ABSTRACT
The Englishman’s idea of Henry V is fixed by Shakespeare who gives a timeless portrait of this ‘mirror of all Christian kings’ and ‘true lover of the holy church’. Shakespeare represents the marriage of Henry and Katherine, which sealed the peace between England and France, as a love match, and stresses the princess’s modesty during the courtship in romantic terms. Henry’s career evoked numerous biographies. There are still extant three biographies in Latin prose written during his lifetime and in the following generation, and one in verse. It is necessary to discover why for over a century Henry V’s reputation evoked so much panegyrical literature, both written and oral. Although the fifteenth century biographies of Henry V are eulogistic and propagandist in tone, they cannot be dismissed as valueless panegyrics. Perhaps Henry sent a copy of the Gesta to the council in order to strengthen his case against France and also to improve the status of the English delegation.
