#(I think it's interesting that Henry V historians treat his imprisonment of Joanne as needlessly money hungry)

[themidnightcircusshow]

Knowing that his actions would then be passed on to his brothers does make me think Thomas wasn't as anti-war with France as is sometimes suggested. Like it was certainly complicated, but Thomas did seem perfectly willing to be a commander against France. Perhaps the best case scenario was for Hal to put the work in invading France, make some progress, get killed, and Thomas take a treaty that gets a huge chunk of territory without having to do the extra work. (Everyone making Thomas king thinking he would be easy to control and him just making their lives hell would be the funniest thing though). I go back and forth on it a bit because Hal's apparent dislike of the bill to only allow sons to inherit the crown suggests that he was at least aware of a possibility that he may have a daughter and only a daughter and wanted to keep that provision just in case. (Or it could be that it was the main basis for their claim to France. Or even that he was making sure if everything went to hell in a handbasket in England, Philippa [I'm not sure if Blanche was still alive at the time] would be able to keep the Lancastrian dynasty going). I think he was probably very aware that he would need to have children if he got married, so making marriage as hard for himself as possible (either because he did not want to have sex or because he was afraid of hurting his child the way his father hurt him, no I will never be recovered from everyone basically using Hal as a way to harm Henry VI the way Henry IV harmed Hal) was his way of avoiding it. Which I can't tell is more ways of suggesting he may not have been interested in women or the result of taking that assumption and working backwards. That quote sounds right but I could have sworn it was in relation to the healing of the great schism. Could be wrong though. Considering Courtenay also died from not listening to the limits of his body, I fear that is the one area where he and Hal would not have been particularly helpful for each other. (Seriously, did Courtenay not tell Hal that he wasn't healthy enough to go on campaign, or did he tell Hal he was going to go and if he died so be it and Hal understood a bit too well). Honestly, it sounds more like they needed a reason to get rid of Hal and this was an opportunity that sprung up rather than any genuine concern. I remember once years ago reading a claim that Hal raised his visor at Shrewsbury to prove he was there because there were accusations of his bad character. To this day I haven't figured out if the writer got the two timelines mixed up or if this was a persistent problem, but either way it would also explain why Hal was so strict about the conduct of his soldiers in France. Yeah, I know there were reports that they reconciled but that is a pretty broad term and a death bed reconciliation is a lot easier than having to put the work into repairing your relationship long term. Hal leaving his father's body does suggest some remaining tensions, as well as the whole issue of Henry's burial. I know he wanted a modest burial, but I do wonder if Hal's choice to rebury Richard so visibly was taken as such a slight then as Henry IV historians claim it is now (I would also put the honours for Mary under this seeing as Hal began them so soon after becoming king, but of course they're less talked about because they can't be used in the penis measuring contest). Maybe I should put this in a separate post before this grows even more giant but I have So Many Questions about what Henry and Mary's relationship would have become if she had survived. Like maybe she would have been able to keep Henry from being so terrible to their kids, but if she hadn't I do not see their relationship remaining so happy. I still can't believe Henry "just say you aren't a heretic and we'll pretend this never happened" V is the one who gets accused of being a zealot when Arundel is right there.

To torture you: Courtenay extremely reluctantly giving Hal any last rites he may need in case the Dagger Incident does end fatally

Oh mannnn. I was actually poking at the thing I've been writing about the Dagger Incident and trying to determine just whether Courtenay knew about the Dagger Incident before Hal pulled it or whether he didn't know until afterwards (I think he's somewhere in the middle - he knew the gist of what Hal was planning but not the details). But man. Courtenay being the one who Hal goes to for the last rites? I'm going to go insane.

Though I might raise you a wounded Hal, post-Shrewsbury and delirious with pain, insisting that Courtenay give him last rites...

And both are like an inverse of Hal at Courtenay's death bed, where "after extreme unction, with his own hands wiped his feet and closed his eyes". I'm going to chew glass.