Anglo-French Dual Monarchy

Definition

Anglo-French dual monarchy names Henry V’s intended arrangement of England and France as separate kingdoms under one crown after the Treaty of Troyes.

Current Synthesis

The design was a dynastic union rather than simple English annexation. Charles VI remained king, Henry became regent and heir, and marriage to Catherine of Valois was intended to produce a line acceptable to both kingdoms.

Henry also presented himself to French subjects as a restorer of justice and order while using English language and identity differently at home. The structure nevertheless depended on excluding the Dauphin, sustaining Burgundian cooperation, defeating resistance, and surviving a generational transfer that arrived almost immediately.

Key Claims

• The project retained separate English and French kingdoms.
• One hereditary crown was meant to join them after Charles VI’s death.
• Marriage supplied the dynastic bridge between Valois and Lancastrian claims.
• Henry adapted his political presentation to distinct French and English audiences.
• The regime rested on contested disinheritance rather than consensual succession.
• Henry’s early death transferred unresolved war and government to an infant heir.

Evidence

• Constitutional design: 490. Hundred Years’ War: England Triumphant (Part 4) states that the kingdoms were to remain separate under one crown.
• Dynastic mechanism: 490. Hundred Years’ War: England Triumphant (Part 4) links regency, inheritance, marriage, and the birth of Henry’s son.
• Political adaptation and fragility: 490. Hundred Years’ War: England Triumphant (Part 4) contrasts Henry’s French and English presentation and records continuing resistance at his death.

Counterevidence & Qualifications

The episode cannot establish whether Henry personally could have made the arrangement durable. The treaty’s formal design did not erase military resistance, contested legitimacy, different political institutions, or the risks of infant succession.

What Changed

• Created a constitutional concept distinguishing Henry’s planned union from territorial annexation.

Related Concepts

• Capetian Succession Crisis - earlier dynastic dispute contributing to the wider war.
• Dynastic Claim National Mobilization - process converting inheritance claims into political and military programs.
• Armagnac-Burgundian Civil War - factional breakdown enabling the settlement.
• Lancastrian Legitimacy - domestic authority supporting Henry’s external dynastic project.