Editing Henry V of England (section)

=== War in France ===
==== Dispute with France ====
Henry could now turn his attention to foreign affairs. A writer of the next generation was the first to allege that Henry was encouraged by ecclesiastical statesmen to enter into the French war as a means of diverting attention from home troubles. This story seems to have no foundation. Old commercial disputes and the support the French had lent to [[Owain Glyndŵr]] were used as an excuse for war, while the disordered state of France afforded no security for peace.<ref name=EB1911/> King [[Charles VI of France]] was prone to [[List of mental disorders|mental illness]]; at times he thought he was made of glass, and his eldest surviving son, [[Louis, Duke of Guyenne]], was an unpromising prospect. However, it was the [[English claims to the French throne|old dynastic claim to the throne of France]], first pursued by [[Edward III of England]], that justified war with France in English opinion.

Henry may have regarded the assertion of his own claims as part of his royal duty, but a permanent settlement of the national debate was essential to the success of his foreign policy. Following the instability back in England during the reign of King [[Richard II]], the [[Hundred Years' War|war in France]] came to a halt, as during most of his reign relations between England 
and France were largely peaceful and so they were during his father's reign as well. But in 1415, hostilities were renewed between the two nations, and though Henry had a claim to the French throne, through his great–grandfather King Edward III by [[Isabella of France|his mother's]] side, the French ultimately rejected this claim as its nobles pointed out that under the [[Salic law]] of the [[Franks]], women were forbidden from inheriting the throne. Thus the throne went to a distant male relative of a cadet branch of the [[House of Capet]], [[Philip VI of France]], resulting in the Hundred Years' War beginning in 1337. Wanting to claim the [[French throne]] for himself, Henry resumed the war against France in 1415. This would lead to one of England's most successful military campaigns during the whole conflict and would result in one of the most decisive victories for an English army during this period.<ref name=EB1911/>

==== 1415 campaign ====
{{main|Siege of Harfleur|Battle of Agincourt}}
[[File:Ratification du Traité de Troyes 1 - Archives Nationales - AE-III-254.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|The ratification of the [[Treaty of Troyes]] between Henry and Charles VI of France, [[Archives Nationales (France)]]]]

On 12 August 1415, Henry sailed for France, where his forces [[Siege of Harfleur|besieged the fortress]] at [[Harfleur]], capturing it on 22 September. Afterwards, he decided to march with his army across the French countryside toward [[Calais]] against the warnings of his council.<ref name="barker">{{cite book |last=Barker |date=2005 |first=J. |title=Agincourt: Henry V and the Battle That Made England |url={{google books |W2jTtdISwMMC |plainurl=yes}} |place=London |page=220 |author-link=Juliet Barker}}</ref> On 25 October, on the plains near the village of [[Azincourt|Agincourt]], a French army intercepted his route. Despite his men-at-arms' being exhausted, outnumbered and malnourished, Henry led his men into battle, decisively defeating the French, who suffered severe losses. The French men-at-arms were bogged down in the muddy battlefield, soaked from the previous night of heavy rain, thus hindering the French advance and making them sitting targets for the flanking English archers.<ref name="barker" /> Most were simply hacked to death while completely stuck in the deep mud. It was Henry's greatest military victory, ranking alongside the [[Battle of Crécy]] (1346) and the [[Battle of Poitiers]] (1356) as the greatest English victories of the Hundred Years' War. This victory both solidified and strengthened Henry V's own rule in England and also legitimized his claim to the French throne more than ever.<ref name="britannica.com">{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Agincourt |title=Battle of Agincourt &#124; Facts, Summary, & Significance &#124; Britannica |date=18 October 2023}}</ref>

During the battle,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hibbert |first=Christopher |author-link=Christopher Hibbert |title=Agincourt |year=1964 |publisher=Batsford |location=London |page=114 |chapter=During the battle
|oclc=460624273}}</ref> Henry ordered that the French prisoners taken during the battle be put to death, including some of the most illustrious who could have been held for [[ransom]]. Cambridge historian Brett Tingley suggests that Henry ordered them killed out of concern that the prisoners might turn on their captors when the English were busy repelling a third wave of enemy troops, thus jeopardising a hard-fought victory.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}}

The victorious conclusion of Agincourt, from the English viewpoint, was only the first step in the campaign to recover the French possessions that Henry felt belonged to the English crown. Agincourt also held out the promise that Henry's pretensions to the French throne might be realized. After the victory, Henry marched to Calais and the king returned in triumph to England in November and received a hero's welcome. The brewing nationalistic sentiment among the English people was so great that contemporary writers describe firsthand how Henry was welcomed with triumphal pageantry into London upon his return. These accounts also describe how Henry was greeted by elaborate displays and with choirs following his passage to [[St.Paul's Cathedral]].<ref name="britannica.com"/>

[[File:Battle of Agincourt, St. Alban's Chronicle by Thomas Walsingham.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|The [[Battle of Agincourt]] as depicted in the 15th century 'St Albans Chronicle' by [[Thomas Walsingham]].]]

