The reign of Henry VI on the English throne was a turbulent and fractious one.
BABY KING
The son of King Henry V and French Princess, Catherine of Valois, was born at Windsor on 6 December 1421. The warrior king, Henry V, was campaigning in France when he suddenly died of dysentery on 31 August 1422. Henry VI became the youngest ever English monarch the next day and the 10-month-old Henry was proclaimed king of France when his grandfather, Charles VI, died a few weeks later.
The English nobles swore their allegiance to Henry VI and a regency council gathered to rule in the king's name. Henry VI' mother was kept out of the regency by the king's uncles, John, Duke of Bedford and Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester. Bedford was appointed senior regent of the realm and regent of France whilst Gloucester was appointed Protector and Defender of the Realm.
Bedford knighted the king at Leicester in May 1426 and Henry VI was crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey on 6 November 1429. This was in reaction to Charles VII's defiant coronation as King of France at Reims Cathedral four months earlier.
Henry VI himself was crowned King of France on 26 December 1431 but his power eroded when English allies in Burgundy changed their allegiances and sided with Charles VII during the Congress of Arras in 1435. Bedford died a week before the congress concluded.
A shy and pious Henry VI came of age in 1437 and his peaceful policy towards France caused divisions at court. The king's half-uncle, Cardinal Beaufort, and William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, sought peace whilst Gloucester, and Richard, Duke of York, looked for war.
Beaufort and Suffolk convinced Henry VI that a royal marriage to Charles VII's niece, Margaret of Anjou, would bring peace with France. The French king seized on this opportunity and negotiated with Suffolk the return of English territories back to the French in exchange for the marriage. These negotiations were kept secret from the English court for around a year after Henry VI married Margaret of Anjou on 23 April 1445.
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| Henry VI marriage to Margaret of Anjou |
Public anger towards these negotiations focused on Suffolk and the royal couple charged Gloucester with treason in 1447 for instigating this anger. Gloucester soon died in custody and Cardinal Beaufort would die shortly after. Henry VI promoted the Cardinal's nephew, Edmund Beaufort, to 2nd Duke of Somerset and gave him the lieutenancy of France. This caused friction with York who had been demoted from Lieutenant of France to be Lieutenant of Ireland.
Somerset's command of France was disastrous and England's south coast was fearful of a French invasion. Discontent boiled over when Suffolk was caught and executed after Henry VI had allowed him to flee into exile.
REBELLION
The south-east rebelled under Jack Cade who declared he would "destroy" the king and "bring" York to the throne. Henry VI initially sent a small force to quash the rebellion but fled to Warwickshire once Cade marched on London. Cade was unsuccessful in replacing the king but York returned from Ireland in 1450 to take his place on the council.
York demanded Somerset's arrest over France, which Henry VI initially agreed but the queen's intervention would made Somerset Captain of Calais. An agitated York asserted his claim to the throne in 1452 by marching his troops to London.The city was barred to York and the duke had to concede to the king after being outnumbered in Dartford, Kent. The king placed York under house arrest for two weeks until the duke pledged allegiance and Henry VI would later strip York of his terms of office.
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| Henry VI sits as Duke of Somerset (centre) and Duke of York argue |
Somerset's French campaign began to haunt Henry VI, with the heavy loss at the Battle of Castillon in 1453, reducing England's French domain to just Calais. The king now descended into a mental breakdown with acute schizophrenia and hallucinations preventing him to recognise the birth of his son, Prince Edward, on 13 October 1453.York was declared Protector of the Realm in 1454 and placed Somerset in the Tower of London, but he would soon be released after Henry VI regained his senses later that year.
York took up arms and intercepted the king's forces on 22 May 1455 as Henry VI made his way to Leicester for a Great Council meeting. York had gained the support of the wealthy Neville family and he relied on the father and son of Earl of Salisbury and Earl of Warwick to outnumber the royal forces at the First Battle of St. Albans. The quick battle through the streets of St. Albans saw the death of Somerset and Henry was deserted by his standard bearer. The king took refuge in a tradesman's house before being discovered by York and escorted back to London.
PRISONER
York declared himself Constable of England and later Protector of the Realm once again when Henry VI had another bout of mental illness during his imprisonment. The king recovered in February 1456 and had to accept York's influence at court. The queen was less accommodating to York and convinced Henry VI to move court to her heartland of Coventry.
Henry VI tried to nullify the discord between his northern lords and their supporters by having peace talks in 1458 but the queen continued her grievances. York, Salisbury and Warwick were summoned to the Great Council at Coventry and responded by gathering troops at the Battle of Ludford Bridge on 12 October 1459.
The king promised the Yorkists that he would grant pardons to those who put down their arms and this was too much of an offer for Warwick's Calais troops, led by Andrew Trollope. York and his commanders fled Ludford into exile shortly after hearing of Trollope's treachery. The royal couple issued an act of attainder later that year which forfeited the Yorkist commanders' lands and titles.
Warwick, Suffolk and York's eldest son, Edward, Earl of March, returned to England in June 1460 and met the royal forces at the Battle of Northampton on 10 July 1460. Treachery struck again, this time in favour of the Yorkists, as Lord Grey of Ruthin, gave March a helping hand over the Lancastrian front line defences.
Henry VI's commanders defended their king to the death and a victorious Warwick greeted the king outside his royal tent. Warwick and his men swore their allegiances to the king and escorted him to London once more.
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| Warwick kneels before Henry VI before taking him to London as depicted by Graham Turner |
Henry VI's place on the throne was now in doubt as York arrived in London three months later to take the throne but Henry VI's supporters denied York to sit on the throne. After weeks of negotiation, an act of accord was passed that disinherited Prince Edward and recognised York (and his subsequent heirs) as Henry's successors. York was once again made Protector of the Realm and Henry VI was his prisoner.
Meanwhile, the queen was building Lancastrian support and met with the new Scottish king, James III to offer the English border town of Berwick-upon-Tweed in exchange for his support.
York left London to meet the growing Lancastrian forces at the Battle of Wakefield and left Warwick to watch over the royal captor.
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