A clash of kings at Agincourt

While his father, Henry IV, had been preoccupied with consolidating – and in the process effectively legitimising – his rule, his son, King Henry V of England, saw the opportunity to expand Britain’s holdings by taking back lands he believed rightfully belonged to him, starting with France.

In 1415, he proposed to marry Catherine, the daughter of the French King Charles VI, in addition to audaciously demanding the handover of the Plantagenet lands of Normandy and Anjou as her dowry. Unsurprisingly, Charles refused this offer from the upstart young king, with one account claiming that he sent the young Henry a case of tennis balls – the message being that his time would