How Did Henry V Die?

 During the difficult and bloody Siege of Meaux, which rumbled on for some months, the forces of Henry V of England were eventually successful. But it came at a price as the English army sustained heavy losses from injuries inflicted by their French enemies and also from diseases such as dysentery, Eventually, Henry V himself fell ill. Over the next weeks and months, the king of England gradually became incredibly weak as his illness worsened and eventually he was gripped by fever. Both Henry and his doctors realised that he had little time left and so the king began to prepare accordingly. He ordered that debts that he owed be paid from the sale of his personal possessions. As the end drew near, Henry took Holy Communion and made his peace with God after a life on the battlefield. He died on 31st August 1422, leaving his 9 month old son as the new king of England.

Thomas Walsingham claimed that the French mourned the death of Henry with “great lamentations”. And that Henry had been some saviour from the tyranny of the government of Charles VI. Whilst that is wishful thinking on Walsingham’s part, it is, nonetheless, interesting to ponder what would have happened had Henry avoided sickness. Just weeks after Henry’s death, his father in law, Charles VI, after years of mental health problems, also died. The Treaty of Troyes, signed in 1420, had not only married Henry to Charles' daughter, Catherine of Valois, but had also placed Henry as Charles’ designated heir. Had Henry lived, would his succession to the French crown have actually occurred? A smooth succession seems extremely unlikely. Resistance to Henry, a foreign invader, taking the crown would surely have been inevitable. 

But he was married to a French princess who had, in late 1421, given him a son and prospective heir. Henry had emphatically proved himself to the French in the art of warfare, such an important trait for any king in medieval Europe. Alas, Henry’s death gives us one of history’s great What Ifs? Would he have been able to unite the English and French crowns? Or would he have prioritised his new French kingdom had he succeeded? In my view, Henry, had his health allowed, would have had the stamina, vigour, energy and know how to manage both kingdoms. Unfortunately, his death put paid to any possibility of England and France united under one Crown, even though the two nations paths remained intertwined as they had done since William of Normandy conquered England. And, what was worse from an English perspective, was that Henry had not only left a child as his heir but a BABY! This meant a long minority government and minority governments often led to conflict as powerful nobles vied for position in the game of who ruled the country until the king came of age. Henry V’s death was the root course of the Wars of the Roses. Had he lived just a decade longer, not an unreasonable hope given he was only 35 when he died, English and European history may well have taken a very different course.