Henry V

Have a review of the new Dan Jones book Henry V up on Substack.

It's true that Henry V did lead English troops against the French at Agincourt. But it is bothersome that he may be best known for the speech Shakespeare invented about leading his army into battle that day. Many know Kenneth Branagh's version.

What he historically actually may have said was simply, "Fellas, let's go."

Read the whole thing.

Henry V at Agincourt

"Yet of all reported versions of Henry's speech at Agincourt there is one that speaks most clearly to the simplicity of the situation, the apparent state of Henry's mind, and the severe public image he has tried to project since the day of his coronation. The army, for all that the men are weak, hungry, wet, cold, and tired, is prepared to fight. The troops are lined up as well as they can be. Henry has shown his men over and over again what he expects from them, and has tried to instill in them his own belief that God wants them to defeat the French. So the time for grand standing is over. One London chronicler gives Henry the briefest but most believable three-word speech as he sends his men into the fight.

"Fellas," he says, "let's go."...

That henry has inspired his small and weak army to overcome the larger, fresher, more confident, and more glamourous French one is not just the basis for a dramatic legend: it is military fact." - Dan Jones Henry V 

Henry V

Currently reading Dan Jones Henry V and enjoying it very much. Should be noted that the England Henry was born into had a population of about 2.3 million people which is about the size of modern Houston, Texas. Henry is not born a prince but simply the eldest son of a Duke.

The King is Richard II who started out humble but quickly became unhinged. "Following the Revenge Parliament - following the purge of the Appellants, Richard's approach to kingship, which has always tended towards the theatrical and capricious, now goes generally unchecked."

"Young Henry had to remain in England with Richard II who banished his father Henry Bolingbroke from the country. While the king while not mad is a dangerous person to know. There is astonishing caprice of a king who calls for God's judgement and then substitutes his own."

"Is this madness or melodrama? Narcissism or simple tyranny?" Whatever it is - it makes for good reading. At the point where Henry just became king and enjoying it very much.

Climate Change Medieval Style

"Between around 950 and 1250 global temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere rose, and although this rise was by no means evenly felt across the globe, it provided the longest sustained period of benign climate conditions in the west since the Roman Climate Optimum. Although, as we shall see, the so-called Medieval Warm Period would not last throughout the Middle Ages, it made conditions in Europe relatively favorable to agriculture. The natural advantage coincided with the development of new horse harnesses and large iron plows ("heavy" plows) that allowed massively more efficient large-scale agriculture. And as this technologies combined with the effects of fluctuating climate, landholding became ever-more profitable and landowners had ever more income to spend."  

From Dan Jones Powers and Thrones. Many echoes from that period and today.