Owre kynge went forth to Normandy,
With grace and myyt of chivalry;
The God for hym wrouyt marvelously,
Wherefore Englonde may calle, and cry
Deo gratias:
Deo gratias redde pro victoria.
The Agincourt Carol
Henry V – accompanied by approximately 8,000 archers and 2,000 men-at-arms – set sail for France on 11 August 1415, bound for the fortified town of Harfleur. Following a siege that lasted until 22 September, Henry's forces had been reduced, through dysentery and other diseases, by about a third, and many of the remaining soldiers were sick. They now marched across Normandy towards Calais, 120 miles away.
They wasted days (and miles) trying to find a crossing of the Somme that wasn't blocked by the French. Finally finding one on 19 October (although they had to beat off a cavalry attack to make it), Henry declared the next day a day of rest. However, the French chose that moment to issue a challenge for battle.
Henry ordered his army, now starving as well as sick, to march towards Calais and safety. Late on the 24th, when they were within two days of their goal, they discovered that the main French army lay across their path. The two sides that faced up near the village of Azincourt (the modern French spelling) greatly differed in numbers: by now, the English had been depleted to 5,000 archers and 900 men-at-arms, and the French had between 20,000 and 30,000 soldiers.
Luckily for Henry, the French freely took up a position that put them at an immediate disadvantage. The path towards the English went through a wood that narrowed the battlefield, making it impossible for the French to outflank and surround the smaller English army. In the end, the jostling of the French noblemen, each trying to be first with his banner, turned that army into a chaotic mass.
When they charged on horseback, they met not only volley after volley of English arrows but also, at the English line, a thicket of spikes on which the horses impaled themselves. The crowding was such that the French knights had no room in which to manoeuvre or wield their weapons.
First one line was completely destroyed by the English, then a second. However, a third line was already waiting in the wings, a distinct threat. Henry then ordered the killing of all prisoners, who at that point outnumbered the English. This decision has been disputed by historians ever since.
In the event, the French third line simply slunk away, unwilling to accept the catastrophe that had already befallen so many of their comrades. Henry and the English had won the battle against the greatest of odds.
Despite the order to kill the prisoners, about 1,500 nobles were taken to England in chains. Many could not pay the ransoms demanded to free them and so never returned to France. These losses plus those that had occurred on the battlefield meant that, due to Agincourt, France lost nearly half of its nobility and the French king his support base.
The English, on the other hand, lost no more than 500 men and probably far less than this. The victory – which, overnight, made the English king into a hero – opened the way for his conquest of Normandy.
As represented by Shakespeare in his history play Henry V, Agincourt became the archetypal patriotic victory of the 'few' fighting in a just cause. This was pointed up in Lawrence Olivier's film version of the play, created during World War II. The reality, as always, was somewhat different.
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 The Battle of Agincourt
www.geocities.com/beckster05/Agincourt/A
gMain.html
Excellent enthusiast's site that provides a thorough account of the battle, complete with maps, images and a bibliography.
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The Battle of Agincourt 1415, edited by Anne Curry (Tempus, 2000)
Illustrated with reproductions of battle plans and rosters never before published, this book steers the reader through the history of the most important battle of the Hundred Years War, from the perspective of those who fought in it.
Get this book
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 Agincourt
In France, in Pays-du-Nord: Azincourt (the modern spelling) is on the D71, off the D928, midway between St Omer and Abbeville
Adjoining the car park in the centre of the village of Azincourt is the Centre Historique Médiéval, where you can view a video on the battle. Azincourt is only 24 miles from Crécy.
Channel 4 Television takes no responsibility for the content of third-party sites. |
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