Fresh examinations of the activities of Henry V, looking at how his
reputation was achieved.
Henry V (1413-22) is widely acclaimed as the most successful late
medieval English king. In his short reign of nine and a half years, he
re-imposed the rule of law, made the crown solvent, decisively crushed
heresy, achieved a momentous victory at the battle of Agincourt (1415),
and negotiated a remarkably favourable settlement for the English over
the French in the Treaty of Troyes (1420). Above all, he restored the
reputation of the English monarchy andunited the English people behind
the crown following decades of upheaval and political turmoil. But who
was the man behind these achievements? What explains his success? How
did he acquire such a glorious reputation?
The ground-breaking essays contained in this volume provide the first
concerted investigation of these questions in over two decades.
Contributions range broadly across the period of Henry's life, including
his early years as Prince of Wales. They consider how Henry raised the
money to fund his military campaigns and how his subjects responded to
these financial exactions; how he secured royal authority in the
localities and cultivated support within the politicalcommunity; and how
he consolidated his rule in France and earned for himself a reputation
as the archetypal late medieval warrior king. Overall, the contributions
provide new insights and a much better understanding of how
Henryachieved this epithet.
GWILYM DODD is an Associate Professor in the Department of History,
University of Nottingham.
Contributors: Christopher Allmand, Mark Arvanigian, Michael Bennett,
Anne Curry, Gwilym Dodd, Maureen Jurkowski, Alison K. McHardy, Neil
Murphy, W. Mark Ormrod, Jenny Stratford, Craig Taylor.
