The Duke of Gloucester, the King's uncle and arch-enemy, has been murdered. Most people suspect Thomas Mowbray did it at the King's command. Henry Bolingbroke, the King's cousin, has accused Mowbray to his face. Together they are summoned before Richard II.

The rebellion promoted by the Percy family against their former ally King Henry IV has been heavily crushed at Shrewsbury. The rebels were weakened by the defection of the armies promised them by Northumberland and Owen Glendower, and greatly outnumbered by the King's forces. Their leader, the gallant Hotspur, has been killed in single combat with Prince Hal. Conflicting rumours reach Warkworth in Northumberland, where the Earl is eagerly waiting for news of the battle and of his son.

The burdens of kingship and of failing health weigh heavily upon Henry IV. After his victory at Shrewsbury he has to organise a new campaign against the northern rebels. Disappointed in Prince Hal, who returns to his customary low haunts in London, the King sends his younger son, Prince John of Lancaster, to negotiate with the rebel leaders. Falstaff goes off to Gloucestershire to muster recruits, and there falls in with an acquaintance, a simple country Justice, Master Shallow.

The final defeat of the northern rebels marked the conclusion of the eight troubled years of Henry IV's reign. With the accession of Henry V, a new age has begun. Falstaff and his riotous companions have been banished from Court. The first public act of the young King has been to summon Parliament and consider ways of distracting his subjects from civil strife. Being advised of his right by succession, Henry now resolves to lay claim to the French throne.

Henry V's first public act after his accession was to lay claim to the French throne and to the hand of the French princess. When the Dauphin scornfully rejected these claims, the King and his army embarked at Southampton for France and captured the port of Harfleur. Now, marching inland on the road from Calais, they are confronted by an army that heavily outnumbers their own sick and weary forces. Both armies have encamped for the night near Agincourt. The French leaders feel confident of victory in the coming battle.

The English victory at Agincourt confirmed Henry V as an outstanding military leader and a greatly loved King. The ensuing treaty with France and Henry's marriage to Princess Katherine promised both kingdoms a long period of peace and prosperity. But Henry V died young, leaving an infant son behind him in the protectorship of his brothers Bedford and Gloucester. War now flares up again in France; and at home, leaderless nobles revive their disastrous quarrel about the rightful succession.