Hello everyone and welcome to the History of England episode 150, Conquering Hero,

and to the safer waters in recent episodes I wipe my brow with relief.

Last time that we were sailing in those calmer waters we had just finished the battle of Agingcore.

But before I move on, Mike wrote in to say that I've completely misunderstood the meaning of an inflected language, Mayor Culper.

Basically, it doesn't in this context mean the way the language was spoken, but having a lot of endings to denote a word's grammatical role.

For Mike's explanation hop along to the episode on the website and see where I got it wrong.

Return of the Victor of Agingcore.

Now I'm trying a new experiment, breaking up the presentation with subheads and musical breaks between topics.

Could be great? Could be incredibly irritating. Let me know what you think.

Now as it happens on the 25th of October 1415 while the English contemplated the prospects of battle against seemingly overwhelmingly French odds, a rumor had started in London.

The King had fought a great battle, and the King had lost.

So when Henry arrived back in London on the 23rd of November 1415 as a Conquering Hero, the celebration was all the more extreme for the relief.

I mean seriously, the good burgers of London really pushed the boat out.

The roads were packed with people.

When he arrived at Tower Bridge, Henry was greeted by the sight of a vast figure with an axe in his right hand,

and the keys of the city in his left.

As he went on, he came across a cloud of boys representing the Angelic host with faces gleaming with guilt paint.

Then the Tower in Cornhill was covered with a purple cloth.

At St. Paul's, high above the King, all the niches were occupied by young girls in the posture of a statue,

which I doubt would pass your Elphin Safety legislation these days, likely puffing gold leaf onto the King's head below.

I could go on, but seriously, just take my word for it, those Londoners knew how to throw a party.

In the middle of all of this was the King himself.

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