The men were supplied with weaponry and armour, including 14 bows and over 2000 arrows, six crossbows, and a variety of helmets and hand weapons, such as poleaxes and spears. From Jean de Wavrin’s ‘Chronicles of England’, Bruges, c.1461-83. This anchor was so large that it even had its own name, Marie Tynktawe. The Holigost started out with 13 anchors but was later equipped with a huge 4.8m long anchor. The Holigost was the most heavily gun-armed ship of Henry’s fleet, equipped with seven breech-loader guns. Henry V had more than 30 ships, yet only 15 of these had guns aboard. In the early 1400s, guns were still not carried in large numbers on ships, even on those intended for war. On 14 November 1415 the Holigost was delivered to Jordan Brownyng, the ship’s first and only master. In 1414 Henry ordered for the ship to be rebuilt, ready to join his fleet. It started life as a Spanish merchant ship, the Santa Clara, captured by the English and acquired by King Henry V. The Holigost was a clinker-built (using overlapping planks of timber) carrack with one mast. Depiction of a carrack, carrying John of Gaunt to Lisbon. Near-contemporary depictions in medieval manuscripts, now held by the British Library, give an idea of how the Holigost may have looked. Rediscovered in the 1930s it is the only one of Henry V’s to have been found, until now. The Grace Dieu was a magnificent vessel, and the largest of Henry’s ships. The wreck thought to be the Holigost has been found alongside the Grace Dieu, the largest of Henry V’s fleet, in the deep mud of the river Hamble in Hampshire. Completed between 14 these ships were the Trinity Royal, the Jesus, the Grace Dieu and the Holigost their names bear witness to Henry’s personal devotion to the Holy Trinity. They were the personal property of King Henry V and the closest thing he had to a state navy. These impressive warships were a symbol of royal power, built specifically to open the way for an English invasion of France. But what do we know about it?ĭr Ian Friel is a historian and expert advisor to Historic England.The Holigost was one of four famous vessels known as the ‘great ships’, the biggest built in medieval England. A historic shipwreck discovered in a ‘medieval breaker’s yard’ in Hampshire is likely to be the remains of 600-year old warship, the Holigost.
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