Mercedes Rochelle's Reviews > Shadow King: The Life and Death of Henry VI

This is an extremely well-written biography about Henry VI. As expected, especially during his minority, the story concerns what his uncles and advisors are doing, rather about the boy himself. As a child, he is totally in the shadows, but the struggle continues as to who will control him. The first third of the book is preoccupied with the ongoing conflict between the Duke of Gloucester (youngest brother of Henry V) and Cardinal Beaufort, uncle to Henry V. Gloucester’s antagonism created many problems, and overall went against England’s interests, especially in France.

The war in France started downhill when Joan of Arc came on the scene, instilling the French with new hope, leading them to victory and convincing the dauphin Charles to crown himself in Reims. The English responded with their own coronation, first in England then in Paris, so young Henry became king of both countries—at least as far as the English were concerned. He was all of seven years old. But as king he started attending councils and even parliament, and though he was seen as a serious and even intelligent child, he was content to do as he was told. It became a habit, all the way into adulthood. But by his teenaged years, he loved giving gifts, grants of land, and pensions, and his generosity was becoming a drain on the exchequer. In this respect, he wouldn’t be governed. In another respect, his will was becoming clearer and clearer: young Henry VI wanted peace. And this policy was in direct conflict with his father’s legacy.

The biggest take-away from this book was that the author laid the blame for many of the most damaging mistakes directly on Henry’s shoulders. For instance, the Duke of Suffolk was blamed for the disastrous policy of giving away the county of Maine in exchange for the privilege of Henry marrying Margaret of Anjou. But according to Johnson, Suffolk was acting under Henry’s direct orders; he couldn’t have made these momentous decisions on his own. In the end, the duke was condemned for the negotiations and eventually it led to his exile (and death). Henry’s incapacity to negotiate for his own benefit, his indecisive behavior, his inability to see the consequences of his behavior left a trail of casualties in his wake. As Henry apparently never fully recovered from his psychotic incident, his queen felt obliged to step into his shoes, so to speak. She was already too deep in duplicity and partisanship to smooth over divisions between the great nobles. The broken government became paralyzed, and the horrors of civil war followed. By then, Henry was everyone’s puppet king, and the author mused that he surely must have viewed the tragedy of his life with dismay. “It is a terrible irony that a man so devoted to peace was the trigger for the bloodiest battle in English history.” Even though Henry VI was the subject of this book, he is not depicted as a hero, nor is he whitewashed in any way. His faults are laid bare, and his good points, few though they were, were also presented rationally and fairly. In the end, we see a man just not suited for the position that was thrust upon him, and for that I think we feel more pity than censure.