In Agincourt: The Real Story, historical conflict analyst Dr Mike Livingston journeys through northern France in the footsteps of Henry V and his army, from Harfleur to Agincourt.

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Livingston argues that the traditionally recognised site of the battle incorrectly locates the English position in the French position. Additionally, he wonders if Henry’s strategy alone won him the battle – or whether forces beyond his control proved pivotal.

In the battle, Henry arranged his archers into low long wings either side of his centre, where his dismounted men-at-arms stood between further groups of archers.

“As the French approached, they would be shot at from both sides while the surrounding woods and stakes would prevent his archers from being overrun,” Livingston explains.

Livingston reconstructs the battle with Dr Marina Viallon, medieval arms and armour expert. Ultimately, it saw Henry win a total victory against the French, losing just hundreds of men compared with the thousands of French losses.

Although the French men-at-arms facing them would have been eager and fully protected, wearing a combination of mail and plate armour, and the distinctive pointed helmet known as the pig’s nose bascinet, they had a problem.

“The Dauphin had not yet arrived on the battlefield,” explains Viallon. “Instead the French were being led by various dukes of the realm, and they didn’t always get along. So a lot of other factions were actually fighting for power around the king and so you have four or five different leaders in this army.”

This was their biggest problem, says Viallon. “The English had a clear and strong leader. And the French basically had too many cooks in the kitchen, but no chef.”

Dr Mike Livingston meets with master arrowsmith and fletcher Will Sherman in Agincourt: The Real Story

Image Credit: History Hit

The result was confused command, and commitment to a foiled plan even as conditions on the battlefield turned muddy and difficult.

In this light, victory at Agincourt was not a foregone conclusion for the English, but almost a fluke. “Henry did not even want a fight,” says Livingston. “He tried his best to avoid it but the French caught up to him.”

In Agincourt: The Real Story, Livingston explores the vital role of Henry’s archers, and works with master arrowsmith and fletcher Will Sherman to explore the finely honed technology that helped win the day.

He also investigates whether Henry was seeking battle or running away, exploring whether illness among his troops motivated a return home.

Livingston considers how Agincourt permeated as a tale of bravery and triumph against all the odds, inspiring Shakespeare and thereafter everyone from Churchill to Kenneth Branagh.

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The emergence of heralds

In their earliest days, heralds would deliver proclamations and act as messengers on behalf of monarchs or by high ranking noblemen. They were essentially the forerunner of the diplomats active all around the world today. Heralds carried a white rod to denote their diplomatic immunity: they were not to be attacked in war nor the subject of reprisals on account of the messages they carried. Diplomatic immunity was at the core of their activities moving between parties, particularly in times of war to keep channels of negotiation open.

Over time, this involvement in diplomacy led to heralds becoming experts in heraldry. They came to know the badges, standards and coats of arms used by royalty and nobility in order to help them do their jobs. This in turn opened up another avenue of activity for them. Heralds became experts in genealogy. Understanding heraldry evolved into a knowledge of family histories and achievements, not least because these often played into the coats of arms used by noblemen as heralds needed to understand what they meant.

Tournament experts

This aspect of the heralds’ work expanded and made them experts in family history and the coats of arms and heraldic devices that identified nobles. In turn, as the tournament circuit grew across Europe, heralds became the natural choice to organise them. As they understood coats of arms, they could determine who was qualified to participate and could keep track of who won and lost.

Medieval tournaments began as sprawling war games in which the aim was to capture rival knights. Doing so would entitle the captor to keep their horse or claim a ransom, and the circuit made some knights, such as the famous Sir William Marshal, incredibly rich.

The events could cover miles of countryside or drive through towns, involving hundreds of contestants. As well as causing chaos, they could be very dangerous and knights were sometimes killed in tournaments. During these vast events, a herald’s eye for who was who proved invaluable. It was only much later in the medieval period that tournaments began to evolve into the more contained jousting contests associated particularly with the Tudor period.

