Description

This biography presents a radical reassessment of Henry V as a brutal warmonger. In the course of the Hundred Years War, Henry V was the English figure most responsible for the mutual antipathy that existed between French and Anglo-Saxon. His pursuit of "dampnum" the art of attacking an opponent by making total war on civilians as well as soldiers, created tremendous distrust and enmity between the French and English, which survives unto this day. He was a man of many contradictions, a perverse mix or rigorous orthodoxy - exemplified by his fanatical and intolerant religion - and of neurotic insecurity, stemming in part from the dubious nature of his claim to the English throne. Henry V owed his popularity to victories against the French which gratified the emerging English nationalism. A tremendously ardent military strategist who experimented with ballistics and built a navy with new carved planking, at the time of his early death at the age of 36 he ruled a third of France. Utilizing the discoveries of local French historical societies, Seward intends to draw a portrait of Henry V largely from the experience of the French.