Question 1

True or false: Henry V was excommunicated by the Pope for burning Joan of Arc at the stake.

Accepted Answer

False. Joan was executed in 1431, nine years after Henry's death; she was burned under English occupation, not by him.

Question 2

True or false: Henry V never actually spoke the famous St. Crispin's Day speech from Shakespeare.

Accepted Answer

True. Shakespeare wrote the 'Band of Brothers' speech centuries later; no surviving records of Henry's actual words exist.

Question 3

True or false: Henry V personally led a cavalry charge at the Battle of Agincourt.

Accepted Answer

False. At Agincourt, Henry fought on foot with his men, as dismounted knights were key to the English defensive strategy.

Question 4

True or false: Henry V's marriage to Catherine of Valois was a love match, not a political treaty.

Accepted Answer

False. It was a key term of the Treaty of Troyes (1420), aimed at securing his claim to the French throne.

Question 5

True or false: Henry V died of dysentery, not battle wounds, at age 35.

Accepted Answer

True. He died in 1422 from dysentery, a common camp disease, while campaigning in France—not from combat.

Question 6

True or false: Henry V was the first English king to use cannons in battle at Agincourt.

Accepted Answer

False. Cannons were used earlier, but Henry did employ them at Harfleur, not Agincourt—where mud made them useless.

Question 7

True or false: Henry V banned tennis and dice during his reign to promote military training.

Accepted Answer

True. He issued laws restricting games like tennis and dice, fearing they distracted men from archery practice.

Question 8

True or false: Henry V learned Welsh as a child and used it to communicate with his archers.

Accepted Answer

True. He spent part of his youth in Wales and was known to speak Welsh, likely useful for bonding with his longbowmen.

Henry V of England Trivia Questions