Heralds also became involved in organising the highly ceremonial moments of pomp and circumstance during the medieval period, including Christmas and Easter feasts. They continue to be involved in many events today.

Bavarian herald Jörg Rugen wearing a tabard of the Coat of arms of Bavaria, around 1510

Image Credit: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The heralds of the United Kingdom are today under the watch of the Earl Marshal, an office of state held by the Duke of Norfolk. They still have central roles in the procession and service of the Order of the Garter, the State Opening of Parliament, arranging State funerals, and the coronation of monarchs. You can usually spot them at these events by their brightly coloured tabards, a leftover from their medieval forerunners.

The College of Arms

On 2 March 1484, the College of Arms was formally incorporated as a legal body by Richard III, who had overseen the heralds for more than a decade as Constable of England before becoming king. He gave them a house named Coldharbour on Upper Thames Street. This was taken from them by Henry VII after the Battle of Bosworth and given to his mother. The charter still in operation today was granted by Queen Mary I in 1555, along with Derby Place as their base. This building was destroyed by the Great Fire of London in 1666 and the present building is its replacement, completed in the 1670s.

Prince Arthur’s Book, an armorial of arms for Arthur, Prince of Wales, c. 1520, depicting the proliferation of lions in English heraldry

Image Credit: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Richard III’s charter of incorporation stated that the responsibilities of the heralds included that ‘all manner of solemn occasions, solemn acts and deeds of the nobility, those concerned with the deeds of arms as well as others, be truthfully and indifferently recorded’.

Heralds and battles

Medieval heralds also had key duties on the field of battle. For the same reasons that they were useful at tournaments in knowing who was who and spotting where they were, they were also perfectly positioned to record battles. They could compile casualty lists based on heraldry even when facial features may have become unrecognisable. They were responsible for recording numbers of dead and injured, organising the burial of the dead and for relaying the requests of prisoners to their captors.

Although they were expected to encourage their masters to behave honourably and in a chivalric manner on the battlefield, they were also required to remain impartial. Traditionally, heralds would withdraw to a safe distance, on a hill if possible, and observe the battle. Heralds of the opposing forces could do so together, protected by their diplomatic immunity and bound by an international spirit of fraternity that was above the fights of their masters.

One of the key roles of the heralds on a battlefield was the official announcement of the victor. It may seem obvious who would have won a battle, but heralds were medieval VAR, officially determining who had triumphed. This convention was on display at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. One account of the battle written by Enguerrand de Monstrelet, who was a Frenchman and governor of Cambrai, details the immediate aftermath of the fighting.

‘When the king of England found himself master of the field of battle, and that the French, excepting such as had been killed or taken, were flying in all directions, he made the circuit of the plain, attended by his princes; and while his men were employed in stripping the dead, he called to him the French herald, Montjoye, king-at-arms, and with him many other French and English heralds, and said to them, “It is not we who have made this great slaughter, but the omnipotent God, and, as we believe, for a punishment of the sins of the French.” He then asked Montjoye, to whom the victory belonged; to him, or to the king of France? Montjoye replied, that the victory was his, and could not be claimed by the king of France. The king then asked the name of the castle he saw near him: he was told it was called Agincourt. “Well then,” added he, “since all battles should bare the names of the fortress nearest to the spot where they were fought, this battle shall, from henceforth, bare the ever durable name of Agincourt.”’

So, for all the knights and warrior kings, it was the neutral heralds who decided who granted victory on the medieval battlefield.

Here are 10 facts you need to know about medieval England’s most notorious weapon.

1. Longbows date back to the Neolithic period

Often thought to have originated from Wales, there is evidence the long ‘D’ shaped weapon was in use during the Neolithic period. One such bow dating to around 2700 BC and made of yew, was found in Somerset in 1961, while there is thought to be another in Scandinavia.

Nonetheless, the Welsh were renowned for their skill with longbows: having subdued Wales, Edward I hired Welsh archers for his campaigns against Scotland.

