Henry’s return to England and entry to London

In this article, Dan describes Henry V’s triumphal return to England and its impact on subsequent discussion of the Battle of Agincourt. The Chronicle of London states that Henry arrived back in England on 16 November at Dover and then made his way towards London. He was no longer accompanied by the army, which had been stood down at Calais and transported in stages to different ports, such as Sandwich, Dover, Portsmouth and Southampton.As he re-entered England the king was accompanied by a relatively small entourage and his most important prisoners, such as Charles, duke of Orléans and Louis, Count of Vendóme. The Brut chronicle then states that Henry went to Barham Down, where he was greeted by members of the Cinque Ports. Henry’s entourage then moved onto Canterbury where he made an offering at the shrine of Thomas Becket, before proceeding onto to Eltham Palace on the outskirts of London prior to his entry into the city. This was an orchestrated affair which the City of London had been preparing in anticipation of the king’s return. It paralleled the entry of the Black Prince into London on 24 May 1357, with the French king John II and other leading prisoners from the battle of Poitiers. The point of such entries was to emphasise the importance and status of London as well as that of the monarchy.On 23 November 1415, Henry entered the city of London in triumph with the Corporation of London putting on extravagant displays of pageantry to celebrate the king’s victory. Such events were few and far between and it is not surprising that the entry made a deep impression on contemporaries, with the chronicler Walsingham stating that the reception of the king was so brilliant and varied that it would require a special treatise to record it adequately.^{Henry’s procession through London © University of Southampton}According to the Gesta Henrici Quinti, the king was greeted outside the city at Blackheath by 20,000 citizens on horseback wearing red clothes together with red and white hoods. At 10 o’clock the king came into their midst wearing a gown of purple, with the Londoners congratulating him on the victory he had achieved and praising God. The citizens then headed to London with the king, his small retinue and his most important French prisoners.Evidently the corporation and citizens of London had been busy since receiving news of the victory as they had constructed special displays symbolising the importance of London as well as Henry’s kingship.At the south entrance to London Bridge he was confronted by two enormous figures bearing the royal arms.

‘And, all around them, projecting from the ramparts, staffs bearing the royal arms and trumpets, clarions, and horns ringing out in multiple harmony embellished the tower, and the face of it bore this choice and appropriate legend inscribed on the wall: Civitas Regis Iusticie (City of the King of Justice)’. (Gesta Henrici Quinti translation in Taylor and Roskell, [eds] 1975, p.103).

‘At the cross in the middle of Cheap, reaching from one side to the other, as far as the church of St. Peter, was a three—storeyed building mounted by a remarkable series of ladders, to which towers and bulwarks and the coats of arms of the kingdom and its princes were attached, the whole thing being constructed from planks, a remarkable example of the skills of both carpenters and painters; it was covered with a large linen sheet decorated in lapidary colours, so that it looked like a wall made of porphyry, marble, and ivory, and on it were written the words, ‘Things glorious are said of thee, thou city of the Lord’; and it was completely filled with models of angels, singers and organs. Six citizens, magnificently dressed, came out of its iron gates carrying two basins made of gold and filled with gold, which were offered to the king. As he approached the lower conduit, chanting virgins came dancing to meet him, accompanied by choirs and drums and golden viols, just as in King David’s time, after the slaying of Goliath. What more can I say? The city wore its brightest aspect, and happiness filled the people-and rightly so. At St Paul’s the king dismounted and went devoutly forward to make offerings at the Holy Cross, the tomb of St Erkenwald, and the high altar, before moving on from there to dine at Westminster.’

---

How do you think this glorious, triumphal return feeds into our knowledge of the battle today?

---

References and further reading

Coldstream, N. ‘Pavilion’d in Splendour’: Henry V’s Agincourt Pageants’, Journal of the British Archaeological Association, 165 (2012), 153-171.Curry, A. The Battle of Agincourt: Sources and Interpretations (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2009). This book includes translations of all the key documents relating to the Agincourt campaign.The link takes you to Amazon.co.uk [accessed 16 October 2015].Given-Wilson, C. (ed.), The Chronicle of Adam Usk, 1377-1421 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997)Nicolas, H. (ed.), A Chronicle of London from 1089 to 1483 (London: Longmans, 1827)Sharpe, R.R. London and the Kingdom, volume 1 (London: Longmans & Co., 1894)Taylor, F. and Roskell, J. S. (eds.), Gesta Henrici Quinti: The Deeds of Henry the Fifth (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1975)