on the side of the Burgundians against the Armagnacs in the struggle between the factions in France, he did not now hesitate to go to war on his own account. Once diplomacy had failed, his prime object was to enforce the claim to the French crown first made by Edward III in 1337, withdrawn in 1360, but then renewed in 1369, since when, however, no satisfactory, lasting solution had proved possible. In Edward III’s closing years and during Richard II’s reign, the war with France had mostly gone badly for the English. Indeed, the best that could eventually be achieved was a state of truce, culminating in the long truce of 30 years attendant on Richard II’s marriage, in 1396, to Isabella, child of Charles VI. On Richard’s deposition this pledge of peace came to nothing; and although Anglo-French relations remained on a formally hostile footing, sometimes erupting into actual violence, the position during Henry IV’s reign with regard to the basic dispute over the claim to the French crown was virtually one of stalemate. Henry V’s ambitious renewal of the French war in 1415 consequently marked a fresh departure. Following his military conquest and occupation of all Normandy and much beyond, his achievement in France reached its apogee in the treaty of Troyes (1420). In accordance with the treaty, he not only married Charles VI’s daughter Katherine, but became Charles’s regent, which was of far more immediate importance, and was also recognized as his heir, a factor of even greater significance, both at the time and prospectively. Had Henry, who died on 31 Aug. 1422, survived his father-in-law, who outlived him by less than two months, he himself would then have lawfully become king of France.
Admittedly, by then enthusiasm in England for the war, stimulated by the great victory at Agincourt and later military successes, had to some extent cooled, partly because of Henry’s long absences in France, but more directly as a result of the financial cost of the war of conquest which, with its attendant diplomacy, had proved as expensive as it had been unremitting. Yet, all in all, the country had backed the King. Certainly, Parliament had given him moral encouragement, as well as providing a degree of financial support which pushed direct taxation to new levels, indirect taxation on all foreign trade having been in the meantime (1415) granted to him for life.
The period 1386-1421 was thus very eventful, mostly on the domestic front during the second half of Richard II’s reign and the whole of Henry IV’s, mainly regarding foreign relations in Henry V’s.