Fresh examinations of the activities of Henry V, looking at how his reputation was achieved. Henry V (1413-22) is widely acclaimed as the most successful late medieval English king. In his short reign of nine and a half years, he re-imposed the rule of law, made the crown solvent, decisively crushed heresy, achieved a momentous victory at the battle of Agincourt (1415), and negotiated a remarkably favourable settlement for the English over the French in the Treaty of Troyes (1420). Above all, he restored the reputation of the English monarchy andunited the English people behind the crown following decades of upheaval and political turmoil. But who was the man behind these achievements? What explains his success? How did he acquire such a glorious reputation? The ground-breaking essays contained in this volume provide the first concerted investigation of these questions in over two decades. Contributions range broadly across the period of Henry's life, including his early years as Prince of Wales. They consider how Henry raised the money to fund his military campaigns and how his subjects responded to these financial exactions; how he secured royal authority in the localities and cultivated support within the politicalcommunity; and how he consolidated his rule in France and earned for himself a reputation as the archetypal late medieval warrior king. Overall, the contributions provide new insights and a much better understanding of how Henryachieved this epithet. GWILYM DODD is an Associate Professor in the Department of History, University of Nottingham. Contributors: Christopher Allmand, Mark Arvanigian, Michael Bennett, Anne Curry, Gwilym Dodd, Maureen Jurkowski, Alison K. McHardy, Neil Murphy, W. Mark Ormrod, Jenny Stratford, Craig Taylor.

This series [pushes] the boundaries of knowledge and [develops] new trends in approach and understanding. ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW Of necessity, historians of the late Middle Ages have to rely on an eclectic mix of sources, ranging from the few remaining medieval buildings, monuments, illuminated manuscripts and miscellaneous artefacts, to a substantial but often uncatalogued body of documentary material, much of it born of the medieval administrator's penchant for record keeping. Exploring this evidence requires skills in lateral thinking and interpretation - qualities which are manifested in this volume. Employing the copious legal records kept by the English Crown, one essay reveals the thinking behind exceptions to pardons sold by successive kings, while another, using clerical taxation returns, adds colour to contemporary criticism of friars for betraying their vows of poverty. Case studies of the registers of two hospitals, one in London the other in Canterbury, lead to insights into the relations of their administrators with civic and spiritual authorities. A textual dissection of the epilogues in William Caxton's early printed works focuses on the universal desire for commemoration. Other essays about royal livery collars and the English coinage are nourished by material remains, and where contemporary records fail to survive, as in the listing of burials in parish churches, notes kept by sixteenth-century heralds and antiquaries provide clues for novel identifications. The book-ends are exemplars of the historian's craft: the one, taking as its starting point the will of Ralph, Lord Cromwell, explores in forensic detail how his executors coped with their enormous task in a time of civil war; the other,by examining research into the economy of fifteenth-century England undertaken since the 1880s, provides an over-view which scholars of the period will find invaluable. Contributors: Martin Allen, Christopher Dyer, David Harry, Susanne Jenks, Maureen Jurkowski, Simon Payling, Euan Roger, Christian Steer, Sheila Sweetinburgh, Matthew Ward.

Fresh examinations of the activities of Henry V, looking at how his reputation was achieved. Henry V (1413-22) is widely acclaimed as the most successful late medieval English king. In his short reign of nine and a half years, he re-imposed the rule of law, made the crown solvent, decisively crushed heresy, achieved a momentous victory at the battle of Agincourt (1415), and negotiated a remarkably favourable settlement for the English over the French in the Treaty of Troyes (1420). Above all, he restored the reputation of the English monarchy andunited the English people behind the crown following decades of upheaval and political turmoil. But who was the man behind these achievements? What explains his success? How did he acquire such a glorious reputation? The ground-breaking essays contained in this volume provide the first concerted investigation of these questions in over two decades. Contributions range broadly across the period of Henry's life, including his early years as Prince of Wales. They consider how Henry raised the money to fund his military campaigns and how his subjects responded to these financial exactions; how he secured royal authority in the localities and cultivated support within the politicalcommunity; and how he consolidated his rule in France and earned for himself a reputation as the archetypal late medieval warrior king. Overall, the contributions provide new insights and a much better understanding of how Henryachieved this epithet. GWILYM DODD is an Associate Professor in the Department of History, University of Nottingham. Contributors: Christopher Allmand, Mark Arvanigian, Michael Bennett, Anne Curry, Gwilym Dodd, Maureen Jurkowski, Alison K. McHardy, Neil Murphy, W. Mark Ormrod, Jenny Stratford, Craig Taylor.