The Monarchs of the House of Angevin/Plantagenet
History Page
In 1328 King Edward III embarked on a war with France that was to become known as the Hundred Years' War; it actually lasted for 115 years. Initially he fought to protect his duchy of Aquitaine, later as a claimant to the French throne. The first goal was achieved, the second failed.
In 1415 Henry V revived the claim, pursued a successful military campaign in France and was accepted as heir to the French King Charles VI, whose daughter he married. But Henry V pre-deceased Charles, and his son Henry VI, hwo had become King of England at the age of eight months, became King of France also when he was only ten months old.
In fact, Henry VI's reign was little more than nominal, even in his adulthood. Not only did the French rally to restore the House of Valois but in England rival factions of the nobility vied for power, and Henry was incapable of taking control. When the Yorkist challenge for the English Crown succeeded, Henry was dethroned and imprisoned by his cousing Edward IV and, when the rising in his name in 1470-1471 failed, he was murdered.
The Hundrd Years' War in France and the Wars of the Roses in England were prime examples of the conflict that almost inevitably ensued whe a king lacked and indisputable heir. A crown and throne were the ultimate temptation to any man who could find or trump up, a genealogical excues to claim them, and an army to support him. And that would happen when a king lacked a son, of indubitable legitimacy, to succeed him. Many times, throughout the world and through several centuries, the lack of one child has put thousand of lives in Jeopardy.
