Local Monmouthshire lad goes to France - what did Henry V take with him?

On 11th August 1415 Henry V and his army sailed for France and the rest - as they say - is history. In Shakespeare's play he nips over the Channel (after an interminable explanation of the justifying Salique law, the famous scene with the tennis balls and the execution of traitors) with a couple of almost photographic Choruses. These invoke the enthusiasm amongst his followers who leave their "silken dalliance" in the wardrobe, sell their pastures to buy a horse, give business to the armorers, think only of honour and then wing it with the speed of thought. Whilst the ship-boys climb the hempen tackle, the "huge bottoms" breast the "lofty surge." The Bard does not mar the dramatic effect with numbers or logistics but the preparations for this invasion were immense, not to be matched until Operation Overlord, more than 500 years later, and all the more amazing considering the period.

The king needed money in vast amounts to pay for men, ships, arms and food for a projected year-long campaign. Taxation income and loans from all possible sources were inadequate and he had to guarantee payment to soldiers beyond the first 3 months before indentures could be struck on 29th April. (These were papers of service divided into 2 by unique irregular tooth-like cuts, which could be pieced together when needed.) He gave the captains jewels as security for the second 3 months with a pledge for redemption by January 1417. Loans came in (earlier Dick Whittington had previously lent £2000) from individuals, towns and religious communities until our financial wizard monarch raised the equivalent of £70 million by, some would say, mortgaging the future of the country.
  The production of arms was well under way, the machine gun of the day being the dreaded longbow, formidable when in the hands of highly trained men, particularly those of Henry's home county, Monmouthshire/Gwent. All men had been obliged to practise after Mass on Sundays and holy days. Archers made up about three quarters of the army but swords, lances, cannon and the more traditional siege weapons such as the trebuchet and mangonel were included, all of which had to be manufactured and shipped. Armour, made in separate pieces (which Shakespeare invokes later with his mention of the sounds of hammers riveting), was not as heavy as is sometimes believed but had to be well-fitted and worn over a thick jacket. The Channel was cleared of enemy ships and home defences such as castles and other fortifications were strengthened and, of interest to us in Wales, Owain Glyn Dwr was sought for in an attempt to quell insurrection.

   Wages were set but the destination kept vague. Henry needed a long-term army of professional fighting men. 600 leather bags ordered to contain the indentures and related documents. A duke would receive 13s 4d a day, an earl half that, a baron 4 shillings, a knight 2 shillings and an archer sixpence. They were paid quarterly in advance. This was far above what the bowman would be paid in his unskilled trade and everyone could hope for more after a battle. Although Henry was strict about looting (we recall the scene in Shakespeare when he becomes enraged at the slaughter by the French of his boy guards for their "luggage") there were ransoms and the indentures stated how spoils would be divided out.
   There were probably about 600 ships as a basis and, in a requisition reminiscent of Dunkirk but enforced, all ships of 20 tons or more, whether foreign or English, from eastern ports were pressed into service. More than 1000 were impounded. These would carry, not only soldiers, but wagons, horses, grooms, farriers, wheelwrights, cooks, minstrels, men of religion and surgeons as well as cattle and the produce of bakeries. This was not to be a chevauchée where men lived off the land. There were around 12000 combatants and hundreds of ships were needed just for the horses.
   The muster took place on 1st July, the king made his will on the 24th and he gave orders for embarkation on the 29th. All was ready for August 1st but, the day before, 3 conspirators were found who had to be tried before execution: Cambridge, Grey and Scrope. Then, free from treachery and backed by the Salique law, our Monmouthshire lad set off in the flagship, the Trinity Royal, on his huge and minutely planned mission on August 11th 1415.

I am particularly indebted for the detail here to Henry V  by Teresa Cole. More information on the formidable longbow and other Medieval combat weapons may be found by clicking on those links and more on Monmouth Castle, birthplace of Henry V. More on Shakespeare's handling of Henry V can be found.

