ABSTRACT
The main aim of the Burgundian dukes was to obtain influence in France, the economic ties between their lands in the Low Countries and England may have disposed them rather more than the Orleanists to seek an accommodation with England. Henry's motive for marraige alliance was probably to avoid the isolation of England in European politics, as the Empire might serve as a counterbalance to France. The murder of the duke of Orleans by Burgundian agents in November 1407 was a turning-point in Anglo-French relations. The English lands in South-west France posed the most insoluble problem in Anglo-French relations. Henry's greatest achievements were as a soldier and as a diplomatist, and with his preference for fighting he may have regarded diplomacy as war continued by other means. Philip of Burgundy would probably have preferred to dominate France in his own right rather than co-operate with Henry, but desire for revenge on his father's murderers drove him into the English camp.
