The English victory at the Battle of Agincourt gave birth to a legend that was immortalized in William Shakespeare’s King Henry V. The battle took place in a muddy farmer’s field in northern France on October 25, 1415 and was one in a series of encounters between France and England that has become known as the Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453).

The story begins two months before the battle. Henry and his army had landed in France on August 14 near the mouth of the Seine River. The objective was to regain English territory lost to France over a period of centuries. The first task was to besiege and conquer a nearby town. Henry was successful, but the time-consuming effort took over a month. It was now early October. Henry realized that his reduced force and the limited time left in the campaigning season, meant that he would not be able to press his attack on the French. Instead, he lead his army north in a “show of force” that would end at the English port of Calais and embarkation back to England.

Henry V at the time of the

battle. His haircut provides

a more comfortable fit

for his battle helmet.

As the English army marched north, it was dogged by a French force intent on bringing Henry to battle. The French were able to slip ahead of Henry and block his path to the sea at Agincourt. On the morning of October 25, the two armies faced one another on a recently plowed field muddied by an overnight rain and constricted by woodlands on either side. The majority of Henry’s army was made up of archers; the remainder consisted of armored knights who fought on foot. His opponent’s force consisted primarily of knights who fought on foot and on horseback, supported by archers. Although estimates of the relative strength of the two armies vary, there is no argument that the English were vastly outnumbered.

The two enemies faced one another, exchanging taunts designed to provoke an attack. Henry marched his force close enough to allow his archers to unleash a hail of arrows upon the French. The French knights charged forward only to be caught in a slippery quagmire of mud. To make matters worse, the French attackers were unable to effectively swing their broadswords because of the tight quarters of the battlefield and the continuing forward rush of their comrades behind them. Henry’s archers fired lethal storms of arrows into this dense mass of humanity until the French began to retreat. The archers then dropped their bows, picked up what weapons they could find and joined the English knights in slaying their foe. The setting sun left a battlefield heaped with the bodies of thousands of French knights and the cream of France’s ruling class. The English had dealt their enemy a disastrous blow.

“…their horses stumbled among the stakes, and they were speedily slain by the archers.”

Jehan de Wavrin was the son of a Flemish knight. His father and older brother fought with the French at the battle. Both were killed. The young de Wavrin observed the battle from the French lines and we join his account as the two armies prepare for combat:

“When the battalions of the French were thus formed, it was grand to see them; and as far as one could judge by the eye, they were in number fully six times as many as the English. And when this was done the French sat down by companies around their banners, waiting the approach of the English, and making their peace with one another; and then were laid aside many old aversions conceived long ago; some kissed and embraced each other, which it was affecting to witness; so that all quarrels and discords which they had had in time past were changed to great and perfect love. And there were some who breakfasted on what they had. And these Frenchmen remained thus till nine or ten o’clock in the morning, feeling quite assured that, considering their great force, the English could not escape them; however, there were at least some of the wisest who greatly feared a fight with them in open battle.

…The French had arranged their battalions between two small thickets, one lying close to Agincourt, and the other to Tramecourt. The place was narrow, and very advantageous for the English, and, on the contrary, very ruinous for the French, for the said French had been all night on horseback, and it rained, and the pages, grooms, and others, in leading about the horses, had broken up the ground, which was so soft that the horses could with difficulty step out of the soil. And also the said French were so loaded with armour that they could not support themselves or move forward. In the first place they were armed with long coats of steel, reaching to the knees or lower, and very heavy, over the leg harness, and besides plate armour also most of them had hooded helmets; wherefore this weight of armour, with the softness of the wet ground, as has been said, kept them as if immovable, so that they could raise their dubs only with great difficulty, and with all these mischiefs there was this, that most of them were troubled with hunger and want of sleep.

…Now let us return to the English. After the parley between the two armies was finished and the delegates had returned, each to their own people, the King of England, who had appointed a knight called Sir Thomas Erpingham to place his archers in front in two wings, trusted entirely to him, and Sir Thomas, to do his part, exhorted every one to do well in the name of the King, begging them to fight vigorously against the French in order to secure and save their own lives. And thus the knight, who rode with two others only in front of the battalion, seeing that the hour was come, for all things were well arranged, threw up a baton which he held in his hand, saying ‘Nestrocq’ [‘Now strike’] which was the signal for attack; then dismounted and joined the King, who was also on foot in the midst of his men, with his banner before him.

