enry VI (1421-71), king of England, the son of Henry V, became king in 1422. During his long minority (till 1442) the Privy Council, under the control of Parliament, governed the country. The Duke of Bedford, Henry V’s eldest brother, was regent in France; and Gloucester, his youngest brother, was made protector of the realm. Bedford made a league with the dukes of Burgundy. Then Orleans (1428-29) was saved by Jeanne d’Arc. Though Henry VI was crowned in Paris, the conclusion of peace between Charles VII of France and Burgundy of Bedford (1435), ruined the success of the English in France. In 1453, with the exception of Calais, there was a total loss of the English possessions in France. In 1455 the wars of the Roses opened and during the rest of Henry VI’s reign the Yorkists, or supporters of Richard, Duke of York, fought against the Lancastrians, or supporters of the ruling dynasty. Edward, York’s eldest son, having won Mortimer’s Cross, entered London (February 26), and was proclaimed king. In 1471 Henry VI was murdered in the Tower of London. See Stubb’s Constitutional History of England (1891), and Green’s History of the English People (several editions). [World Wide Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1935]

Notes on King Henry VI of England (ruled 1422-1455; 1456-1461)
Henry succeeded his Father in 1422. During his minority his Uncle, the Duke of Bedford was appointed to govern France and another Uncle, Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester to be Protector of England. Crowned King of England in 1429 and King of France in Paris in 1431. His armies, under Bedford, had defeated the French at Verneuil in 1424. But five years later under the new French King Charles VI, the siege of Orleans was raised by the French, inspired by Joan of of Arc. Paris was lost in 1436; Normandy in 1450. By 1453, the English had swept from all of France, save Calais. In 1450, Jack Cade’s revolutionary army siezed London, but Cade was soon captured and executed. As a descendant of Lionel, Duke of Clarence, Edward III’s third son, Richard, Duke of York, had a better title to the throne than Henry. In 1454, during Henry’s mental lapse, York was appointed Regent. When the King recovered, York raised an army to maintain his power and was victorious at the battle of St. Albans in 1455; the beginning of the Wars of the Roses between the Houses of Lancaster and York. A return of Henry’s disorder made York again Regent in 1455-56. On his recovery, Henry vainly struggled to maintain peace between the factions, with his Queen Margaret heading the Lancastrian forces. In 1461 Edward IV was proclaimed King. In 1465, Henry was captured and committed to the Tower. In 1470, Warwick the Kingmaker restored him to the throne, but six months later he was again a prisoner of Edward. At the Battle Tewkesbury on 4 May 1471, his only son was slain and Queen Margaret taken prisoner. Edward returned to London on May 21; on that night, Henry was found murdered. He was initially buried at Chertsey, but his body was later removed reburied at St. Paul’s Cathedral(?). Henry, "the royal saint" founded Eton College and King’s College, Cambridge. {Chamber’s Biographical Dictionary} [GADD.GED]

Henry VI (of England) (1421-71), king of England (1422-61, 1470-71), the last of the house of Lancaster.

The son of King Henry V and Queen Catherine of Valois, Henry was born at Windsor on December 6, 1421. He never showed any aptitude for government, and throughout his reign the English court was dominated by competing aristocratic factions. Like his father, he claimed the crown of France, but France gradually freed itself from English control between 1430 and 1453. In 1445 Henry married a French princess, Margaret of Anjou. During the 1450s a group of nobles sought to replace him with Richard, duke of York, the next in line of succession to the throne. The resulting civil conflict between the houses of Lancaster and York, known as the Wars of the Roses (see Roses, Wars of the), began in 1455. After intermittent fighting Henry was captured by the Yorkists at Northampton and was compelled to acknowledge Richard rather than his own infant son as successor. In 1460 Richard was killed by Henry's forces at Wakefield. Richard's son subsequently became leader of the Yorkists and proclaimed himself king as Edward IV.

Henry and his queen escaped to Scotland, where they remained until 1464. In that year he returned to take part in a rebellion against Edward but was captured (1465) and imprisoned in the Tower of London. He had suffered attacks of insanity all his life and was now completely incapacitated. Nevertheless, he became nominal ruler again in 1470. Dethroned the following year and returned to the tower by Edward, he died there on May 21, 1471, probably murdered on Edward's order.

Henry, who founded Eton College and King's College, University of Cambridge, was venerated by many as a saint because of his piety. [Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia]

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