Henry VI of England
A pious and mentally fragile king whose disastrous reign saw England lose the Hundred Years' War and descend into the bloody civil conflict known as the Wars of the Roses.
1421–1471 (age 50)·King of England (1422–61, 1470–71)·Birthday: December 6
Biography
Henry VI's life was a tragedy of inheritance and inadequacy. He became king of England as an infant, inheriting not only his warrior father Henry V's throne but also his claim to France. A gentle, scholarly, and deeply religious boy, he was utterly unsuited to the brutal realities of medieval kingship. His reign was defined by loss: by 1453, England had been expelled from all its French territories except Calais, a catastrophic end to the Hundred Years' War. At home, his frailty and the power struggles of his nobles plunged the kingdom into the dynastic carnage of the Wars of the Roses. He suffered a complete mental breakdown in 1453, remaining catatonic for over a year, which allowed rival factions to solidify. Briefly restored to the throne in 1470, he was deposed again and almost certainly murdered in the Tower of London in 1471, a symbol of a medieval world where sanctity was no match for steel.
#1 When Henry Was Born
The biggest hits of 1421
Henry's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1421Born
1426Started school
1434Became a teenager
1437Could drive
1439Could vote
1442Turned 21
1451Turned 30
1461Turned 40
1471Turned 50
Key Achievements
- Founded Eton College in 1440 and King's College, Cambridge in 1441, enduring centers of learning.
- Was the only English monarch to also be crowned King of France (in Paris, 1431).
- Reigned as King of England for nearly 40 years across two separate periods.
Did You Know?
He was the youngest person ever to succeed to the English throne, at just nine months old.
His period of mental incapacity in the 1450s is one of the earliest documented cases of catatonic schizophrenia in a historical figure.
He was eventually canonized as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church, though his feast day is not widely observed.
“I desire only peace, and to be left with my books and my prayers.”
