CHAPTER ONE
The most serene prince, the king of England and France and
lord of Ireland, Henry, the fifth after the Conquest, was
crowned at Westminster on Passion Sunday, the ninth day
of the month of April, in the year of Our Lord's Incarnation
1413. When, young in years<s1>s but old in experience, he began
his reign, like the true elect of God savouring the things that
are above,<s2>s he applied his mind with all devotion to encom-
pass what could promote the honour of God, the extension of
the Church, the deliverance of his country, and the peace and
tranquillity of kingdoms, and especially (because they were
more closely connected and associated) the peace and tran-
quillity of the two kingdoms of England and France, which
over a long and lamentable period of time have done injury
to themselves by their internal conflicts, not without a great
and grievous shedding of human blood.
And while these most sacred meditations quite possessed
the mind of the . . .