Owain Glyn Dwr: an assessment

Owain Glyn Dwr: the mystery
   Why Owain Glyn Dwr led a revolt against the crown when he was advanced in age for such a risk and was happily married, father of several children in a beautiful home, is a question I have addressed in a previous post (link below). Bards who had the status of prophets spoke of the coming of a new leader after the deaths of the two great Princes who might have succeeded in forming a united Wales to endure for generations: Llywelyn ap Iorwerth (the Great) and Llywelyn ap Gruffudd (the Last.)
    Dissatisfaction with the status quo combined with fierce national pride produced an impetus towards rebellion in a country where - it must be admitted - various factions had warred against one another and failed to accept a single leader to maintain a strong and independent state.
   Histories have given the details of his guerrilla campaigns and fixed battles at first seeming to lead to triumph but then failing, leading to his defeat near Usk in May 1405, the turning point.
The downside.
   There seems little doubt that his rebellion caused widespread devastation in the country he hoped to make powerful. His invasion of Gwent in 1402 caused dislocation of economic life and the structures of society. No courts were held in 1402 and 1403 in Monmouth, White Castle, Grosmont and Dingestow nor could revenue be collected at Monmouth in 1405. Tenants protested that they could not sow crops for 3 years and rents were uncollected as late as 1411. Tenements were burned and destroyed and the value of properties fell continuously until, in 1410, the manor of Caerleon was worth as little as 16s 8d. In August 1403 Newport was laid waste by his followers, one of many towns to be attacked and ruined. Abergavenny was burned in that same year. Life in Gwent was on a war footing and civilian governance was replaced by a series of ad hoc military commands.
   The plague had earlier caused a massive decline in population which exacerbated the background situation. Works on sea defences had ceased and storm and winds increased pressure on them until 350 - 600 metres were lost. Grain prices rose and production decreased. These factors caused simmering amongst the population and law and order were breaking down. In August 1403 William Beauchamp reported himself all but ruined (his villeins had risen against him releasing 3 criminals) and claimed that his soldiers could not travel safely between Abergavenny and Hereford without being killed or captured.
   By 1410 the revolt was over but the effects were persistent and deep. Boroughs were in arrears and the Assize roll in Monmouth in 1413 recorded over 60 tenants fined for non-appearance. The lordships had been shaken but castles had had a new lease of life, having been repaired and fortified at vast expense although many suffered in the war. The countryside was hugely impoverished, the troops having burned, looted, ravaged crops, damaged mills and rustled cattle all as acts of reprisal against lordships by depriving them of income. It sounds like the infamous "Harrying of the North" by William I except that this was done, ironically, by would-be leaders to their own. In Usk "all the tenants had fled, certain of them had been killed" and the priories of Abergavenny and Usk pleaded poverty. Some towns were ghostly and the equilibrium of a frontier society was overturned.

The vision
   It may seem hard to balance this devastation with anything positive but hindsight casts a shadow. The rebellion might be viewed differently had Owain Glyn Dwr's forces won and his ideas been put into practice. We have some insight into his vision from the Pennal Letter of 31st March 1406, written in Latin on goatskin parchment after a "Senedd" or meeting of lords near Machynlleth in which the leading churchmen decided to switch allegiance to the Pope at Avignon.
   There would have been an alliance with the recipient, Charles VI of France, severance of the Welsh church from Canterbury, the creation of an archbishopric at St. David's and the foundation of 2 universities in Wales, one in the north and one in the south so that Wales could be spiritually and intellectually empowered to work out her own destiny. This is truly a prophetic mission, not a desire for personal aggrandisement.

Summary
    Perhaps Shakespeare hit the spot in Henry IV pt i. Although there is no historical evidence that the real Glyn Dwr boasted of strange events at his nativity and magical powers, such an aura surrounded him and added to his charismatic appeal. Mortimer puts the other view that he is a "worthy gentleman, exceedingly well read" whilst the lower orders complain of the rise in the price of oats and Falstaff, in a moment of seriousness, points out that "you may buy land now as cheap as stinking mackerel."  The great ones quarrel and the ordinary man and woman suffer.

 For my earlier post on Owain Glyn Dwr and an account of the battles, click here. I have also written about Usk Castle, White Castle and Monmouth Castle.

