WI: Henry V of England dies in 1422 without an heir and therefore no Henry VI

If Prince Henry had died in infancy before his father Henry V died on 1 September 1422, or if Queen Catherine had miscarried when pregnant with him, or if she had never conceived him, who would have succeeded to the throne of England, and of France on the death of Charles VI on 21 October 1422? How would the course of history been different?

John, duke of Bedford, was Henry V's elder surviving brother, but in OTL his younger brother Humphrey, duke of Gloucester was given the title of 'Protector and Defender' of the king and realm, and Bedford becomes Regent of France.

If Bedford became king of England and France as John II, presumably he would have continued the Burgundian alliance and the war in France. If he dies in September 1435 as in OTL, would his younger brother Gloucester have succeeded him, as Humphrey I? If he does and dies in February 1447 as in OTL would Richard, Duke of York have become king as Richard III? In OTL York is killed at the battle of Wakefield on 30 December 1460. If there is no Lancastrian-Yorkist civil war Richard III (born 21 September 1411) could have lived until the 1470s. He would have been succeeded by his son Edward as Edward IV.
 
A lot depends, of course, upon whether John or Humphrey are able to father any heirs. (Henry IV's sons seem to have had a bit of a problem with this) But on the face of it, a better hand for the Lancastrians.

Henry IV's daughters had issue, IIRC, with foreign rulers, so if Humphrey dies without an heir then it could get just as messy as it was historically.
 
John, Duke of Bedford inherits everything. OTL Henry put him in charge of France because he was an experienced soldier, and France was still a theater of war. It wasn't intended to affect the succession. And it wouldn't; Humphrey wasn't the sort who would have tried to snitch a crown from his formidable older brother.


Heirs? Well, OTL there weren't any. But we know the Duke of Bedford was fertile; he fathered one bastard son, and his first wife -- Anne of Burgundy, sister of Philip the Good -- died in 1432 in childbirth.

TTL, assuming Anne of Burgundy dies on cue, King John II would immediately become the most eligible bachelor in Christendom. OTL he only lived another couple of years after; he did remarry, but had no children. TTL... well, would he die at the same time? Unclear.

(Random: as King, he certainly wouldn't have been able to marry Jacquettta of Luxembourg. So, no Woodvilles in this TL.)

But if he does, then yes -- it goes John, then Humphrey for another dozen years. Then -- assuming no new heirs -- nobody knows. Richard of York is a good bet, but that's assuming 25 years of different history haven't taken him out.

Note that John was a more than competent ruler; if he'd been King, affairs in both England and France would have been in considerably better shape.


Doug M.
 
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One of them has heirs, heck off the top of my head I can't remember bugger all (must be in synch with hairloss) but the one who's wife was declared a witch and then 'unmarried' from him. In a more powerful position that sort of crap isn't going to wash and he and her produce at least one, maybe two kids, one of whom is a girl with a funny name

Oh memory, memory, what hast become of thee !

Best Regards
Grey Wolf
 
Henry IV's daughters had issue, IIRC, with foreign rulers, so if Humphrey dies without an heir then it could get just as messy as it was historically.

Henry IV had two daughters. Googling, it appears that one -- Blanche -- had a single son who died young and childless. The other, Philippa, became Queen of Norway, Denmark and Sweden, but had no children who survived to adulthood.

It's striking: Henry IV had four sons and two daughters survive to adulthood. But the six of them produced only a handful of grandchildren. Of which only three seem to have been legitimate while also surviving to maturity!

Medieval family trees could be very very random, but even so, this is striking. Lead paint on the walls of the ancestral castle?


Doug M.
 
One of them has heirs, heck off the top of my head I can't remember bugger all (must be in synch with hairloss) but the one who's wife was declared a witch and then 'unmarried' from him.

Duke Humphrey. He had a daughter and a son. But their legitimacy actually was questionable IMS -- born before he and Eleanor, ah, formalized their union.


Doug M.
 
Humphrey's child died stillborn 2 years after the PoD, which is likely as not pure chance, so would probably be butterflied away.

This has it's own impact on the conclusion to the Hook and Cod wars about the Dutch succession.
 
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