HENRY, the only son of Henry V. and Katherine of France, was born at Windsor, December 6, 1421. When less than nine months old he succeeded his father, (Sept. 1, 1422,) and was proclaimed king both in England and in France, the government being administered by his uncles, the dukes of Bedford and Gloucester, and the bishop of Winchester, and his own education entrusted to the earl of Warwick ", who from his proficiency in every knightly art was styled "the father of courtesy," but who did not succeed in imparting any portion of his own warlike spirit and worldly wisdom to his royal pupil.

The events of Henry's reign were most important, but he had apparently very little share in directing them. In his youth he was under the tutelage of his

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Richard, son of Thomas Beauchamp, condemned to death in the time of Richard II. (see vol. i. p. 415). He was long captain of Calais, received the office of regent of France in 1437, and died at Rouen in 1439. Richard Neville derived from him his title of earl of Warwick, having married his daughter Anne.

uncles, who quarreled among themselves, and thus sacrificed his father's acquisitions; when advanced to manhood, he was as completely guided by his ambitious, intriguing wife and her favourite ministers, Suffolk and Somerset P; their conduct occasioned bitter discontent,

• William de la Pole, earl of Suffolk, grandson of the favourite of Richard II., was born in 1396. His brother Michael was killed at Agincourt,and his father died at the siege of Harfleur;

Arms of de la Pole, earl
of Suffolk.

he himself served in France, and was taken prisoner at Jergeaux, but recovered his liberty, was admitted to the king's council, and received a grant of the reversion of the earldom of Pembroke, in case the duke of Gloucester, who then possessed it, died childless. He was afterwards employed to negotiate a peace with the French, and he was also a chief instrument in bringing about the king's marriage with Margaret of Anjou. He now became in effect prime minister, was created marquis, and soon after duke of Suffolk, received the offices of grand steward, chamberlain, and admiral, and the wardship of Margaret Beaufort, the king's cousin. He was, however, exceedingly unpopular, being suspected of treacherously surrendering the English possessions in France, and also of being concerned in the death of the duke of Gloucester. At length he was impeached by the Commons, and committed to the Tower; he was soon after banished, but was beheaded at sea, by order of the constable of the Tower, (John Holland, duke of Exeter,) in May, 1450. His son John, born in 1443, married Elizabeth, the sister of Edward IV.

P Edmund Beaufort was the grandson of John of Gaunt. Like his brother John he was made prisoner at Beauge, but afterwards distinguished himself in the French wars.

He defended Rouen, and captured Harfleur and Montreuil; relieved Calais when besieged, and also ravaged Britanny. He received in succession the titles of earl of Moretain and Perche, earl and marquis of Dorset, and duke of Somerset, and in 1444 was appointed regent of Normandy, in succession to the duke of York. He acted feebly in this capacity, and surrendered Caen, almost without resistance, by which the province was lost. He returned

Somerset.

to England, and, in spite of the popular dis- Arms of Beaufort, duke of content, on the death of the duke of Suffolk

he succeeded to his place in the favour of the queen.

The duke of

and in the end, though personally beloved for his pious and charitable conduct, splendid evidences of which remain to this day, the "meek usurper" was deprived of his throne; he saw his friends cut off in the field or on the scaffold; he suffered exile and a tedious imprisonment himself, and he died at last in confinement in the Tower, about the month of May, 1471. His death has usually been ascribed to violence, but it was more probably owing to grief at the capture of his wife and slaughter of his son at Tewkesbury shortly before. His body was exposed in St. Paul's, and then buried with little ceremony at Chertsey Abbey, but by Henry VII. was removed to Windsor, and interred in St. George's Chapel.

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In 1445 Henry married Margaret of Anjou, daughter of René, titular king of Sicily, Naples, and Jerusalem, but in fact a dependant on the king of France. obtain her hand most of the remaining English possessions in France were given up, and Margaret thus became unpopular with the English from her first coming among them. She was a woman of beauty and undaunted spirit; thus she gained an ascendancy over her weak husband which was often unwisely and someYork took up arms to bring him to trial, but after some contention they were formally reconciled; this lasted but a short time, and in 1454 Somerset was imprisoned on charges of treason preferred by the duke; he was, however, set at liberty by the influence of the queen, and taking the command of some troops he advanced to St. Alban's, where he was met by the duke of York, defeated and killed, May 23, 1455, the assault being led by his brother-in-law, the earl of Warwick. He left three sons, who all died in the Lancastrian

cause.

He founded Eton College in 1440, and King's College, Cambridge in 1443, beside assisting Chicheley's foundation at Oxford; his queen endowed a second college at Cambridge.

times cruelly exercised, and was the immediate cause of his downfall. She, however, fully shared his sufferings, and made the most vigorous attempts to retrieve his fortunes, enduring exile, innumerable perils by land and by sea, and a long imprisonment; she at length closed her chequered life in her native country, dying in poverty at Dampierre, near Saumur, Aug. 25, 1481.

Henry's only son, Edward, born October 13, 1453, married Anne, daughter of the earl of Warwick, in 1470, but was killed at Tewkesbury shortly after.

The arms of Henry VI. are the same as those of his father, France and England quarterly.

His supporters are usually two antelopes, argent; but sometimes the dexter supporter is a lion; and in other instances a panther rampant, incensed, is the sinister. His badges are, an antelope collared and chained, two feathers in saltire, and sometimes a panther passant gardant, spotted with many colours and incensed; but this latter more properly belongs to the Beauforts. The well-known motto DIEU ET MON DROIT, appears to have been first assumed as such by this king, but it had been in use as a war-cry at least as early as the time of Richard I.

Henry in character was evidently well meaning, and sincerely pious, but too weak and irresolute to hold sway in the turbulent days in which he lived; still he

He was popularly regarded as a saint, and Henry VII. took some steps to procure his canonization, but is stated by Lord Bacon to have been deterred by the expense.

justly claims our pity for his sufferings: his great misfortune was, that by the conduct of his grandfather he was placed in a position the duties of which he was entirely unfit to discharge, and that thus he was exposed to the penalty justly attached to his ancestor's crime, but which descended on his innocent head.

A.D. 1422. The duke of Bedford governs in France, and the duke of Gloucester in England, in the name of the infant kings, who is placed under the care of the earl of Warwick (Richard Beauchamp).

Charles VI. of France dies, Oct. 21; the dauphin is crowned at Poictiers, while Henry VI. is acknowledged as king in Paris.

Irish residents at Oxford and Cambridge ordered to leave the realm within a month, except graduates and beneficed men, who can find surety, [1 Hen. VI. c. 3].

A.D. 1423. A treaty concluded at Amiens, by which the duke of Britanny (John V.) becomes an ally of the English.

The earl of Salisbury (Thomas Montacute) defeats the French and their Scottish allies at Crevant, in Burgundy, July.

The French defeat and capture Sir John de la Pole, at Graville, in Maine.

Merchandize of the staple to be carried only to Calais, [2 Hen. VI. c. 4].

His regnal years are computed from Sept. 1.

The reason given is that divers manslaughters, murders, robberies, felonies, riots, and other offences, have lately been committed by them; no fresh scholars from Ireland are to be received without proper testimonials of being in the king's obedience.