2. The longbow rose to legendary status under Edward III during the Hundred Years’ War

The longbow first rose to prominence during the Battle of Crecy with Edward’s force of 8,000 men led by the Black Prince, his son. With a firing rate of 3 to 5 volleys per minute the French were no match for the English and Welsh bowmen who could fire 10 or 12 arrows in the same amount of time. The English also prevailed despite reports that rain had adversely affected the bowstrings of the crossbows.

The Battle of Crecy, depicted in this 15th century miniature, saw English and Welsh longbowmen face off with Italian mercenaries using crossbows.

Image Credit: Jean Froissart / Public Domain

3. Archery practice was allowed on holy days

Recognising the tactical advantage they had with longbowmen, English monarchs encouraged all Englishmen to gain skill with the longbow. The demand for skilled archers meant archery was even allowed on Sundays (traditionally a day of church and prayer for Christians) by Edward III. In 1363, during the Hundred Years’ War, archery practice was ordered on Sundays and holidays.

4. Longbows took years to make

During the medieval period English bowyers would have waited years to dry and gradually bend the wood to make a longbow. Yet longbows were a popular and economic weapon because they could be made from a single piece of wood. In England, this traditionally would have been yew or ash with a string made from hemp.

5. Longbows secured Henry V’s victory at Agincourt

Longbows would reach up to 6 feet tall (often as tall as the man wielding it) and could fire an arrow almost 1,000 feet. Although accuracy was really dependent on quantity, and longbowmen were used like artillery, firing huge numbers of arrows in successive waves.

This tactic was used during the famous Battle of Agincourt in 1415, when 25,000 French forces met Henry V’s 6,000 English troops in the rain and mud. The English, the majority of which were longbowmen, rained arrows down upon the French, who became unnerved and spread in all directions trying to escape.

6. Longbowmen adapted to changing times

The type of arrow-head used with the longbow changed throughout the medieval period. At first archers used the highly expensive and more accurate broad-head arrows that looked like a ‘V’. Yet as infantrymen such as knights were better outfitted with tougher armour, archers began using chisel-shaped bodkin arrow-heads that would certainly still pack a punch, especially to cavalrymen charging forwards with galloping momentum.

7. Longbowmen took more than a bow into battle

During times of war, English longbowmen were outfitted by their employer, usually their local lord or king. According to a household accounting book from 1480, a typical English longbowman was protected from the string whipping back by brigandine, a type of canvas or leather armour strengthened by small steel plates.

Backplate from a brigandine, circa 1400-1425.

Image Credit: Metropolitan Museum of Art / Public Domain

He was also issued a pair of splints for arm defences as using a longbow took a lot of strength and energy. And of course, a longbow would be little use without a sheaf of arrows.

8. The longbow has been popularised by legendary outlaw Robin Hood

In 1377, the poet William Langland first mentioned Robyn Hode in his poem Piers Plowman, describing an outlaw who stole from the rich to give to the poor. The folk legend Robin Hood has been shown in modern depictions to use a longbow, such as the iconic 1991 film starring Kevin Costner. These images of the outlaw have undoubtedly spread awareness to today’s audiences of the longbow’s significance both for hunting and combat in English medieval life.

9. Over 130 longbows survive today

While no English longbows survive from their heyday in the 13th to 15th centuries, more than 130 bows survive from the Renaissance period. An incredible recovery of 3,500 arrows and 137 whole longbows came from the Mary Rose, Henry VIII’s ship that sank at Portsmouth in 1545.

10. The last battle involving the longbow took place in 1644 during the English Civil War.

During the Battle of Tippermuir, the Marquis of Montrose’s Royalist forces in support of Charles I fought the Scottish Presbyterian government, with heavy losses for the government. The town of Perth was subsequently sacked. Muskets, cannons and guns soon dominated the battlefield, marking the end of active service for the famed English longbow.

1. The Battle of Crecy: 26 August 1346

In 1346 Edward III invaded France through Normandy, taking the port of Caen and burning and pillaging a path of destruction through Northern France. On hearing that King Phillip IV was raising an army to defeat him, he turned north and moved along the coast until he reached the small forest of Crecy. Here they decided to wait for the enemy.