Three presentations of Courtly Love: Andreas Capellanus, Chaucer and Shakespeare

The Concept of Courtly Love
   Each time I visit a castle I think of this ideology. Whatever it was and whether or not it was carried out in practice, Courtly Love was not like the innocent and cheerful affection seen in this image.
   We believe the concept to have started in the 11th century in the South of France and, as it developed in Troubadour poetry and other writings, it became complex and differentiated. To summarise briefly: there were four cornerstones of Humility, Courtesy, Adultery and the Religion of Love; the male was always abject, obedient to every wish or whim of the lady; accepting of her rebukes; despairing, sick and sorrowing. Yet he has faith in the God of Love who will not betray his fidelity and might tame the wilful beauty. Meanwhile he practises a form of noble and elegant courtesy, typical of the higher classes.
   It was a kind of tragic madness with a code of service modelled on the feudal system. The lover was often of more lowly status and the devoted slave of a married and unobtainable lady whom he believed he served. For her he suffered a  malady, rendering him thin and pale, prone to writing verse or songs and on the verge of expiring. The lady's refusal was seen as cruelty for which he might die - though we might remember that this word also designated orgasm.
      Love entered through the eyes and the arrow pierced the heart. Secrecy was at its centre and its progress or otherwise was marked by frustrations, tasks, quests and obstacles and yet it was perceived as an educative and ennobling experience. Any factual basis may lie in the situation of lordly households containing young men in training, too poor to marry and few women - with the master away on a crusade. It is difficult to ascertain what actually happened or if this notion was merely the material of poetry.

Andreas Capellanus
   In the twelfth century he wrote of the rules of Courtly Love. I have cherry-picked a few of these: "It is well known that love is always increasing or decreasing"; "When made public love rarely endures"; "Every lover regularly turns pale in the presence of his beloved"; "When a lover suddenly catches sight of his beloved his heart palpitates"; "He whom the thought of love vexes eats and sleeps very little"; "Every act of a lover ends in the thought of his beloved"; "A true lover is constantly and without intermission possessed by the thought of his beloved." (Translation by J.J. Parry)

Thanks to Debora B. Schwartz 

Geoffrey Chaucer
   There is much to be said about Chaucer's treatments of this theme but I will mention 3 from The Canterbury Tales.
   The Knight's Tale tells of two knights, Palamon and Arcite, who both fall in love with Emelye, instantly, on first seeing her: "And therwithal he bleynte [blenched, started back] and cride, 'A!'" is the reaction of Palamon, as though he were stung in the heart. Despite not knowing her and, in Arcite's case, restricting his "service" to "crueel torment ... peyne and wo", not sleeping, drinking or eating so that he became "lene" with hollow eyes and pale complexion, and wailing all night, the men allow their passion to destroy their friendship and the tale ends in terrible slaughter in a tournament. The Knight may be a mercenary, misunderstanding courtly conduct. (See Terry Jones' book.)
   In The Franklin's Tale there is a happy marriage, set in Brittany, but, when the knight Arveragus who has wooed and won Dorigen in courtly fashion through woe, pain and distress coupled with great enterprises, goes abroad, a potentially adulterous relationship intrudes. The marriage had been perfect but Aurelius has been watching from the wings, suffering, writing a great many songs in different formats and languishing in the prescribed manner. A tale of promises and magic ensues which ends in resolution owing to the "gentillesse" [nobility of spirit] of Arveragus. The Franklin is attempting to describe noble behaviour from his own lower rank.
   On a lighter note, Chaucer satirises the notion of Courtly Love in The Miller's Tale. Here the wife, Alison, has a relationship with a clerk, Nicholas, who grabbed her by her private parts to woo her - successfully. She is loved from afar by Absolom, a clever, talented and stylish man who happens to be squeamish about farting. One night he sees a chance of making love to Alison and climbs a ladder so to do - but she sticks her bottom out of the window to receive his kiss. This hairy encounter with the real puts a brake on his passion and he plans vengeance with a hot ploughshare. This time, Nicholas pokes his behind out of the window and farts but Absolom, despite being nearly blinded in the blast, has his iron at the ready. Chaos ensues. This fabliau [vulgar tale] is obviously a coarse but hilarious parody of the refinements of Courtly Love.

William Shakespeare

Image by dramatica.
The rose was a symbol of the lady
and her sexuality
in the allegorical Roman de la Rose

  It is easy to forget that, at the beginning of Romeo and Juliet, Romeo is in love with another woman, Rosaline. He is reported as behaving like the traditional courtly lover: waking early to walk and weep in a grove of sycamores (the symbolic tree of melancholy lovers), going home at dawn to retire to a dark room and being "so secret and so close" that he resembles a bud bitten by a worm. When he enters, he presents himself as the rejected suitor of a woman who has vowed chastity, and talks in poetic paradoxes such as "cold fire" and "sick health". He stresses his grief, uses hyperbole and speaks of a "madness most discreet" - and yet Shakespeare hints at the falsity of his pose by having him suddenly demand: "Where shall we dine?" Courtly love is shown here in contrast to the real, mutual and consummated love he has for Juliet, the sight of whom drives Rosaline from his mind.

