Entry taken from the book The Plantagenets
On February 23, in the year 1447, Humhprey of Gloucester dies under mysterious circumstances. It does not seem to make much sense to affirm that the death of a little-known character that took place eight years before the beginning of the dynastic conflict known as the War of the Roses had enormous relevance in the origin of said conflict, but in the case of the death of Humphrey of Gloucester this statement is far from unreasonable.
Humphrey of Gloucester was one of the three brothers of King Henry V of England, second monarch of the House of Lancaster, one of the branches of the Plantagenet dynasty. Henry V consolidated the Lancasters on the throne after a reign, that of his father Henry IV, marked by doubts about his legitimacy to wear the crown and by the opposition of many of his nobles. A fundamental element in the prestige of Henry V that allowed him to firmly seat the crown on his head was the victory over the French at the famous battle of Agincourt in 1415.
This confrontation left the French so weakened that a few years later King Charles VI signed the Treaty of Troyes granting Henry V of England the hand of his daughter Catherine of Valois and naming him his heir to the French throne. But this bright future, which promised the unification of the crowns of France and England in the person of the hero of Agincourt, was frustrated when Henry V died in 1422, shortly before Charles VI of France did too.
Although in theory the rights to both the English and French thrones passed to the less than a year old son of Henry V and Catherine de Valois, Henry VI, and although he came to be crowned both King of England at Westminster and King of France in Paris, his age and the struggle for power on both sides of the English Channel meant that he ended up losing both crowns.
Henry VI
Henry V had in his will left the affairs of France in the able hands of his brother John of Bedford, about whom there was no doubt that he was the right man for the job. But this is not the object of this entry.
More problematic was the question in England, where even the term used to refer to the tasks to be carried out by his other brother Humphrey of Gloucester (guardianship) generated doubts as to whether it referred only to the education and growth of Henry VI or also to a regency. of the affairs of government without answering to anyone other than the king himself. Gloucester was a man generally appreciated in England, cultured, patron and with humanistic training, as well as a veteran of Agincourt and with a wife, Jacqueline de Hainaut, much loved by the English people. But it also aroused jealousy and mistrust from some of the realm's magnates, including his brother Bedford, who thought that Gloucester's image was merely a front for popularity, but that he did not have the military or political charisma to rule.
For this reason, in the first Parliament of the reign of Henry VI, his titles and powers were limited:he would not be regent, governor or royal lieutenant, but «Protector and Defender of the kingdom of England and of the English Church and main adviser to the king ». In other words, there would be a council that would control his actions and, furthermore, it would be subordinate to his brother John of Bedford, so that his powers would be exercised only when Bedford was absent from England. This was a blow to Gloucester, as it implied that he was not considered (even by his brother) fit to rule England independently. But neither he nor he rejected the position with the imposed limitations nor did he consider rebelling against his situation. Surely he took precedence in realizing the need to keep the country in peace and harmony until Henry VI was in a position to take over the government.
Over the next few years a bitter power struggle developed in England between Humphrey of Gloucester and other prominent figures of the English nobility, chiefly his uncle Cardinal Henry Beaufort (half-brother of Henry IV) and Henry VI's favorite once he reached coming of age, William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk.
De la Pole had been the architect of the Treaty of Tours in 1444, which marked the beginning of the end of English rule in France. Great opposition in England was foreseeable against an agreement that meant giving up, at a stroke of the pen and almost without compensation, a good part of the continental territory dominated by the English after the great victory at Agincourt. And it was also predictable that the main spokesman for this opposition would be the brother of the hero of the famous battle, Humhprey of Gloucester.
Thus, in February 1447, a session of Parliament was held at Bury St. Edmunds, at which the presence of Humphrey of Gloucester was required. The transfer of the venue for the session, in the heart of Suffolk's territory of influence and away from places like London or Cambridge (the place initially planned) where Gloucester was extremely popular, did not bode well for Humphrey.
The duke was an item of extraordinary concern to Suffolk. When the return of the continental territories began to be made effective with the catastrophic consequences that were foreseen, his voice would be the one that would rise the highest to criticize all those who had had something to do with the maneuver.
In addition, Henry VI and his wife Margaret of Anjou were still scheduled to travel to France to meet Charles VII, and in these circumstances the government in England would remain in the hands of Gloucester, an extremely dangerous situation from the point of view of supporters of peace.
Rumors spread of an attempt to assassinate the king and that Gloucester was to be charged with treason. Although he delayed his arrival, when he did he was arrested and imprisoned. Five days after his arrest, on February 23, he suffered a seizure in prison and passed away. Suspicion of poisoning spread rapidly. Although there is no record of what really happened, it seems that it was a natural death due to a heart attack.
His death prior to his trial prevents knowing what evidence was going to be presented on his alleged involvement in a plot to kill his nephew, an accusation that does not square with the events of Gloucester throughout his life . It seems more that the charges of treason were concocted by Suffolk to silence Humphrey's criticism of the agreements reached on France.
Significant in itself is the death of one of the key figures in English politics in the twenty-five years before his death, its historical significance far exceeds the mere loss of his life. Many authors believe that it was his death that set in motion the chain of events that led to the War of the Roses.
Humphrey of Gloucester was an ambitious man. Despite the fact that in later years an idyllic image of him (the "good Duke of Gloucester") was spread, he was a figure with many defects and some virtues. In the last years of his life he led the party that opposed the decisions of Henry VI, especially regarding the war with France.
Hugh Bonneville as Humphrey of Gloucester in The Hollow Crown series
But as critical as Gloucester was of the king, he was the son of his brother Henry V and Humphrey himself was a member of the House of Lancaster, so it never crossed his mind to question the legitimacy of Gloucester. Henry VI as King of England.
With the death of Humphrey of Gloucester, however, the eyes of those dissatisfied with the reign of Henry VI immediately turned to his natural replacement as leader of this faction and heir presumptive to the crown if Henry VI had no offspring:Richard, Duke of York .
And Richard was not a Lancaster; moreover, he was the direct descendant in the lines of succession of the second and fourth sons of Edward III. And so it was only a matter of time before he raised the question that had remained unresolved when Henry IV deposed Richard II:that for him, as a descendant of Lionel of Antwerp and Edmund of Langley, his right to the throne was better than his right to the throne. of Henry VI, descendant of John of Gaunt.
Furthermore, Richard of York had everything that Henry VI lacked. He had demonstrated his abilities as a ruler in difficult places like Normandy and had several sons and daughters from his union with Cecily Neville who guaranteed the continuity of the line of succession of the House of York, while Margaret of Anjou showed no signs of providing Henry VI with a heir to the house of Lancaster.
In the words of Dan Jones, when doubts about Henry VI's ability to sit on the throne were raised, "a crisis of authority was added to a crisis of legitimacy when the Yorkists began to argue that his right to rule was not just a problem of competence (of the king) but they carried it in their blood”.
And indeed, a few years later, after a series of circumstances that gradually eroded the figure of Henry VI and brought together two irremediably opposed parties, the conflict broke out in what is known as the War of the Roses... but that is another story, narrated in detail in the book that has served as the source for this entry:What Shakespeare didn't tell you about the Wars of the Roses , by Daniel Fernandez de Lis.
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