King Henry VI
THE LESSON OF KING HENRY VI
“Pray to god but tie your camel” remains as valid today as ever
About a decade and a half ago when I was living in central London and working at a statutory institution in that city I decided to go by train to Cambridge for the day.
Once there, of course, the university was as difficult to ignore as the proverbial elephant in the drawing room. Walking around I chanced to see the magnificent edifice of Kings College gleaming in the summer sunlight in the distance across an immaculate lawn.
Venturing in that direction I found myself in the college chapel where there were a good many other people, mostly tourists like myself. On one of the introductory notices within there was something about the founding of the college by King Henry VI and matters appertaining thereto.
Well, I suppose a college will be respectful to the memory of its founder. But there was one aspect of his story which intrigued me a bit. This was that after his death a woman whose son was sick had prayed to him for his recovery and that subsequently the son had recovered. As a result many people all over England started praying to King Henry VI and many miracles were attributed to him, and he was made a saint.
That, I suppose explains in one placard both the making of a college and the making of a saint, albeit a royal one.
In the annals of the kings and queens and the solitary “lord protector” of this country the name of King Henry VI does not feature prominently, except of course for at Eton College (which he founded too) and at Kings College, University of Cambridge.
Additionally, he is the hero of three of Shakespeare’s more obscure historical plays of that name but, other than deep Shakespearian scholars, not many people lay much emphasis on those productions. At any rate they are hardly ever played on any of the London stages.
Nevertheless, I submit the sad story of this unfortunate man holds lessons for the South Asian migrant populations of the United Kingdom with special emphasis on their recourse to religion for the solving of material problems.
His life story can be encapsulated as follows:
Henry VI was the only child of Henry V and Catherine of Valois, born on December 6, 1421. He married Margaret of Anjou in 1445; the union produced one son, Edward, who was killed in battle one day before Henry's execution.
Henry came to the throne as an infant after the early death of his father; in name, he was king of both England and France, but a protector ruled each realm. Richard Beauchamp beginning in 1428 educated him. The whole of Henry's reign was involved with retaining both of his crowns - in the end, he held neither.Hostilities in France continued, but momentum swung to the French with the appearance of Joan of Arc in 1428.
The seventeen year old was instrumental in rescuing the French Dauphin Charles in 1429; he was crowned at Reims as Charles VII, and she was burned at the stake as a heretic.
English losses in Brittany (1449), Normandy (1450) and Gascony (1453) led to the conclusion of the Hundred Years' War in 1453. Henry lost his claim to all French soil except for Calais.The Wars of the Roses began in full during Henry's reign. In 1453, Henry had an attack of the hereditary mental illness that plagued the French house of Valois; Richard, Duke of York , was made protector of the realm during the illness.
His wife Margaret, a rather headstrong woman, alienated Richard upon Henry's recovery and Richard responded by attacking and defeating the queen's forces at St. Albans in 1455.
Richard captured the king in 1460 and forced him to acknowledge Richard as heir to the crown. Henry escaped, joined the Lancastrian forces and attacked at Towton in March 1461, only to be defeated by the Yorks. Richard's son, Edward IV , was proclaimed king; Margaret and Henry were exiled to Scotland.
They were captured in 1465 and imprisoned in the Tower of London until 1470. Henry was briefly restored to power in September 1470. Edward , Prince of Wales , died after his final victory at Tewkesbury on May 20, 1471 and Henry returned to the Tower. The last Lancastrian king was murdered the following day.
Shakespeare put the following words into his mouth in King Henry VI Part I:
“Come hither, you that would be combatants:Henceforth I charge you, as you love our favour,Quite to forget this quarrel and the cause.And you, my lords, remember where we are,In France, amongst a fickle wavering nation:If they perceive dissension in our looksAnd that within ourselves we disagree,How will their grudging stomachs be provokedTo wilful disobedience, and rebel!Beside, what infamy will there arise,When foreign princes shall be certifiedThat for a toy, a thing of no regard,King Henry's peers and chief nobilityDestroy'd themselves, and lost the realm of France!O, think upon the conquest of my father,My tender years, and let us not foregoThat for a trifle that was bought with bloodLet me be umpire in this doubtful strife.I see no reason, if I wear this rose,
Putting on a red rose
“That any one should therefore be suspiciousI more incline to Somerset than York:Both are my kinsmen, and I love them both:As well they may upbraid me with my crown,Because, forsooth, the king of Scots is crown'd.But your discretions better can persuadeThan I am able to instruct or teach:And therefore, as we hither came in peace,So let us still continue peace and love.Cousin of York, we institute your graceTo be our regent in these parts of France:And, good my Lord of Somerset, uniteYour troops of horsemen with his bands of foot;And, like true subjects, sons of your progenitors,Go cheerfully together and digest.Your angry choler on your enemies.Ourself, my lord protector and the restAfter some respite will return to Calais;From thence to England; where I hope ere longTo be presented, by your victories,With Charles, Alencon and that traitorous rout.”