Conclusion
  The concept had a long and wide-ranging life and we may well ask ourselves if it has ever truly died: are there echoes still in our century in songs and poems of elements of the code?
   After reading about such self-denying conduct you may fancy a large slice of CAKE or visit a castle where the addiction to Courtly Love may have held sway, perhaps those that were more of a residence than a fortification. I suggest Raglan Castle or Caldicot Castle.

No courtly lover would have eaten this!

Caldicot Castle

The Site
   Caldicot Castle is somewhat unusually situated on the Gwent levels whereas many castles take advantage of a high position. The name Caldicot could mean "Cold cot", a rough shelter built by the Romans on a main road: the Roman town of Caerwent is 2 miles north (on the road called Via Julia in those times) and the garrison at Caerleon is 10 miles away. According to the Domesday Book of 1086 the town was held by Sheriff Durand and was recorded as being "in demesne [worked on lord's behalf  by villeins or serfs] three ploughs and 15 villeins, four serfs and one man at arms. All these have twelve ploughs. Here is a mill of ten shillings. All is worth £6." The site is near Harold Godwinson's former Saxon castle and has, despite first impressions, strategic value being near the Bristol Channel so that the comings and goings of ships could be tracked and transport of supplies easily managed.

First building 
   Dates and stages of building are quite difficult to establish but the green motte (mound) topped by a round stone keep was probably constructed around 1221 after Humphrey de Bohun, the "Good Earl", inherited the lordship. The motte would have helped to compensate for the flat site and some historians have argued that it would have had to be virtually demolished and rebuilt for the foundations of the keep to go so deeply into it. The keep was a formidable structure with 9 foot thick walls of local gritstone, 4 storeys and inner lavish accommodation, spiral staircases, elaborate architectural detail, hooded fireplaces, window seats and, that ultimate in comfort, a semi-circular latrine turret. In the basement is a vaulted dungeon. The exterior is faced with finely-cut smooth stone and the top was crowned with battlements.

Later

  The castle changed hands many times and the various owners added different parts: as this information is lengthy and readily available, I will summarise it briefly. Sturdy curtain (connecting) walls were added with round towers encompassing the inner ward. The first gate-house was erected in the mid 13 th century and allowed rapid and covert movement into and away from the castle proper. During the 14th century it was modified and, in the 1340's, the Great Hall was constructed. Thomas de Woodstock did extensive and costly works in the late 1380's (he deserves a paragraph of his own!) The castle fell into a ruinous state between 1507 and 1830 when it was leased as an agricultural holding only but was admired by lovers of the picturesque with its covering of ivy. J. R. Cobb, a wealthy Victorian barrister,  bought it in 1885 to become a family residence and restored and altered it considerably: he was a castle buff who also owned Manorbier and Pembroke castles.

Thomas de Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester

He was the 14th and youngest child of Edward III and obtained the castle through marriage to Eleanor de Bohun. His building works, lasting from 1384 and 1389, included the Great Gateway on the south and the Woodstock Tower on the north. This tower was itemised in the building account for 1385: "50 ft high with battlements 6 ft high with a portcullis and vault for drawing the portcullis, with 3 chambers and stone windows, 3 fireplaces and 3 latrines to be made in the same chamber." His name and that of his wife "Alianore" were carved on the jambs of the postern gate but the latter stone is now in the guardroom.
   He was murdered in the English bastion at Calais in 1397 because of his complicity with the Lords Appellant, a band of peers who brought about the downfall of the young king's favourites. Richard II had Gloucester arrested for treason and killed, some say by smothering him with a mattress, others by strangling with a towel. Gloucester may have had pretensions to the throne earlier: almost certainly Thomas Mowbray had a hand in his murder. His memory is the subject of a dispute in the second scene of Shakespeare's Richard II between the Duchess of Gloucester and John of Gaunt in which she incites him to avenge the death. This account suggests a different method of killing as it speaks of the "butchers of his life" and "envy's hand and murder's bloody axe" but Shakespeare might have altered facts for dramatic potential since "murder's feather bed (or towel)" does not have quite the same ring!