A contemporary depiction of the battle

Agincourt stands in the background.

Then the English, seeing this signal, began suddenly to march, uttering a very loud cry, which greatly surprised the French. And when the English saw that the French did not approach them, they marched dashingly towards them in very fine order, and again raised a loud cry as they stopped to take breath.

Then the English archers, who, as I have said, were in the wings, saw that they were near enough, and began to send their arrows on the French with great vigour.

Then the French seeing the English come towards them in this manner, placed themselves together in order, everyone under his banner, their helmets on their heads. The Constable, the Marshal, the admirals, and the other princes earnestly exhorted their men to fight the English well and bravely; and when it came to the approach the trumpets and clarions resounded everywhere; but the French began to hold down their heads, especially those who had no bucklers, for the impetuosity of the English arrows, which fell so heavily that no one durst uncover or look up.

Thus they went forward a little, then made a little retreat, but before they could come to close quarters, many of the French were disabled and wounded by the arrows; and when they came quite up to the English, they were, as has been said, so closely pressed one against another that none of them could lift their arms to strike their enemies, except some that were in front…

[The French knights] struck into these English archers, who had their stakes fixed in front of them… their. horses stumbled among the stakes, and they were speedily slain by the archers, which was a great pity. And most of the rest, through fear, gave way and fell back into their vanguard, to whom they were a great hindrance; and they opened their ranks in several places, and made them fall back and lose their footing in some land newly sown; for their horses had been so wounded by the arrows that the men could no longer manage them.

[The French] men-at-arms without number began to fall; and their horses feeling the arrows coming upon them took to flight before the enemy, and following their example many of the French turned and fled. Soon afterwards the English archers, seeing the vanguard thus shaken, issued from behind their stockade, threw away their bows and quivers, then took their swords, hatchets, mallets, axes, falcon-beaks and other weapons, and, pushing into the places where they saw these breaches, struck down and killed these Frenchmen without mercy, and never ceased to kill till the said vanguard which had fought little or not at all was completely overwhelmed, and these went on striking right and left till they came upon the second battalion, which was behind the advance guard, and there the King personally threw himself into the fight with his men-at-arms.

As the English continued to gain the upper hand, King Henry received news that the French were attacking at the rear of his army and that French reinforcements were approaching. King Henry ordered that all French prisoners be put to the sword – an order his knights were reluctant to follow as, if kept alive, these prisoners could bring a healthy ransom:

“When the King of England perceived them coming thus he caused it to be published that every one that had a prisoner should immediately kill him, which those who had any were unwilling to do, for they expected to get great ransoms for them. But when the King was informed of this he appointed a gentleman with two hundred archers whom he commanded to go through the host and kill all the prisoners, whoever they might be. This esquire, without delay or objection, fulfilled the command of his sovereign lord, which was a most pitiable thing, for in cold blood all the nobility of France was beheaded and inhumanly cut to pieces, and all through this accursed company, a sorry set compared with the noble captive chivalry, who when they saw that the English were ready to receive them, all immediately turned and fled, each to save his own life. Many of the cavalry escaped; but of those on foot there were many among the dead.”

References:

Wavrin, Jehan de, Chronicles, 1399-1422, trans. Sir W. Hardy and E. Hardy (1887); Keegan, John, The Illustrated Face of Battle: a study of Agincourt, Waterloo and the Somme (1989).

The Battle of Agincourt

Bataille de Azincourt

25 October 1415

Charles VI Henry V

(Links are to coins of the contemporary kings)

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In the summer of 1415 Henry V led an army to France that landed at Harfleur. The date was August 14. The passage across the Channel was smooth and the landing unopposed. Barker notes. “The mortifying failure of the French to offer even token resistance seemed inexplicable, even to their compatriots.” The result was Henry’s ability to establish a beach head in France without incurring casualties. The first task was to seize the town, which was well defended but soon surrounded by the English. The English had a number of cannons with them and the town was bombarded. First the outer defenses fell and when it became evident that there would be no relief, the French asked for terms. It finally surrendered September 22. The town resisted stubbornly before it fell, costing Henry about 1/3 of the 8000 archers and 2000 mounted troops. Burne puts the number available for field operations (after garrisoning and illness) at about 6,000.

