, as his
heir after his death, as his representative during his life.

It was a very extraordinary position which Henry V now occupied. The
two great kingdoms, each of which by itself has earlier or later
claimed to sway the world, were (without being fused into one) to
remain united for ever under him and his successors. Philip the Good
of Burgundy was bound to him by ties of blood and by hostility to a
common foe: as heir of France Henry sat in the Parliament by which
the murderers of the last duke, who were also the chief opponents of
the new state of things, were prosecuted. Another promising connexion
was opened to him by the marriage of the youngest of his brothers with
Jaqueline of Holland and Hainault, who possessed still more extensive
hereditary claims. Henry recommended the eldest to Queen Johanna of
Naples to be adopted as her son and heir. The King of Castile and the
heir of Portugal were descended from his father's sisters. The
pedigrees of Southern and Western Europe alike met in the house of
Lancaster, the head of which thus seemed to be the common head of all.

In England Henry did not neglect to guard the rights of the National
Church; but at the same time no one exerted himself more energetically
to close the schism: the solemn condemnation of Wiclif's doctrines by
the General Council of Constance served to vouch for his attitude in
religious matters: the English Church obtained in it a place among the
great National Churches.

Henry V found himself in the advantageous position of a potentate
raised to power by a usurpation for which he was not however
personally responsible. He could spare and reinstate Richard II's
memory, as much as in him lay, though he owed the crown to his
overthrow. That he furthered and advanced also in France the municipal
and parliamentary interests, which were his mainstay in England,
procured him the obedience which was there paid him, and a European
influence. In his moral character Henry ranks above most of the
Plantagenets. He had no favourites and let no unjust acts be imputed
to him. He was stern towards the great and careful for the common
people; at his first word men could tell what they had to expect from
him. The French were frightened at the keenness of his expression, but
they reverenced his high spirit, his bravery and truthfulness. 'He
transacts all his affairs himself; he considers them well before he
undertakes them; he never does anything fruitlessly. H