The Battle of Agincourt 1415.

0 Conversations



Background.


Henry V, aged 28, set sail from Southampton, UK on the 11th August 1415 with a fleet of about 300 ship to claim his birthright of the Duchy of Normandy. They landed at Harfleur, Northern France, taking two days to disembark, the looting and molesting of the civilian population was forbidden, every member of his force was to wear the cross of St George as a badge of identification. He reminded them that they were not on a campaign of conquest but to reclaim the land that rightfully belonged to him from William the Bastard (more commonly known as 'the Conquer'). The siege of Harfleur last 5 weeks, much longer than expected, and Henry lost many men, more than 2,000 from dysentery. He then took the decision to leave a garrison at Harfleur and take the remainder of his men, 900 Men at Arms and 5,000 Archers back home via Calais, France. Calais was 100 miles away and they could only muster enough rations for one week, but this was thought to be more than enough. There were two obstacles in Henrys way a large French army trying to force him into battle and the River Somme, which was only passable in a few places. Outnumbered, sick and short of supplies they struggled to cross the Somme with the French blocking every crossing or had already brunt the bridge down. With supplies running low, eventually, were the river snaked into a U bend Henry was able to get ahead of his pursuers, cross and join the road to Calais. Now on the same side of the river as the French army Henry pushed his troops north to Calais. It was on this road, near the village of Agincourt, that the French finally were able to stop Henrys' march as they formed their army across the road, some 25,000 men against Henrys' men totalling less than 6,000. Then to add to their woes the rain started to pour and with only an orchard for cover they made camp for the night. The noise from the French camp must have added to their sense of impending doom, as the French Knights played games of chance to be among the first to attack and have the glory of killing a King. It is against all of this the English confessed their sins, received the sacrament and made peace with God, expecting nothing but death the next day.


The Battle.


The next day 25th October, St Crispin's day, the French, vastly out numbering the English, were expecting a humiliating negotiated settlement. Negotiations though ended at an early stage and both sides prepared for battle. The French though weren't to be rushed and at 8 o'clock had breakfast, laughing and joking, the English ate whatever they had left of their meagre rations. A further two hours passed, the French could wait they had time on their side, blocking the road, but the English were getting weaker all the time. Henry then decided he had nothing to lose and would force the French into battle and advance. Henry rode his horse, with no spurs, indicating that he would dismount and fight on foot, along the English line. He even donned his royal surcoat of three leopard of England and three gold fleur-de-lis of France, which would mark him out to the French as the King. He gave a rousing speech exhorting them to act well and reminded the archers of the French boast to cut off the three fingers from the right hand of every man captured (this is the origin of giving the two figure or the V sign). The English then moved to within 300 yard of the enemy and began to fire. This sparked the French into action their crossbowmen loosing a volley but falling back under pressure from the English archers. The first wave of French cavalry then charged, a slow charge over the ploughed, rain soaked ground, giving no impetus. In all only three cavalrymen died in the attack but one of them was their commander. This caused the French to become unnerved and retreated into the now advancing main army. With one force going one way and the main force the other, the French were now in total disarray but still they march on. Nearing exhaustion with the field turning into a quagmire, churned up by 1000's of heavy armoured men, the English created an arrow storm for the 10 ranks deep of men who were now even afraid to look up else arrow pierce their visors. After 300 yards of this the army came into contact with the English but found that due to their numbers they had no space to aim a blow and what followed was a blood bath. Henry must have been in the thick of the battle as his helmet, which is on display at Westminster Abbey, clearly shows a dent from a battle axe and Henry prevented the death of the Earl of Oxford by standing over his badly wounded body. All 18 French squires who had won the right to fell Henry died trying. The archers dropped their bows and entered the fray using swords, axes and mallets. The French started to fall back, many a French noble tried to give in, but the battle crazed English just struck them down. All the French leaders were killed or captured. The main battle last ½ an hour.


After the battle.


What was to follow immediately after the battle was repugnant, even by medieval standard, and even at the time was felt so. Henry's camp was attacked and looted and at the same time an attempted counter attack was tried and failed. The Henry still feeling vulnerable to attack and being unable to spare any men ordered all the prisoner to be killed, sparing only the most prominent. In all 200 men performed the gruesome task. As most of the prisoners were fully armoured their only weak point was to stab them in the head or face through the visor of the helmet.
In all 5 Dukes, 90 Counts, 1,500 of Baron or Knightly class were killed or captured. The only man of note who died on the English side was the Duke of York. Henry seeing his victory as justifying his claim to be King of England and France pushed for negotiation but his current army was in no strength to march on Paris. It took five years but a still weakened Charles VI, King of France, agreed to his daughter, Katherine, to marry Henry and he became recognised heir to the French throne. This was denied him by dying seven weeks before the ageing Charles in 1422, and was succeeded by his one-year-old son as the new King of England and France.


Bookmark on your Personal Space


Conversations About This Entry

There are no Conversations for this Entry

Entry

A377048

Infinite Improbability Drive

Infinite Improbability Drive

Read a random Edited Entry


Written and Edited by

References

h2g2 Entries

Disclaimer

h2g2 is created by h2g2's users, who are members of the public. The views expressed are theirs and unless specifically stated are not those of the Not Panicking Ltd. Unlike Edited Entries, Entries have not been checked by an Editor. If you consider any Entry to be in breach of the site's House Rules, please register a complaint. For any other comments, please visit the Feedback page.

Write an Entry

"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a wholly remarkable book. It has been compiled and recompiled many times and under many different editorships. It contains contributions from countless numbers of travellers and researchers."

Write an entry
Read more