[MR] Wikipedia: Henry VI Crowned King of France

[Garth Groff via Atlantia]

Noble Friends,

On this day in 1431 the English King Henry VI was crowned as King of 
France in Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris. How did a 10 year-old English boy 
become King of France, you ask? Henry's father, Henry V forced a treaty 
on the insane French King Charles VI with the connivance of Philip the 
Good, Duke of Burgundy, via the 1420 Treaty of Troyes. Under this treaty 
Henry V married Catherine of Valois (daughter of Charles VI), and their 
oldest male child would become King of France. Henry V and Catherine had 
just one child, Henry VI, before the older Henry died of dysentery while 
campaigning in France. The Dauphin of France, who had been declared a 
bastard and cut out of succession by the treaty, was crowned King of 
France at Reims as Charles VII in 1429 thanks to help from Joan of Arc. 
Henry VI's coronation was a counter-stroke, but by then the Hundred 
Years War had shifted in favor of the French, and Henry VI was really 
more of a pretender. You can read more about Henry VI at: 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_VI_of_England .

Catherine of Valois apparently inherited the insanity from her father, 
though as a carrier who passed the disease to her son. Henry VI suffered 
from bouts of madness all his life, and his weakness, coupled with the 
loss of the Hundred Years War, were the main causes for the War of the 
Roses.

Charles VII had his own problems late in life, but apparently did not 
inherit the madness of his father. Why? It is quite possible he really 
was a bastard. His real father may have been Louis I, Duke of Orleans, 
who was reputed to be the Queen's lover during Charles VI's madness: 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_I,_Duke_of_Orléans .

Isn't history fun?

Yours Aye,


Lord Mungo Napier, That Crazy Scot