The Congress of Arras

The failure of a monarchy raises many questions: the historian must ask not only why, but also when, and failure is a process that is accomplished through time. In seeking the ‘when’ of the collapse of Lancastrian rule, the beginning of the decline as well as the end of the process is needed. That the reign of Henry VI saw the collapse of the house of Lancaster in England is without dispute, but to equate the end of his reign with the date of the failure means little.

Henry did not come to an impregnable throne, but a generous standard might credit any King with a successful reign who passed his crown with powers unimpaired to his son, and Henry, unlike his grandfather and father, lost his crown before he lost his son. Consequently, one looks to the years from 1422 until 1461 that mark the negligent governance of Henry VI for the episode when Lancastrian rule began to founder.