biography
| name: |
Henry VI (of England)
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1421–71)
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| biography:
| King of England (1422–61, 1470–1), born in Windsor, S England, UK, the only child of Henry V and Catherine of Valois. During Henry's minority, his uncle John, Duke of Bedford, was Regent of France, and another uncle, Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, was Lord Protector of England. Henry was crowned King of France in Paris in 1431, two years after his coronation in England. But once the Burgundians had made a separate peace with Charles VII (1435), Henry V's French conquests were progressively eroded, and by 1453 the English retained only Calais. Henry had few kingly qualities, and from 1453 suffered from periodic bouts of insanity. Richard, Duke of York, seized power as Lord Protector in 1454, and defeated the king's army at St Albans in 1455, the first battle of the Wars of the Roses. Fighting resumed in 1459, and although York himself was killed at Wakefield (1460), his heir was proclaimed king as Edward IV after Henry's deposition (1461). In 1464 Henry returned from exile in Scotland to lead the Lancastrian cause, but was captured and imprisoned (1465–70). Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, restored him to the throne (Oct 1470), his nominal rule ending when Edward IV returned to London (Apr 1471). After the Yorkist victory at Tewkesbury (May 1471), where his only son was killed, Henry was murdered in the Tower. |
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