The French outnumbered the English, but fell foul of the English longbow. The ability to fire every five seconds gave them a huge advantage and as the French attacked again and again, English archers wreaked havoc amongst French soldiers. Eventually, a wounded Philip accepted defeat and retreated. The battle was a decisive English victory: the French suffered heavy losses and the victory allowed the English to take the port of Calais, which became a valued English possession for the next two hundred years.

2. The Battle of Poitiers: 19 September 1356

In 1355 England’s heir Edward – known as the Black Prince – landed at Bordeaux, while the Duke of Lancaster landed with a second force in Normandy and began to push south. They were opposed by the new French King, John II, who forced Lancaster to withdraw towards the coast. He then set off in pursuit of the English and caught up with them at Poitiers.

Initially it seemed as if the odds were stacked against the Black Prince. His army was vastly outnumbered and he offered to return the loot he had plundered during his march. However, John was convinced the English did not stand any chance in battle and refused.

The battle was again won by the archers, many of whom were veterans of Crecy. King John was captured, his son the Dauphin, Charles, was left to rule: faced with populist uprisings and a widespread feeling of discontent, the first episode of the war (often known as the Edwardian episode) is generally seen to have concluded after Poitiers.

Edward, The Black Prince, receiving King John of France after the Battle of Poitiers by Benjamin West. Image credit: Royal Collection / CC.

3. The Battle of Agincourt: 25 October 1415

With the French King Charles suffering mental health problems, Henry V decided to grab the chance to rekindle England’s old claims in France. After negotiations fell through – the English still had the French king John and were demanding ransom payments – Henry invaded Normandy and laid siege to Harfleur. French forces were not assembled fast enough to relieve Harfleur but they did put enough pressure on English forces to force them into battle at Agincourt.

Whilst the French were thought to have at least double the forces of the English, the ground was extremely muddy. Expensive suits of armour proved more of a help than a hindrance in the mud, and under the rapid fire of English archers and their powerful longbows, up to 6000 French soldiers were slaughtered in horrific conditions. Henry executed many more prisoners after the battle. The unexpected victory left Henry in control of Normandy, and cemented the Lancastrian dynasty back in England.

Agincourt is remarkably well documented, with at least 7 contemporary accounts, 3 of which belong to eyewitnesses, in known existence. The battle has been immortalised by Shakespeare’s Henry V, and remains iconic in the English imagination.

Illustration of the Battle of Agincourt, from the ‘Vigils of Charles VII’. Image credit: Gallica Digital Library / CC.

4. The Siege of Orleans: 12 October 1428 – 8 May 1429

One of the biggest French victories of the Hundred Years’ War came courtesy of a teenage girl. Joan of Arc was convinced she had been ordained by God to defeat the English and more importantly so was the French prince Charles VII.

He gave her an army to lead against the English which she used to lift the siege of Orleans. This paved the way for the French prince to be crowned at Rheims. She, however, was later captured by the Burgundians and handed over to the English who had her executed.

Orleans itself was a significant city both militarily and symbolically for both sides. Whilst the English had lost the city itself, they still considered much of the surrounding region, and it took several more battles and months for the French to finally consecrate Charles as King Charles VII.

5. The Battle of Castillon: 17 July 1453

Under Henry VI, England lost most of the gains of Henry V. A force attempted to regain them but was dealt a crushing defeat at Castillon, with high casualties as a result of poor leadership from John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury. The battle is noted in the development of warfare as being the first battle in Europe in which field artillery (cannons) played a major role.

For all their victories during the war at Crecy, Poitiers and Agincourt, the loss at Castillon saw England lose all their territories in France, except for Calais which remained in English hands until 1558. The battle is considered by most to mark the end of the Hundred Years’ War, although this would not necessarily have seemed obvious to contemporaries. King Henry VI had a major mental breakdown later in 1453: many consider the news of the defeat at Castillon to have been a trigger.

Here are ten of the most significant British battles in history.