Taking all this into account what we have is a sovereign of a major European power who was in all major regards a near total failure. He was born to be king and to rule two realms: England and France. Eventually, he lost both and died a violent but inglorious death in a royal prison at the hands of people who had usurped him.
Furthermore, it was during his reign that the Wars of the Roses, which crippled English government and society for the better part of a century, began.
By the standards of royalty he was not even a rich man for his administration was troubled by economic problems.
All this leads on to the question why he is so venerated and respected today.
One reason is that he was immensely pious and spent a great deal of his life praying. So religious was he that when advised by his spiritual mentor to abstain from conjugal relations with his wife in the name of religion he followed that counsel.
However, it happened that soon after his death on account of his piety that the woman whose son was grievously sick prayed to the soul of the departed monarch for his recovery. The son having got better the news spread like wildfire throughout England.
Therefore, all sorts of people in England were praying to King Henry VI and miracles were attributed to him as a result of which he was made a saint.
Wikipedia the free Internet encyclopaedia sums up the man as follows:
“Henry seems to have been a decent man, but completely unsuited to kingship. He allowed himself to be totally dominated by the power-hungry factions which surrounded him at court and was later powerless to stop the outbreak of bloody civil war. It was clearly too much for him to cope with, as his recurring mental illness from 1453 onwards showed. During the Wars of the Roses it was his queen, Margaret, who was the driving force behind the Lancastrian faction, while Henry was captured first by one side, then the other. Whoever had the king in their possession was able to claim to be ruling in his name.”
Dr Patricia McGuire, the archivist of Kings College, Cambridge has this to say: “He was generous with us. We have a founder’s day dinner on December every year. It’s invitation only.
“It was in the 20th century that the honouring of his death in the Tower of London was instituted under the terms of the will of Sir John Withers.”
And indeed on his death anniversary, May 21, the provosts of Eton College and Kings College lay wreaths of roses and lilies on the altar dedicated to his memory.
The lesson for us, bearing in mind our arguably ultra-religious tendencies and the communities whence we spring in which one has to be publicly religious in order to command respect, that religiosity alone is not enough.
As the Prophet put it: “Pray to God but tie your camel.”
THE LESSON OF KING HENRY VI
“Pray to god but tie your camel” remains as valid today as ever
About a decade and a half ago when I was living in central London and working at a statutory institution in that city I decided to go by train to Cambridge for the day.
Once there, of course, the university was as difficult to ignore as the proverbial elephant in the drawing room. Walking around I chanced to see the magnificent edifice of Kings College gleaming in the summer sunlight in the distance across an immaculate lawn.
Venturing in that direction I found myself in the college chapel where there were a good many other people, mostly tourists like myself. On one of the introductory notices within there was something about the founding of the college by King Henry VI and matters appertaining thereto.
Well, I suppose a college will be respectful to the memory of its founder. But there was one aspect of his story which intrigued me a bit. This was that after his death a woman whose son was sick had prayed to him for his recovery and that subsequently the son had recovered. As a result many people all over England started praying to King Henry VI and many miracles were attributed to him, and he was made a saint.
That, I suppose explains in one placard both the making of a college and the making of a saint, albeit a royal one.
In the annals of the kings and queens and the solitary “lord protector” of this country the name of King Henry VI does not feature prominently, except of course for at Eton College (which he founded too) and at Kings College, University of Cambridge.
Additionally, he is the hero of three of Shakespeare’s more obscure historical plays of that name but, other than deep Shakespearian scholars, not many people lay much emphasis on those productions. At any rate they are hardly ever played on any of the London stages.
Nevertheless, I submit the sad story of this unfortunate man holds lessons for the South Asian migrant populations of the United Kingdom with special emphasis on their recourse to religion for the solving of material problems.
His life story can be encapsulated as follows:
Henry VI was the only child of Henry V and Catherine of Valois, born on December 6, 1421. He married Margaret of Anjou in 1445; the union produced one son, Edward, who was killed in battle one day before Henry's execution.
Henry came to the throne as an infant after the early death of his father; in name, he was king of both England and France, but a protector ruled each realm. Richard Beauchamp beginning in 1428 educated him. The whole of Henry's reign was involved with retaining both of his crowns - in the end, he held neither.Hostilities in France continued, but momentum swung to the French with the appearance of Joan of Arc in 1428.
The seventeen year old was instrumental in rescuing the French Dauphin Charles in 1429; he was crowned at Reims as Charles VII, and she was burned at the stake as a heretic.