Most importantly, the victory at Agincourt inspired and boosted the English morale, while it caused a heavy blow to the French as it further aided the English in their conquest of [[Normandy]] and much of northern France by 1419. The French, especially the nobility, who by this stage were weakened and exhausted by the disaster, began quarrelling and fighting among themselves. This quarrelling also led to a division in the French aristocracy and caused a rift in the [[French royal family]], leading to infighting. By 1420, a treaty was signed between Henry V and Charles VI of France, known as the [[Treaty of Troyes]], which acknowledged Henry as regent and heir to the [[French throne]] and also married Henry to Charles's daughter [[Catherine of Valois]].<ref name="britannica.com"/>

==== Diplomacy ====
[[File:Pisanello 024b.jpg|thumb|left|180px|[[Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor]]]]

Following the [[Battle of Agincourt]], [[King Sigismund of Hungary]] (later [[Holy Roman Emperor]]) made a visit to Henry in hopes of making peace between England and France. His goal was to persuade Henry to modify his demands against the French. Henry lavishly entertained him and even had him enrolled in the [[Order of the Garter]]. Sigismund, in turn, inducted Henry into the [[Order of the Dragon]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Rezachevici |first=Constantin |editor-last=Miller |editor-first=Elizabeth |title=From the Order of the Dragon to Dracula |journal=Journal of Dracula Studies |volume=1 |publisher=Memorial University of Newfoundland |location=St John's, NL, Canada |year=1999 |pages=1–6 |doi=10.70013/2P97R4A5 |url=http://www.blooferland.com/drc/index.php?title=Journal_of_Dracula_Studies |access-date=18 April 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080414210504/http://www.blooferland.com/drc/index.php?title=Journal_of_Dracula_Studies |archive-date=14 April 2008}}</ref> Henry had intended to [[crusade]] for the order after uniting the English and French thrones, but he died before fulfilling his plans.<ref>{{cite book |last=Mowat |first=Robert Balmain |url=https://archive.org/details/henryvillustrate00mowauoft |title=Henry V |publisher=John Constable |year=1919 |isbn=1-4067-6713-1 |location=London |page=[https://archive.org/details/henryvillustrate00mowauoft/page/176 176] |author-link=Robert Mowat}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Harvey |first=John Hooper |title=The Plantagenets |publisher=Collins |year=1967 |location=London |author-link=John Harvey (architectural historian)}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Seward |first=Desmond |title=The hundred years war: The English in France 1337–1453 |publisher=Penguin Books |year=1999 |isbn=0-14-028361-7 |location=Harmondsworth, England |author-link=Desmond Seward}}</ref> Sigismund left England several months later, having signed the [[Treaty of Canterbury (1416)|Treaty of Canterbury]] acknowledging English claims to France.

Command of the sea was secured by driving the [[Genoa|Genoese]] allies of the French out of the [[English Channel]].<ref name=EB1911/> While Henry was occupied with peace negotiations in 1416, a French and Genoese fleet surrounded the harbour at the English-garrisoned Harfleur. A French land force also besieged the town. In March 1416 a raiding force of soldiers under the Earl of Dorset, Thomas Beaufort, was attacked and narrowly escaped defeat at the [[Battle of Valmont]] after a counterattack by the garrison of Harfleur. To relieve the town, Henry sent his brother, [[John, Duke of Bedford]], who raised a fleet and set sail from [[Beachy Head]] on 14 August. The Franco-Genoese fleet was defeated the following day after the gruelling seven-hour Battle of the Seine<ref>{{cite web |last=Trowbridge |first=Benjamin |title=The Battle of the Seine: Henry V's unknown naval triumph |date=9 August 2016 |url=https://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/battle-seine-henry-vs-unknown-naval-triumph/ |website=The National Archives |access-date=12 July 2020}}</ref> and Harfleur was relieved. Diplomacy successfully detached Emperor Sigismund from supporting France, and the Treaty of Canterbury — also signed in August 1416 — confirmed a short-lived alliance between England and the Holy Roman Empire.