Shakespeare's Kings (67 page)

Since
it
was
clear
that
for
the
foreseeable
future
the
Regent
would be
obliged
to
spend
most
of his
time
in
France,
Humphrey
of
Gloucester was
confirmed
as
Warden
of
the
Realm
and
Protector,
with
overall responsibility
for
English
affairs.
This
appointment
was
a
good
deal
less well
advised.
'The
good
Duke
Humphrey'
—
as
he
was
universally
known
-
seemed
on
first
acquaintance
to
be
the
nonpareil
of
princes: courteous
and
charming,
a
patron
of
the
arts
with
a
genuine
love
of literature
and
a
library
which
was
to
provide
the
nucleus
of
the
Bodleian at
Oxford.
Shakespeare's
portrait
of
him
follows,
in
the
main,
this popular
conception;
there
is
little
indication
of
the
faithlessness
and irresponsibility
which
Humphrey
was
to
show
throughout
his
life,
or of
the
dissipation
and
debauchery
that
were
to
ruin
his
health
before he
was
thirty,
or
of
the
overriding
personal
ambition
for
which
he
was repeatedly
to
sacrifice
the
nation's
interests.

The
guardianship
of
the
infant
King,
meanwhile,
was
entrusted
to a
nobleman
of
the
older
generation:
Thomas
Beaufort,
Duke
of Exeter,
the
youngest
of
the
three
sons
of
John
of
Gaunt
by
Katherine Swynford.
But
Exeter
was
already
an
old
man
by
the
standards
of
the time
-
he
was
to
die
when
his
charge
was
still
only
five
years
old
-
and his
character
was
anyway
largely
eclipsed
by
that
of
his
elder
brother Henry,
Bishop
of
Winchester
and
after
1426
a
cardinal
of
the
Church. The
richest
man
in
England
-
he
was
an
active
dealer
in
wool
-
and one
of
the
most
influential
figures
in
Europe,
in
1417
the
bishop
had been
seriously
considered
as
a
candidate
for
the
papacy;
he
would certainly
have
been
a
far
better
choice
as
Warden
than
his
nephew Humphrey
of
Gloucester,
whom
he
cordially
detested
and
opposed
at every
opportunity.
His
haughty
arrogance
was
bound
to
antagonize many
of
his
contemporaries;
but
he
was
to
remain
absolutely
loyal
to the
young
King,
not
only
giving
him
wise
and
disinterested
advice
but also
helping
him
with
substantial
loans
whenever
the
need
arose.

Where
France
was
concerned,
Henry
V
had
left
to
his
successors
an impossible
situation.
The
kingdom
was
on
its
knees:
not
only
politically after
Henry's
victories,
but
economically
and
morally
as
well.
The
war had
already
been
continuing
sporadically
for
the
best
part
of
a
century, and
much
of
the
north
and
west
lay
depopulated
and
desolate.
Bedford did
his
best,
and
for
the
first
few
years
after
Henry's
death
achieved
a fair
measure
of
success.
In
1422
the
line
of
English
garrisons
had
stretched from
the
border
of
Brittany
to
Abbeville
and
thence
south
to
Paris;
by the
end
of
1425
it
embraced
Champagne
and
Maine
and
extended
as far
as
the
Meuse.
Conscientious
governor
that
he
was,
Bedford
was
not personally
unpopular
in
any
of
these
conquered
territories.
He
was careful
to
maintain
French
institutions
and,
wherever
possible,
to
appoint Frenchmen
to
key
positions;
he
also
reformed
the
administration
of justice,
and
even
on
occasion
struck
a
strong
coinage.
But
like
most
of his
compatriots
he
knew
full
well
that
the
cause
was
ultimately
hopeless. England
-
also
exhausted
by
war,
neglected
by
her
major
landowners (many
of
whom
had
spent
the
better
part
of
their
adult
lives
fighting in
France),
her
agriculture
and
population
alike
ravaged
by
successive visitations
of
the
Black
Death,
could
never
wholly
conquer
France,
far less
hold
it
if
conquered.

And
the
French
knew
it
too.
For
many
of
them
-
and
particularly the
aristocracy
-
the
death
of
Charles
VI
had
radically
changed
the situation.
Charles
had
bid
them
give
their
loyalty
to
Henry
V,
but
now both
he
and
Henry
were
dead.
His
son
and
namesake
the
Dauphin
had grown
up
a
weak
and
feckless
youth;
he
had,
however,
been
crowned after
his
father's
death
at
Poitiers,
and
was
now
widely
acknowledged south
of
the
Loire
as
far
as
the
borders
of
Guyenne.
It
was
therefore hardly
surprising
that
more
and
more
French
noblemen
should
have rallied
to
his
banner:
so
many
indeed
that
early
in
1423
an
increasingly anxious
Bedford
ordered
a
re-proclamation
of
the
Treaty
of
Troyes, obliging
many
Frenchmen
to
swear
allegiance
to
'le
Roy
Henri
II'
-an
oath
which
many
of
them
took,
we
are
told,
only
with
extreme reluctance.