HENRY V, king of England: b. Mon mouth, 19 Aug. 1387; d. Vincennes, France, 31 Aug. 1422. He succeeded his father, Henry IV, in 1413. His dissipated youth, and fondness for joviality and low company, gave his father much uneasiness; but circumstances occurred, even in the midst of his wildness, which showed that better principles were latent in his mind. His conduct when he ascended the throne justified the best expectations. The circumstances of France, torn asunder by the opposing factions of the dukes of Orleans and Burgundy, afforded a tempting opportunity to an ambitious neigh bor, and Henry was easily induced to revive the claims of his predecessors upon that country. He accordingly assembled a great fleet and army and landed near Harfleur, 14 Aug. 1415. He took that town after a siege which so much re duced his army that he was advised to return to England by sea. But Henry determined to march on Calais, and on his way was met on the plain of Agincourt by a French army 10 times as numerous as his own. A battle took place there on 25 October, in which the French host was totally defeated, with a comparatively trifling loss on the side of the English. In 1417
the liberal grants of the Commons enabled Henry once more to invade France with 25,000 men. By the famous Treaty of Troyes (21 May 1420), Henry engaged to marry the Prin cess Catharine and to leave Charles in posses sion of the crown on condition that it should go to Henry and his heirs at his decease, and be inseparably united to the crown of Eng land. Henry, after espousing Catharine, took possession of Paris and then went over to Eng land to raise recruits for his army. All his great projects seemed about to be realized, when he was attacked by a disease which car ried him off at the age of 34, and in the 10th year of his reign. lie was succeeded by his son, Henry VI. Henry V, as the gallant, youth ful and successful conqueror of France, is a favorite name in English history; but he was inferior in wisdom and solid policy to many of his ancestors. Consult Kingsford,