From here Henry set out for Calais. It is possible to follow his route on the map (from Bacquet’s Azincourt.) He followed the coast to the Somme but unlike Edward III in the march leading up to Crecy, did not cross at the mouth of the river. He paralleled the river on the south side looking for a crossing. Meanwhile, the French were organizing a force near Rouen to counter the English incursion. This was organized under Constable D’Albret and Marchal Boucicaut. Boucicaut made a quick march and placed himself on the north bank of the Somme, blocking an easy crossing for Henry. This forced Henry to go further east to look for a crossing and to endure a longer march, actually moving away from Calais. He finally crossed at Voyenne and headed towards Calais.

Near Agincourt, the French placed themselves in a position blocking the road to Calais. Henry, as was the case of his predecessors at Crecy and Poitiers, was not looking for a fight but negotiations failed. Henry was not willing to renounce his claim to the French throne, and was forced to fight. He was seriously outnumbered, as were the English at Crecy and Poitiers. His troops were also hungry and tired, being on a hard march. It was raining and both armies were wet. More significantly, so was the battlefield – wet and muddy.

On the morning of August 25 the English aligned themselves in three groups, led by York, Camoys and the king in the center. The French were also aligned in three groups, one behind the other, their pattern in earlier battles. The English were aligned in a long thin line, whereas the French were battle behind battle, with flanking forces near the first battle.

The French were led by D’Albert and Boucicaut.While these were senior officers, they did not have the command authority the king would have had. As a result, many of the French nobles put themselves at the front of the first battle, leaving subsequent groups without strong commanders. This weaked mthe effectiveness of the second battle attack. The French also sent their bowmen to the rear, where they would not be able to play an effective role in the fight and counter the English longbow men. Charles VI, king of France, was not present at this fight.

In this type of fight, there is an advantage of having a stationary place and letting the other come to you. After both armies were aligned, there was a standoff for several hours. The French restrained themselves and did not advance. Henry, being aware of the strain on his forces, decided to take the initiative. Juliet Barker has written a very engaging book (Agincourt) about the campaign. (See a review below). The following is a fairly extensive quote from her book, that captures some of the drama of the moment. She starts off with a quote from a chaplain traveling with Henry and who chronicled the events of the campaign.

“I, who am now wiring this and was then sitting on a horse among the baggage at the rear of the battle, and other priests present did humble our souls before God and … said in our hearts: ‘Remember us, O Lord, our enemies are gathered together and boast themselves in their excellence. Destroy their strength and scatter them, that they may understand, because there is none other that fighteth for us but Thou, our God.’ And also, in fear and trembling, with our eyes raised to heaven we cried out that God would have compassion upon us and upon the crown of England.”

Also from Barker: “With the words of his priests ringing in his ears, the king gave the order for the army to prepare to advance. Every man, regardless of rank, now knelt at his command, kissed the ground and took a morsel of the earth from between his feet and placed it in his mouth. This extraordinary ritual was conducted with all the solemnity of a genuine Church sacrament. It combine both the elements of the Last Supper and its commemoration, the Eucharist, … but also of the committal words of the burial service, ‘earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.’ Physical death and spiritual salvation were thus represented in the single act.”

To advance, the English bowmen had to pull up the stakes they had placed in front of their position, placing their backs to the French, advance to a new position and reset their stakes, again turning their backs to the French. The French did not take advantage of this moment of high vulnerability and attack, allowing the English to re-establish their line closer to the French. The English had now advanced to a narrower front and made it no longer possible for the French to encircle their position.

The battlefield looks much the same today as it did to Henry V, although Barker says the tree lines have moved.. This photo is from Henry’s perspective, looking down a slight decline to the French.

There is a woods to the right, as well as to the left. The English line was about 950 yards wide, the French line about 1200 yards. This was to turn out to be very disadvantageous to the French. The sketch below shows the position of the English advance. The picture next to the sketch shows the road evident in the sketch and a modern marker (line of bowmen) showing the approximate final English position. This photo is looking up hill towards the English position and shows the tree line bounding the left of their line.