1. The Battle of Hastings: 14 October 1066

William the Conqueror’s victory against Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings was an era defining moment. It ended over six hundred years of Anglo-Saxon rule in England and ushered in nearly a century of Norman dominion – a period epitomised by the construction of formidable castles and cathedrals as well as significant changes to English society.

2. The Battle of Agincourt: 25 October 1415

On 25 October, also known as St Crispin’s Day, 1415 an English (and Welsh) ‘band of brothers’ won a miraculous victory at Agincourt.

Despite being outnumbered, Henry V’s army triumphed against the flower of the French nobility, marking the end of an era where the knight dominated the battlefield.

Immortalised by William Shakespeare, the battle has come to represent an important part of British national identity.

3. The Battle of the Boyne: 11 July 1690

A painting of William of Orange at the Battle of the Boyne.

The Battle of the Boyne was fought in Ireland between a recently-deposed King James II and his Jacobites (James’ Catholic supporters) and King William III and his Williamites (William’s Protestant supporters).

William’s victory at the Boyne secured the fate of the Glorious Revolution that had occurred two years before. Because of this no Catholic monarch has ruled England since James II.

4. The Battle of Trafalgar: 21 October 1805

On 21 October 1805, Admiral Horatio Nelson’s British fleet crushed a Franco-Spanish force at Trafalgar in one of the most famous naval battles in history.

The victory sealed Britain’s reputation as the world’s leading maritime power – a reputation which arguably remained until the end of World War Two.

5. The Battle of Waterloo: 18 June 1815

Ten years after the Battle of Trafalgar, Britain gained another of its most iconic victories at Waterloo in Belgium when Arthur Wellesley (better known as the Duke of Wellington) and his British army decisively defeated Napoleon Bonaparte, with aid from Blücher’s Prussians.

The victory marked the end of the Napoleonic Wars and peace returned to Europe for the next generation. It also paved the way for Britain becoming the world superpower during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

In British eyes, Waterloo is a national triumph that is still celebrated to this day and commemorations of the battle remain visible in various formats: songs, poems, street names and stations for instance.

6. The Battle of the Somme: 1 July – 18 November 1916

The first day of the Battle of the Somme holds an infamous record for the British army, being the bloodiest day in its history. 19,240 British men lost their lives that day due mainly to poor intelligence, inadequate artillery support, and an underestimation of their foe – a contempt that has proven fatal so many times in history.

By the end of the battle 141 days later, 420,000 British soldiers lay dead for the prize of just a few miles of land gained.

7. The Battle of Passchendaele: 31 July – 10 November 1917

Also known as the Third Battle of Ypres, Passchendaele was another of the bloodiest battles of World War One.

A new German strategy called defence in depth exacted heavy losses on initial Allied attacks before General Herbert Plumer’s bite and hold tactics, which aimed at taking more limited objectives rather than driving deep into enemy territory in one push, turned the tables for a while. But unseasonably heavy rains turned the battlefield to a deadly quagmire, making progress difficult and adding to the already heavy toll in manpower.

The casualty figures for Passchendaele are highly contested but it is generally agreed that each side lost a minimum of 200,000 men and likely as many as twice that.

Passchendaele had a particularly catastrophic impact on the German Army; they suffered a devastating rate of casualties which by that stage of the war they simply could not replace.

8. The Battle of Britain: 10 July – 31 October

The Battle of Britain was fought in the skies above southern England during the Summer of 1940.

Having conquered France and most of mainland Europe, Adolf Hitler planned an invasion of Britain – Operation Sealion. For this to go ahead, however, he first needed to gain control of the air from the Royal Air Force.

Although significantly outnumbered by Herman Goering’s infamous Luftwaffe, the Royal Air Force successfully fended off the German Messchersmitts, Heinkels and Stukas, forcing Hitler to ‘postpone’ the invasion on 17 September.

Britain’s ultimate victory in the skies stopped a German invasion and signified a turning point in World War Two. At the time of Britain’s Darkest Hour this victory brought hope to the Allied cause, shattering the aura of invincibility that had until then surrounded Hitler’s forces.

