During the reign of his father, the young Henry gained military experience fighting the Welsh during the revolt of Owain Glyndŵr and against the powerful aristocratic Percy family of Northumberland at the Battle of Shrewsbury. Henry acquired an increasing role in England's government due to the king's declining health, but disagreements between father and son led to political conflict. After his father's death in 1413, Henry assumed control of the country and asserted the pending English claim to the French throne. Despite his relatively short reign, Henry's outstanding military successes made England one of the strongest military powers in Europe.
In 1415 Henry embarked on the ongoing Hundred Years' War (1337–1453) with France. His military successes culminated in his famous victory at the Battle of Agincourt and saw him come close to conquering France. Taking advantage of political divisions, he conquered large portions of the kingdom, resulting in Normandy's occupation by the English for the first time since 1345–1360. After months of negotiation with Charles VI of France, the Treaty of Troyes (1420) recognised Henry V as regent and heir apparent to the French Throne, and he was subsequently married to Charles's daughter, Catherine of Valois. Everything seemed to point to the formation of a union between the kingdoms, in the person of Henry, however, he died two years later at the Château de Vincennes, weakened by dysentery and possibly heatstroke before he could be crowned King of France. He was succeeded by his only child, the infant Henry VI.
Catherine de Valois
Henry V went to war with France, but even after the great English victory at Agincourt, plans for the marriage continued. Catherine was said to be very attractive and when Henry finally met her at Meulan, he fell in love with her. In May 1420 the Treaty of Troyes was made between England and France and Charles acknowledged Henry as his heir, thus disinheriting his own son the Dauphin. This is suprising as his wife, Queen Isabeau, had seized power when the King had been forced to withdraw from public as he suffered from schizophrenia, believing he was made of glass. Catherine and Henry were married at Troyes Cathedral on 2nd June 1420 and Catherine went to England, being crowned queen in Westminster Abbey on 23rd February 1421. Catherine's Arms as Queen were simply England (France modern and England quartered) marshalled with France modern. |
Catherine was still young and marriageable, and a source of concern to her brother-in-law Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, the guardian of the young King Henry VI. She was suddenly a French woman in a foreign land and not trusted by the nobles around her. Rumours abounded that Catherine planned to marry Edmund Beaufort, Count of Mortain and later Duke of Somerset, her late husband's cousin. The Duke of Gloucester was strongly against the match, however. Without naming anyone specifically, the Parliament of 1427–8 passed a bill with the provision that if a queen dowager remarried without the king's consent, her husband would forfeit his lands and possessions, although any children of the marriage would not suffer punishment.
Catherine then entered into a relationship with Welshman Owen Maredudd Tudor, who, in 1421, had been in the service of Henry V's steward Sir Walter Hungerford in France. and had excelled at Agincourt. Tudor was appointed keeper of Catherine's household or wardrobe and the relationship began when Catherine lived at Windsor Castle. At some point, she stopped living in the King's household and in May 1432 Parliament granted Owen the rights of an Englishman. This was important because of Henry IV's laws limiting the rights of Welshmen.
There is no known date of Catherine's marriage to Owen, and yet there is no contemporaneous evidence that the validity of the marriage and the legitimacy of her children were questioned in secular or canon law. From the relationship of Owen Tudor and Queen Catherine descended the Tudor dynasty of England, starting with King Henry VII. Tudor historians asserted that Owen and Catherine had been married, for their lawful marriage would add respectability and stronger royal ties to the claims of the Tudor dynasty.
We looked at Catherine and Owen's eldest two sons, Edmund (Henry VII's father) and Jasper, in the Blog about Henry Tudor. We saw how, with very similar Borders. It has been argued that their Arms show Edmund, at least, and Jasper were actually the sons of Edmund Beaufort. But whilst it is true that Owen Tudor's personal Arms were ignored, the brothers were assigned the Royal Arms by King Henry VI to secure their possible place in the Succession as Lancastrians. The Fleurs-de-Lys in the border obviously represent their mother and the martlet (a swallow without legs or a beak) signified nobility acquired through bravery, prowess or intelligence, which represents Owen Tudor. |
Catherine's funeral effigy still survives at Westminster Abbey and was previously on display in the Undercroft. It is now displayed in the new Queen's Diamond Jubilee Gallery in the Abbey triforium. Her tomb originally boasted an alabaster memorial, which was deliberately destroyed during extensions to the Abbey in the reign of her grandson, Henry VII. It has been suggested that Henry ordered her memorial to be removed to distance himself from his illegitimate ancestry. After her death, Catherine's enemies decided to proceed against Owen for violating the law of the remarriage of a queen dowager. Owen appeared before the council, was acquitted, subsequently arrested, and taken to Newgate Prison. He tried to escape from there in early 1438 and eventually ended up at Windsor Castle in July of that year. He was an early casualty of the Wars of the Roses when he joined his son Jasper's army in Wales in January 1461, only to be defeated at the Battle of Mortimer's Cross by Edward of York. On 2nd February Tudor was captured and beheaded at Hereford. |