The French finally started a ragged calvary charge and the men at arms, on foot began their advance. They were met by a barrage of arrows let loose by 5000 English bowmen.

As noted, the weather had been wet and the battle field was a sea of mud. This hindered the French, but the first rank attacked and pressed the English. The English bowmen stopped shooting and came to the aid of the men at arms. The French second rank also attacked and faced heavy casualties. The French fought without good organization or clear leadership, their problem in earlier battles. They were unable to capitalize on their superiority in numbers. The also suffered because as they advanced their line was compressed from the original length of 1200 yards to the actual frontage between the armies of only 950 yards. This meant that the French were getting in each other’s way and were unable to adequately maneuver against the English. Burne also argues that the French were more focussed on the men at arms than on the archers and ignored the attack of the archers, to their disadvantage. These 15th century miniatures show representations of the battle. The first is from a French manuscript in the V&A in London, the second is from the Chronique de St.-Alban. Both are in Bacquet’s Azincourt.

The English held and as the fighting slowed English troops began to collect prisoners from among the Frfench wounded. When it appears that the French might rally and attack again, Henry ordered his prisoners slaughtered, something very much against the tenets of chivalry. Some were burned alive in a hut where they were being held captive. The miniature below shows French prisoners being led off the field. Note the fleur de lis on their vests over their armour.

The third rank of French, looking out over their slaughtered colleagues, did not advance. In the several hours of battle the smaller English army defeated a much larger French force, killing 10000 Frenchmen. (Burne argues the issue was decided within the first 30 minutes.) This was to be the last of the great English set piece victories. While the English tide was still rising, the French were to do better a generation later.

The battle was disastrous to the French. Once again, a significant piece of the nobility was lost, including several people who had coinage in their own right. Antoine of Bourgogne, duc of Brabant was one of these people.

Image and description from Jean Elsen et fils, with permission

BRABANT, Duché, Antoine de Bourgogne (1406-1415), AR double gros botdrager, 1410-1412, Louvain. Droit : Lion assis à gauche, coiffé d’un heaume. A l’exergue, LOVAN’. Revers : Ecu écartelé de Brabant-Bourgogne sur une croix longue. Ref.: W., 435. 2,53g.

The house of Bar suffered grievously. Comte Robert d’Bar de Marle, duc Edouard d’Bar and Jean d’Bar, sire de Puisaye all died. The first two had coinage. Other deaths included the Constable de France Albert, the duc of Alencon (nephew of king Philippe), and several other counts. Marshal Boucicaut also died.

Recommended reading. Juliet Barker’s Agincourt: The King, the Campaign, the Battle (Brown Little, 2005) is a very engaging work that goes beyond the simple logistics and mechanics of the campaign and battle. It is brings the major players to life in a way that the reader comes to understand their motivations and allegiances with biographical sketches woven throughout the book. Henry V is the main figure and is sympathetically treated. His sense of the noble purpose of the campaign and belief in the righteousness of his cause comes through clearly. By contrast, Charles VI and the Dauphin are no more than shadow characters, as they were in the entire Agincourt story. The book is rich in details of chivalry. For example, the story of Raoul de Gaucourt is followed from his life before the siege of Harfleur and through his leadership of the defense of the city. The strong defense of the city slowed Henry down and cost him unexpected men and material. When Harfleur fell, de Gaucourt surrendered to the king’s justice. He was paroled with the expectation that he would appear at Calais to see what fate awaited him. After Agincourt, de Gaucourt presented himself to Henry at Calais and remained an English prisoner for some time. The reader gains a good appreciation of early 15th century chivalry. Barker also addresses other elements, often surprising to the modern reader, about the difficulties of a medieval campaign. Henry landed without maps as we know them and relied on local information and scouting parties to plan his route. Her discussion of the challenges an invading army has in findings its direction is just one of many that broadens the perspective beyond the Agincourt campaign. If you have an interest in the Hundred Years War or medieval warfare you’ll find this book worth your time.

Sources:

Bacquet, Azincourt

Barker, J, Agincourt

Burne, A.H., The Agincourt War

Desmond Seward, The Hundred Year’s War, Atheum, N.Y., 1978 (Map – p 167.)