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On 31 August Henry V died while fighting in France. He died from dysentery not from wounds in battle. He was only 36 years old and had reigned for just 9 years. His son was now King of England and became Henry VI. He was also only 9 months old. Two months later Charles VI of France died and so under that Treaty of Troyes, Henry was now King of England and France and unable to speak English or French. However he did enter the Guinness Book of Records as the youngest person ever to be ruler of England.

Over in France, Charles VI’s son, you’d never guess but he was called Charles too, wanted to be Charles VII of France. He was a lot older at 19. The Hundred Years War now took a new turn as the battles were fought by two apparent Kings of France. In 1429, at the age of 7, Henry VI was crowned at Westminster Abbey as King of England and two years later crowned again in Paris as King of France. Traditionally, French Kings were crowned in Rheims but Charles VII had been crowned there.

The French were now winning the battles in the Hundred Years War, mainly thanks to a woman called Joan of Arc who was leading the French to a few victories. You may have heard about her but she belongs in the History of France, which this isn’t, so goodbye Joan, although I did decide to let her statue make an appearance. In any case she was captured, tried and burned at the stake in 1431 so that was that.

Meanwhile a Regency Council had been running England while Henry was just a child. In 1437, aged 16, Henry was considered old enough to rule but he wasn’t really interested in government, preferring to concentrate on founding Eton College and King’s College, Cambridge.

In 1444 Henry married Margaret of Anjou, thinking this might unite him with France a bit more but finally in 1453, 116 years after it began, the 100 years war ended with a French victory at Castillon and, in the peace treaty, England was given Calais. Yep, that’s it. Henry went from King of all France to King of Calais in 31 years.

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