The cannon
  This greets you as you enter the open grassy area and was used on Nelson's flagship, the 80 gun HMS Foudroyant (terrible, thundering) from 6 June 1799 till the end of June 1801. Joseph Cobb and his son bought the ship, which had also served in the Napoleonic wars, to save it from being dismantled abroad. Geoffrey, the son, wanted it to be a training ship and took it in a fund-raising trip round the coast but it was wrecked at Blackpool in a storm and this gun, amongst other items was salvaged. One of the minor ironies of history!
Your visit
  The castle is surrounded by 45 acres of country park where you can stroll and walk your dog (that pooch will soon be the most learned animal for miles around as it learns the difference between a machiolation and a murder hole - if there is any!)  Opening times are on its website. The castle is a short walk down the road opposite Caldicot Cross: Caldicot is on the 74 bus route from Newport to Chepstow where you can visit another magnificent castle or lounge by the river Wye and its beautiful bridge.

Henry V of Monmouth - insights into The Hollow Crown

Warrior King - son of Monmouth
   Henry V, best known for his victory against the odds at Agincourt, was born in Monmouth Castle on 9th August 1387. He was educated to be capable of all the gentlemanly arts of riding, swimming, archery and hunting and, by the age of 10, was proficient in them all. He is often known as Harry of Monmouth and his birth took place when his father's wars against the Welsh were at their height: Henry IV against Owain Glyndwr who fought and destroyed towns in the area and burned down most of nearby Abergavenny.

Shakespeare's version
   Henry V features in the tetralogy (group of four plays) which form the first part of the BBC's series, The Hollow Crown. In Henry V, the last play of the four, he tells Pistol: "I am a Welshman" but the most interesting presentation of him is in the second play, Henry IV pt i. Here he is Prince Hal, friend of the charming rogue, Falstaff, with whom he is apparently wasting his youth in taverns and taking part in semi-legal escapades. His father is in despair although we, as audience, know early on that he intends to reform and "show more goodly".  By the end of the play he has started to perform his role and meets his enemy, Hotspur, aka Harry Percy, on the battlefield. Hotspur greets him: "If I mistake not, thou art Harry Monmouth." Hal slays his rival even though Falstaff takes the credit.

The dilemma
   It is possibly this massive lie and the piiful, ragged troops that Falstaff collected, that convinces Hal that he cannot continue his wastrel's life and friendship with him for ever, although he relapses during Henry IV pt ii.  At the end of that drama, when he is King, he brutally and publicly refuses to acknowledge the old, fat man, saying that Falstaff was unreal: "But, being awak'd, I do despise my dream." Falstaff, who hoped to cash in on his relationship with a future monarch, is crushed and dies of a broken heart off-stage at the beginning of Henry V: according to the Hostess he became gradually cold "as a stone" all over but "made a finer end, and went away" as if he "had been any christom child."

The result
    Henry went on to reclaim English territory in France in a succession of battles, preceded in Shakespeare by rousing speeches and culminating at Agincourt, on the 25 October, 1415, St. Crispin's Day. His troops were outnumbered but were helped to victory by Monmouthshire archers. In Shakespeare's play he goes round the camp incognito the night before the dreaded conflict and reassures the soldiers who open their hearts to him as an equal. Perhaps it is his early comradeship with the frequenters of the Boar's Head Tavern in Eastcheap that enables him to give that "little touch of Harry in the night" that so boosts his soldiers' morale. Yet the reaction of the modern audience must be ambivalent to this mixture of calculated manipulation, acceptance of duty and military genius.

Today
   His statue stands in a high niche in the Shire Hall in Monmouth and, when you have read this or watched the BBC series, you can sit outside The Punch House in Agincourt Square, gazing at him whilst sipping your coffee and eating your CAKE, and make up your mind about him. You can then go on up the road, pass the church and turn in on your right into the Priory garden where Geoffrey of Monmouth is said to have written about King Arthur. Monmouth Castle where he was born is off the main street a little lower down. The no 69 bus will take you to Tintern Abbey and the no 60 will go to Usk with its charming castle and nearby battlefield as well as being the birthplace of Alfred Russel Wallace. Before that is Raglan with its imposing castle and further on this same route you can stop off at Caerleon with its fascinating Roman baths, remains of the barracks, huge amphitheatre and interesting museum. Links to these can be found on the Roman baths post.