Of Henry’s qualities as a military leader it is impossible to speak too highly. The one possible exception where he may be thought to have failed, not indeed in skill, but in prudence, was the march from Harfleur to Calais. Yet it was a piece of calculated audacity abundantly justified by the result. To have gone back from Harfleur with nothing to show for a wasted army but a single seaport, would have discredited him both at home and abroad. He had to make an impressive display of his superiority if he was to be accepted as the future conqueror of France. His career after this was one of unbroken success—success earned by courage, foresight, tactical skill, fertility of resource, economy of strength, in short, by all the qualities of a great captain. There is no more conclusive proof of his greatness than the instantaneous change which his presence wrought in the prospects of a campaign: Ipso adventu profligata bella.
Of his qualities as a ruler it is difficult to speak. It would be unjust to compare him with Richard Cœur de Lion, and speak of him as a great soldier and nothing more. On the other hand, we do not find in him—we have indeed no opportunity of finding in him—the great legislative power of Edward the First. But he was not unmindful of his duties as a king, and in the midst of his campaigns he found time for the cares of civil government. England never had a more popular sovereign, though he made demands upon it in men and money which, considering the shortness of his reign, must have exceeded all precedent; and even in the country which he ruled as a stranger he won a general admiration and respect.
It should not affect our estimate of his greatness that we now see his schemes of conquest to have been chimerical, his purpose of uniting the crowns of England and France an impossible dream. He must have himself found it to be so had he lived. When thirty years had passed, after an enormous expenditure of blood and treasure, nothing was left of his French conquests. But he had come nearer than any who had gone before him to the accomplishment of the great hope of his predecessors. He died in Paris, the “Heir of France.”
THE END
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FOOTNOTES
[1] Henry’s brothers and sisters were (1) Thomas, Duke of Clarence, born 1389, killed at Baugé in Anjou, March 22nd, 1421; (2) John, Duke of Bedford, born 1390, died Regent of France at Rouen, September 14th, 1435; (3) Humphrey, born 1391, died, it was commonly supposed by foul means, early in 1447; (4) Blanche, married to Louis, son of Rupert, King of the Romans; (5) Philippa, married to Eric the Thirteenth, King of Denmark.
[2] I have to express my special obligations to a pamphlet by Mr. F. Solly-Flood, Q.C., reprinted from the Transactions of the Royal Historical Society. It bears the title of The Story of Prince Henry of Monmouth and Chief-Justice Gascoign, but it discusses fully the whole question of Henry’s character in early life. I am also greatly indebted to the able account of Henry’s campaigns which is to be found in Mr. H. R. Clinton’s From Crécy to Assye. Finally I must thank the Provost of Queen’s College, Oxford, for his courtesy in communicating to me some interesting information about Henry’s supposed residence at Oxford, and Major Servanté, R.M., for his courtesy in guiding me on a visit which I paid to the field of Agincourt.
[3] I cannot feel satisfied with Mr. F. Solly-Flood’s explanation that, owing to the Prince’s frequent absences at Calais, his attendance at the Council had been intermittent, and his salary had fallen into arrear. A thousand marks is a large sum, more than a Councillor’s salary for many years could amount to.
[4] The request seems reasonable enough—viz., that no boat or barge travelling on a river, out of which a person might accidentally fall and so be drowned, should be taken as a deodand, i.e. forfeited to the lord of the manor or the Crown as being a cause or instrument of death.