Henry V of England

Henry V was the quintessential warrior monarch of late medieval England, whose military discipline, tactical genius, and charismatic leadership brought England to the verge of conquering the crown of France. Hardened by combat in Wales fighting Owain Glyndŵr and surviving an arrow wound to his face at the Battle of Shrewsbury at age sixteen, Henry succeeded his father Henry IV in 1413.

Reigniting the Hundred Years' War in 1415, Henry invaded Normandy and faced a vastly superior French chivalric army on Saint Crispin's Day at the Battle of Agincourt (October 25, 1415). Deploying English longbowmen behind protective pointed wooden stakes in a muddy funnel, Henry annihilated the French nobility in one of the most stunning tactical upsets in military history. In 1420, he concluded the Treaty of Troyes, marrying Catherine of Valois and being recognized as heir and regent to the French throne. Striken down by dysentery at the pinnacle of his glory at age thirty-five, he was entombed in Westminster Abbey, immortalized by William Shakespeare's heroic drama.