English losses in Brittany (1449), Normandy (1450) and Gascony (1453) led to the conclusion of the Hundred Years' War in 1453. Henry lost his claim to all French soil except for Calais.The Wars of the Roses began in full during Henry's reign. In 1453, Henry had an attack of the hereditary mental illness that plagued the French house of Valois; Richard, Duke of York , was made protector of the realm during the illness.
His wife Margaret, a rather headstrong woman, alienated Richard upon Henry's recovery and Richard responded by attacking and defeating the queen's forces at St. Albans in 1455.
Richard captured the king in 1460 and forced him to acknowledge Richard as heir to the crown. Henry escaped, joined the Lancastrian forces and attacked at Towton in March 1461, only to be defeated by the Yorks. Richard's son, Edward IV , was proclaimed king; Margaret and Henry were exiled to Scotland.
They were captured in 1465 and imprisoned in the Tower of London until 1470. Henry was briefly restored to power in September 1470. Edward , Prince of Wales , died after his final victory at Tewkesbury on May 20, 1471 and Henry returned to the Tower. The last Lancastrian king was murdered the following day.
Shakespeare put the following words into his mouth in King Henry VI Part I:
“Come hither, you that would be combatants:Henceforth I charge you, as you love our favour,Quite to forget this quarrel and the cause.And you, my lords, remember where we are,In France, amongst a fickle wavering nation:If they perceive dissension in our looksAnd that within ourselves we disagree,How will their grudging stomachs be provokedTo wilful disobedience, and rebel!Beside, what infamy will there arise,When foreign princes shall be certifiedThat for a toy, a thing of no regard,King Henry's peers and chief nobilityDestroy'd themselves, and lost the realm of France!O, think upon the conquest of my father,My tender years, and let us not foregoThat for a trifle that was bought with bloodLet me be umpire in this doubtful strife.I see no reason, if I wear this rose,
Putting on a red rose
“That any one should therefore be suspiciousI more incline to Somerset than York:Both are my kinsmen, and I love them both:As well they may upbraid me with my crown,Because, forsooth, the king of Scots is crown'd.But your discretions better can persuadeThan I am able to instruct or teach:And therefore, as we hither came in peace,So let us still continue peace and love.Cousin of York, we institute your graceTo be our regent in these parts of France:And, good my Lord of Somerset, uniteYour troops of horsemen with his bands of foot;And, like true subjects, sons of your progenitors,Go cheerfully together and digest.Your angry choler on your enemies.Ourself, my lord protector and the restAfter some respite will return to Calais;From thence to England; where I hope ere longTo be presented, by your victories,With Charles, Alencon and that traitorous rout.”
Taking all this into account what we have is a sovereign of a major European power who was in all major regards a near total failure. He was born to be king and to rule two realms: England and France. Eventually, he lost both and died a violent but inglorious death in a royal prison at the hands of people who had usurped him.
Furthermore, it was during his reign that the Wars of the Roses, which crippled English government and society for the better part of a century, began.
By the standards of royalty he was not even a rich man for his administration was troubled by economic problems.
All this leads on to the question why he is so venerated and respected today.
One reason is that he was immensely pious and spent a great deal of his life praying. So religious was he that when advised by his spiritual mentor to abstain from conjugal relations with his wife in the name of religion he followed that counsel.
However, it happened that soon after his death on account of his piety that the woman whose son was grievously sick prayed to the soul of the departed monarch for his recovery. The son having got better the news spread like wildfire throughout England.
Therefore, all sorts of people in England were praying to King Henry VI and miracles were attributed to him as a result of which he was made a saint.
Wikipedia the free Internet encyclopaedia sums up the man as follows:
“Henry seems to have been a decent man, but completely unsuited to kingship. He allowed himself to be totally dominated by the power-hungry factions which surrounded him at court and was later powerless to stop the outbreak of bloody civil war. It was clearly too much for him to cope with, as his recurring mental illness from 1453 onwards showed. During the Wars of the Roses it was his queen, Margaret, who was the driving force behind the Lancastrian faction, while Henry was captured first by one side, then the other. Whoever had the king in their possession was able to claim to be ruling in his name.”
Dr Patricia McGuire, the archivist of Kings College, Cambridge has this to say: “He was generous with us. We have a founder’s day dinner on December every year. It’s invitation only.
“It was in the 20th century that the honouring of his death in the Tower of London was instituted under the terms of the will of Sir John Withers.”
And indeed on his death anniversary, May 21, the provosts of Eton College and Kings College lay wreaths of roses and lilies on the altar dedicated to his memory.
The lesson for us, bearing in mind our arguably ultra-religious tendencies and the communities whence we spring in which one has to be publicly religious in order to command respect, that religiosity alone is not enough.
As the Prophet put it: “Pray to God but tie your camel.”
THE END
This article was published in the 6th December 2006 issue of the Bangla Mirror, the first English language weekly for the United Kingdom's Bangladeshis - read everywhere from the Arctic Circle to the sub-Antarctic.
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