Stained glass window containing the arms attributed to King Henry VI of England.
"Henry VI (6 December 1421 – 21 May 1471) was King of England from 1422 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471, and disputed King of France from 1422 to 1453. The only child of Henry V, he succeeded to the English throne at the age of nine months upon his father's death, and succeeded to the French throne on the death of his maternal grandfather Charles VI shortly afterwards.
Henry inherited the long-running Hundred Years' War (1337–1453), in which Charles VII of the House of Valois contested his claim to the French throne. His early reign, during which several people were ruling for him, saw the height of English power in France, but subsequent military failures, the desertion of England's allies, and a faltering economy resulted in the decline of English fortunes in the war. Upon assuming personal rule in 1437, Henry found his realm in a difficult position, faced with diplomatic and military reverses in France and divisions among the nobility at home.
Unlike his aggressive father, Henry is described as being timid, shy, passive, well-intentioned, and averse to warfare and violence; he was also at times mentally unstable. Showing little ability to lead his country in times of adversity, he proved an indecisive and ineffective ruler, and his reign saw the gradual loss of the English territories in France. As the situation in France worsened, political instability in England also increased. Henry allowed his government to be dominated by quarrelsome aristocrats, and failed to prevent the eruption of regional disputes between feuding noble houses. This, coupled with factionalism in politics and general misrule, brought in waves of civil unrest. Many nobles and began to resent the king's favouritism, his inability to defend their lands in France, and some of his overall policy decisions. Partially in the hope of achieving peace, in 1445 Henry married Charles VII's niece, Margaret of Anjou, an ambitious and strong-willed woman who would come to influence much of the king's decisions and become an effective power behind the throne. The peace policy failed, leading to the murder of one of Henry's key advisors, and the war recommenced, with France taking the upper hand; by 1453, Calais was Henry's only remaining territory on the continent.
In the midst of military catastrophes in France and of a general breakdown in law and order in England, the king's cousin Richard, Duke of York, led an increasingly popular league of disaffected elements aiming to reform the government. He challenged the authority of the unpopular queen Margaret (widely held to be the real hand behind Henry's decisions) and of the king's clique of councillors, accusing them of misconducting the war in France and misruling the country. Starting in 1453, Henry began suffering a series of mental breakdowns, and tensions mounted between York and Margaret over control of the government of the weak and incapacitated king, and over the question of succession to the throne. Civil war broke out in 1459, leading to a long period of dynastic conflict known as the Wars of the Roses. Henry's custody switched several times between both parties as his relatives fought for control of the throne. He was deposed on 29 March 1461 after a crushing defeat at the Battle of Towton by Richard's son, who took the throne as Edward IV. Despite Margaret continuing to lead a resistance to Edward, he was captured by Edward's forces in 1465 and imprisoned in the Tower of London. Henry was restored to the throne in 1470, but Edward retook power in 1471, imprisoning Henry once again.
Henry died in the Tower during the night of 21 May 1471, possibly killed on the orders of Edward. Having inherited two kingdoms, he ended his life with none; he had "lost his wits, his two kingdoms, and his only son". He was buried at Chertsey Abbey, before being moved to Windsor Castle in 1484. Miracles were attributed to Henry after his death, and he was informally regarded as a saint and martyr until the 16th century. He left a legacy of educational institutions, having founded Eton College, King's College, Cambridge and All Souls College, Oxford. William Shakespeare wrote a trilogy of plays about his life, depicting him as weak-willed and easily influenced by his wife, Margaret."
SOURCE - (
visit link)