Henry and Katherine in History
Mary Purnell
Henry V and Katherine of Valois are one of Shakespeare’s hottest couples, and historically, things were no different. They are also one of Shakespeare’s most overtly political parings, and according to Raphael Holinshed in his Chronicles of England, that’s not too far from the truth, either. In fact, even with all of its political undercurrents, what we see in Henry V is a fairly romanticized version of events.
As Holinshed tells it, the post-Agincourt meeting depicted in Scene Two of Act Five is hardly the first time Henry and Lady Katherine met. Prior to this moment, in 1419 the leading French and English politicians had joined together in an attempt to facilitate peace. Henry and Katherine, of course, were both present, with the latter serving as hardly more than a sexualized bargaining chip in the midst of talks of a treaty:
As Holinshed tells it, the post-Agincourt meeting depicted in Scene Two of Act Five is hardly the first time Henry and Lady Katherine met. Prior to this moment, in 1419 the leading French and English politicians had joined together in an attempt to facilitate peace. Henry and Katherine, of course, were both present, with the latter serving as hardly more than a sexualized bargaining chip in the midst of talks of a treaty:
The said ladie Katherine was brought by hir mother, onelie to the intent that the king of England beholding her excellent beautie, should be so inflamed and rapt in hir loue, that he to obteine hir to his wife, should the sooner agree to a gentle peace and louing concord.
(Holinshed, 569)
The talks ended with neither treaty written nor proposal made.
When the two eventually did marry, it was after the English had handily defeated the French at the Battle of Agincourt. The arrangement followed a long series of negotiations, coming in the form of a stipulation in an agreement that named Henry the rightful heir to the French throne. In accordance with the terms in the contract, Katherine literally came with the territory.
We also see in the above excerpt the prominence of Katherine’s sexuality in her identity, and that emphasis of sexuality clearly carried over into how history remembers her. Holinshed employs a choice word when he says she was brought "onelie" as a means of visually persuading the young king. Without that word, Katherine’s purpose would still have been to act as mere eye candy, but with it, Holinshed implies there is really nothing else of value to bother with other than "hir excellent beautie."
Indeed, according to Anne Crawford’s book, Letters of the Queens of England, 1100-1547, "Katherine had beauty to recommend her but neither the intelligence nor personality to captivate for long a man of Henry V’s qualities" (116, quoted in Hilton, 326). Regardless of whether or not this is true, the fixation on Katherine’s body and dismissal of her personality persist today.
And, looking at the facts, it would seem that that statement held at least a grain of truth. Holinshed claims that when Katherine and Henry parted ways after the failed negotiations of 1419, "a certeine sparke of burning loue was kindled in the king’s heart by the sight of the ladie Katharine" (569). Yet that "sparke" wasn’t enough to encourage Henry to spend time a great deal of time with his wife. Immediately after the wedding, he returned to war (against none other than his new brother-in-law), and he and Katherine shared what Lisa Hilton refers to as "a honeymoon of sieges" (324).
After that, they saw each other very rarely: Henry was always at war, stopping in only for the occasional holiday. When he fell sick while en route to battle the dauphin in Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire, he didn’t send for his wife – nor did he request her presence when he knew he was dying. Finally, on August 31, 1422, Henry V died. His wife, also in France at the time, was fifty kilometers away in the town of Senlis.
Of course, this certainly doesn’t confirm that the relationship was a bad one. But details like these make it next to impossible to believe that everything was as perfect as Henry V’s subjects liked to believe. It wasn’t impossible for the couple to travel together; Richard II and Anne hardly spent time apart, despite the fact that he was constantly surrounded by war and rebellions that demanded his presence. Shakespeare no doubt saw this as he perused the Holinshed for source material, and there are moments between Henry and Katherine in the play that suggest the playwright drew more from the political – not romantic – elements of the marriage.
When the two eventually did marry, it was after the English had handily defeated the French at the Battle of Agincourt. The arrangement followed a long series of negotiations, coming in the form of a stipulation in an agreement that named Henry the rightful heir to the French throne. In accordance with the terms in the contract, Katherine literally came with the territory.
We also see in the above excerpt the prominence of Katherine’s sexuality in her identity, and that emphasis of sexuality clearly carried over into how history remembers her. Holinshed employs a choice word when he says she was brought "onelie" as a means of visually persuading the young king. Without that word, Katherine’s purpose would still have been to act as mere eye candy, but with it, Holinshed implies there is really nothing else of value to bother with other than "hir excellent beautie."
Indeed, according to Anne Crawford’s book, Letters of the Queens of England, 1100-1547, "Katherine had beauty to recommend her but neither the intelligence nor personality to captivate for long a man of Henry V’s qualities" (116, quoted in Hilton, 326). Regardless of whether or not this is true, the fixation on Katherine’s body and dismissal of her personality persist today.
And, looking at the facts, it would seem that that statement held at least a grain of truth. Holinshed claims that when Katherine and Henry parted ways after the failed negotiations of 1419, "a certeine sparke of burning loue was kindled in the king’s heart by the sight of the ladie Katharine" (569). Yet that "sparke" wasn’t enough to encourage Henry to spend time a great deal of time with his wife. Immediately after the wedding, he returned to war (against none other than his new brother-in-law), and he and Katherine shared what Lisa Hilton refers to as "a honeymoon of sieges" (324).
After that, they saw each other very rarely: Henry was always at war, stopping in only for the occasional holiday. When he fell sick while en route to battle the dauphin in Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire, he didn’t send for his wife – nor did he request her presence when he knew he was dying. Finally, on August 31, 1422, Henry V died. His wife, also in France at the time, was fifty kilometers away in the town of Senlis.
Of course, this certainly doesn’t confirm that the relationship was a bad one. But details like these make it next to impossible to believe that everything was as perfect as Henry V’s subjects liked to believe. It wasn’t impossible for the couple to travel together; Richard II and Anne hardly spent time apart, despite the fact that he was constantly surrounded by war and rebellions that demanded his presence. Shakespeare no doubt saw this as he perused the Holinshed for source material, and there are moments between Henry and Katherine in the play that suggest the playwright drew more from the political – not romantic – elements of the marriage.