Henry V
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Henry V
than the throne of France (Fœdera, vol. ix. 762–3). The reality of Henry's intention, after restoring peace in France, to undertake a new crusade, is beyond doubt. A short time before his death he despatched Gilbert de Lannoy, a Burgundian knight, to inquire into the state of the East and the practicability of a war for the recovery of the Holy Land (Lannoy's report is printed in Archæologia, xxi. 221–444; cf. Cott. MS. Claud. A. viii. f. 11). Such a crusade could only have been attempted by Henry as the head of the united west, and to effect such a union seems to have been the object of his system of alliances. The termination of the schism formed an essential feature in such a policy (cf. his letter ap. Rel. de St.-Denys, xxxvi. 2). Later on in 1418 he writes of his wars with France, Spain, and Scotland, the three powers which had supported the schism, as undertaken in the interest of the pope (Goodwin, pp. 209–10). With the other states of Western Europe Henry established friendly relations, and when he died it appeared as if these three also were on the point of passing under his influence. But whatever Henry's ultimate designs may have been, the conception and the power of execution alike perished with him.
Henry's personal appearance was comely; his face was oval, with a long straight nose, ruddy complexion, dark smooth hair, and bright eyes, mild as a dove's when unprovoked, but lionlike in wrath. His frame was slender, but his limbs well proportioned and stoutly knit, so that he was very active, and took a keen pleasure in all manly sports (Versus Rhythmici, pp. 69–88; Elmham, Vita, p. 12). There are portraits of Henry V in the hall at Queen's College, Oxford, in the National Portrait Gallery, at Eton College, and at Windsor. The last is engraved as a frontispiece to the first volume of Tyler's ‘Memorials of Henry V.’ A portrait contained in a contemporary missal, now at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, is described in ‘Archæologia,’ ii. 194. Another portrait, which dates from 1430, is in Cotton. MS. Julius E. iv. f. 8 b.