Harry of England

Harry of England is a new history by Teresa Cole of the eight kings of England named Henry. The rear of the jacket features an interesting quote from a 17^th century poem on Henry V:

“O, when shall such English men,
With such acts fill a pen

Or England breed again

Such a King Harry?”

To judge from Cole's narrative, England should be wary of breeding any more King Harrys. Not that they were all flops, by any stretch, but this is essentially a tale of cruelty, violence, avarice, war and invasion, with the odd period of calm between conquests. Six of the eight gentlemen on display here were forceful, dominant personalities, one was a mediocrity, the other a crashing failure. Let us copy the author's example, and go through them one at a time.

First, Henry I, otherwise known as Beauclerc or Fine-Scholar because he could read. This opening chapter is a little disjointed, split between colourful anecdotes of Henry's youthful escapades, and sober discussion of the creation of the Exchequer and various legal codes during his reign. This gives the impression that many of our worthy, respectable institutions were founded by a man who was part-pirate, part-lawyer. Perhaps so: the mindsets are arguably similar.

Henry's grandson was Henry FitzEmpress, a man of demonic energy who snatched the King of France's wife and – more by accident than design – cobbled together a vast, unsustainable empire that fell apart almost as soon as he died. This Henry, famous for killing Thomas Becket and fighting his own children, was perhaps the closest England came to having a genius on the throne. Imbued with enormous energy, intellect and strength of will, he was a hard act to follow.

Henry III makes for an uninspiring sequel. A king 'of simple life and plain', according to Dante, the account of his reign is a bit of a slog by comparison with the previous two. At first dominated by ambitious advisors, Henry eventually shrugged them off to achieve nothing very much. Following two dismal attempts to recover lands in France, he agreed to the Treaty of Paris, a catastrophic agreement that reduced his dynasty to mere vassals of the kings of France. After a purple patch in the middle of the reign, Henry's fortunes in England and Wales deteriorated, until he was obliged to fight a ruinous civil war against Simon de Montfort. To do him justice, Henry survived all his trials and managed to die in bed, an achievement in itself.

Next, Henry IV or Bolingbroke, who kicked his cousin Richard II off the throne and founded the Lancastrian dynasty. Cole describes Henry as a serious, well-intentioned man who might have made a fine king in less stressful circumstances. Maybe; he certainly did well to hang onto his stolen crown, in the teeth of endless plots and wars and rebellions. Cole concludes, quite reasonably, that Henry probably wished he had done something else with his life.

Then we have another superstar of the Plantagenet dynasty, Henry V. I found this one of the most interesting chapters, as Cole focuses on Henry's diplomacy and domestic policies as well as the French wars. Nor does she sugar-coat the character of this brutal, wily king, who needed all the glitter Shakespeare tipped over him. Cole also makes the point that Henry's grinding war taxes were causing serious discontent in England, long before his premature death of dysentery. If he had lived, and continued to pump every resource into the conquest of France, England may have collapsed into civil war even sooner.

This leads us onto Henry VI. Poor Henry; the runt of the litter, really, incapable of redeeming his father's legacy, controlling the rival factions at court, or doing anything useful. Cole's account of his reign reads like one long unravelling disaster, both at home and abroad. Despite occasional efforts to assert himself, Henry could do nothing to prevent the loss of France, including the precious duchy of Gascony, or the final slide into civil war. In this context, his bouts of insanity were merely the icing on a very rotten cake. All of this makes for a depressing read, and one is left with the impression that death – when it came for Henry, at the hands of Yorkist assassins – was a merciful release.

Henry VII, perhaps surprisingly, is something of a relief from all this failure and woe. A rank outsider, with a technically laughable claim to the throne, he defeated Richard III at Bosworth and founded (for better or worse) the Tudor dynasty. Of Welsh descent, Henry was one of the most successful usurpers in British history. He navigated his way through some very choppy waters with a shrewd touch, fighting off one challenge after another. Cole makes the telling remark that history has not always been kind to Henry, apparently because he lacked sufficient glamour and romance. A bean-counter, in other words, who accumulated wealth and refused to fight silly wars. A fig for glamour, say I. Give me a dull little king, who checks and counter-signs his own accounts, every time.

We end with the most famous of the lot, Henry VIII. Charles Dickens, in his history of England, described Bluff King Hal as one of the worst villains to ever draw breath. Cole, it would seem, does not disagree, Nor do I. Even compared to the sins of his forebears, there is something especially repellent about the eighth Henry. He was not unsuccessful, and England continued to prosper (at least in terms of finance) under his rule. Even so, I found myself grimacing at his antics. The preposterous, swaggering ego; the faithless disloyalty of the man; his habit of killing former friends and loyal advisers; the willingness to go to any extreme, just to serve his own swollen ambition and sense of self. And, of course, the disgusting treatment of his wives, especially Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn. When the bloated, smelly tyrant finally expired, I almost felt like punching the air.

Overall, despite the occasional grimace, I thoroughly enjoyed this. To condense eight turbulent reigns in a little under 300 pages is a difficult task, but Teresa Cole has done an admirable job. Perhaps the sequel will be on English kings named John. A great saving on paper.

Disclosure: a review copy of this book was kindly provided by the publishers, Amberley.