Henry VI

Henry VI was nothing like his martial father. Even in adulthood he never engaged in combat. It was said that he was more suited to life as a priest than a king. He was always dominated by those stronger than him, so that the balance of power at court was a cycle of favour and decline.

By the 1440s, the situation in France had become so hopeless that there emerged a pro-peace faction at court. This included the Earl of Suffolk and was headed by the unscrupulous Cardinal Beaufort. The opposing side was led by the Duke of Gloucester and included the young and ambitious Duke of York. York was descended from the second son of Edward III, and so had arguably a better claim to the throne than the king himself.

Beaufort was able to gain influence with the king, and as part of a peace settlement with France, a marriage was arranged. The bride was the strong-willed Margaret of Anjou, niece of the King of France, and the terms of the marriage included the English cession of the hard-won counties of Anjou and Maine. This marriage was wildly unpopular with the English, who would have preferred to have stayed at war with the French.

Margaret soon gathered around her her own faction, her favourite being Suffolk, who had been her escort from her homeland to England, and Edmund Beaufort, Earl of Somerset. She perceived the Duke of York, heir apparent to the throne, as a threat and took steps to see him alienated from the king. York's bitterness with the government was provoked by his treatment as King's lieutenant in France, where he was continually forced to pay his soldiers out of his own money, as the king had not provided him with financial support. In contrast, when Somerset replaced York in this position, he received constant financial support. Margaret and her faction dominated the king, and her interference fuelled the feud between Somerset and York.

In 1448 the French King took the counties of Maine and Anjou by force. The outcry in England was enormous, and Suffolk, who had negotiated the original treaty, found himself politically isolated. A year later he was sentenced to execution on charges of corruption and treason, but the Queen's influence had his sentence changed to exile. However, on his way to France, the Earl was captured and decapitated and his body was left to rot on the beach at Dover.

In order to remove York's influence from court, he was sent as King's Lieutenant to Ireland for period of ten years, however within two years he was back in England. A rebellion had broken out in Kent, led by Jack Cade, who made similar demands for reform of the Government that York had made. York was accused of being involved in this rebellion, and he returned to England to try to clear his name. York arrived with a large force of armed men and marched on London to petition the king. The manoeuvre backfired, as most of the nobles were mistrustful of York's intentions. York returned to his castle of Ludlow in Wales.


Henry V	The First Battles