England and Europe in 1420

As the UK’s relationship with Europe has been dominating newspaper headlines and political debate, this is an opportune moment to remind readers that discussions of this nature have a long pedigree. The petition of this month is one that was presented in a parliament which met almost exactly 600 years ago, in December 1420. The petition was presented by the Commons and was one of a number of other such ‘common petitions’ numbering sixteen altogether. Its significance lies in the grave misgivings MPs expressed about the future relationship between England and France.

The parliament of December 1420 met at a time of dramatic change in Anglo-French relations. For several generations, England and France had been fighting over an historic claim to the French throne by Edward III king of England (1327-77). In May 1420, as a result of a series of remarkable military achievements (including victory at the battle of Agincourt in 1415), Henry V had forced the king of France – Charles VI – to negotiate a peace treaty whose terms unswervingly favoured the English side. By the Treaty of Troyes, as it became known, Henry became Charles’s heir: that is, Henry, already king of England, was set also to become king of France when Charles died. The treaty was sealed with the marriage of Henry to Charles’s daughter, Catherine.

This was a moment of unparalleled triumph for Henry V: the end of the Hundred Years War was in sight (it was ‘only’ eighty years in duration at this point) and the kingdom of France lay within his grasp. It should have been a moment of great national celebration.

But the Commons were not celebrating. In their petition they recalled the request made of Edward III in parliament at the very start of the war, in 1340. These earlier MPs had sought reassurance from Edward that ‘neither his said kingdom of England nor the people of the same, of whatever status or condition they might be, should at any time in the future be placed in subjection to or obedience to him, his heirs and successors, as king of France’. The MPs of 1420, reflecting on the prospects of Henry V becoming king of France, asked that this earlier undertaking should be upheld in all points.

Their request was agreed to, but this should not disguise the tensions that remained, nor the complexities which attended the idea of a ‘double monarchy’ – a situation in which a ruler might be king of two separate kingdoms. At the root of the Commons’ concerns was the simple, practical question of how a king could rule simultaneously over England and France. These concerns were fed by a suspicion that since France was the larger, more populous and richer of the two lands, the king would naturally focus his attention on this kingdom, rather than on England, which (it was feared) would then be ruled from afar and subjected to French laws and French customs.

Beneath this layer of anxiety lay another worry. For what the Commons were acutely aware of was that although their king now had possession of France on a theoretical level, in practice half this kingdom remained in the hands of the Dauphin, natural heir of Charles VI, and an implacable opponent (quite understandably) of the Treaty of Troyes. To make good the terms of the treaty, Henry V would have to wage war for many years to come. But who was to pay for this? MPs feared that English taxes were to be collected and spent by their king in foreign lands. Indeed, during this very parliament, in December 1420, Henry V was busy fighting on the continent trying to make good his future inheritance.

It is possible that parliament was deeply divided on these issues. Such fault lines are usually very hard to discern. But in this parliament, for the first time, there is evidence of a contest between two candidates vying to become Speaker, and the winner, Roger Hunt, MP for Bedfordshire, won the day by the closest of margins – just four votes. In this politically charged atmosphere, who filled the Speaker’s chair was clearly a matter of great importance to MPs, and possibly also great controversy.

The fears the Commons articulated in December 1420, insofar as they related to the possibility of England’s subjugation by France, did not come to pass, for eighteen months later in August 1422 Henry V contracted dysentery during the siege of Meaux and died. With the death of Henry V and the succession of his nine-month old son, Henry VI, the Hundred Years War continued. This meant taxation; but taxation was probably more preferable than the prospect of the full realities of a double monarchy in which England would play second fiddle to her larger, more powerful European neighbour.

Dr Gwilym Dodd, Associate Professor of History at the University of Nottingham.