9. The Second Battle of El Alamein: 23 October 1942

On 23 October 1942 Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery spearheaded a British-led victory at El Alamein in modern day Egypt against Erwin Rommel’s Afrika Korps – the decisive moment of the Desert War in World War Two.

The victory marked one of the most important turning points, if not the most important, of the war. As Churchill famously remarked,

‘Before Alamein we never had a victory. After Alamein we never had a defeat’.

10. The Battles of Imphal and Kohima: 7 March – 18 July 1944

The Battles of Imphal and Kohima was a key turning point during the Burma campaign on World War Two. Masterminded by William Slim, British and Allied forces won a decisive victory against the Japanese forces situated in north-eastern India.

The Japanese siege of Kohima has been described as ‘the Stalingrad of the East’, and between 5 and 18 April the Allied defenders were engaged in some of the bitterest close-quarter fighting of the war.

Origins

The longbow is generally considered to be an invention of the middle ages, but in truth it has been around since the ancient era. When Alexander the Great faced King Porus, King of the Parauvas, at the Hydaspes River in 326 BC for instance, some of Porus’ soldiers wielded an Indian version of the longbow.

An engraving of the Battle of the Hydaspes River where Arrian, an ancient Greek historian, states some Indians were equipped with longbows.

It was the Welsh, however, who perfected the art of this bow, using it to great effect. The first documented occasion of a long bow being used in battle was in 633 in a battle between the Welsh and the Mercians.

It also impressed Edward I during his campaigns against the Welsh. It is said that he incorporated Welsh conscript archers in his later battles in Scotland. Later, during the 13th century, a law was introduced in England that made it compulsory for men to attend longbow training every Sunday.

How the longbow was made

The genius of the longbow was its simplicity. It was a length of wood – normally willow or yew – about the height of a man. Each one was tailor made to its owner and could produce enough power to pierce even the toughest armour of the time.

Using a longbow was not easy. Each bow was heavy and required considerable strength to use. The skeletons of medieval archers appear noticeably deformed with enlarged left arms and often bone spurs on the wrists. Using one effectively was another matter altogether.

The weapon had to be used quickly and accurately with the best archers managing a firing rate of one every five seconds, which in turn gave them a crucial advantage over the crossbows, which not only took longer to fire, but also had a shorter range – at least until the latter half of the 14th century.

A 15th century miniature showing longbowmen from the Battle of Agincourt 25 October 1415.

Success in war

It was in the Hundred Years War that the longbow came into its own. At the Battle of Crecy, English archers were instrumental in defeating a much larger and better equipped French force.

At the time warfare had been dominated by the power of the knight, clad in expensive armour and riding an even more expensive war horse. Battles were fought on the principles of chivalry with captured knights being treated with all due respect and returned on receipt of a ransom.

At Crecy Edward III changed the rules. In one battle the flower of French nobility was cut down in its prime by the English longbows.

It sent shock waves throughout France. Not only was there the disaster of the defeat to be accounted for, but also the shocking fact that highly trained knights had been killed by low-born archers.

English archers would continue to be influential in later battles in The 100 Years War, particularly at Agincourt where English bowmen again helped to defeat a much better equipped army of French knights.

Legacy

Over time the longbow was replaced by gunpowder, but it continues to hold a special place in English psyche. It was even deployed during World War Two, when an English soldier used one to bring down a German infantryman. That was the last time it’s been known to have been used in war, but it continues to be used in sport and by archers trained in the medieval skill.

The longbow continues to be used for sport and exhibitions to this day.

On 25 October, also known as St Crispin’s Day, 1415, a combined English and Welsh army gained one of history’s most remarkable victories at Agincourt in north eastern France.

Despite being heavily outnumbered, Henry V’s tired, beleaguered army triumphed against the flower of the French nobility, marking the end of an era where the knight dominated the battlefield.

Here are ten facts about the Battle of Agincourt:

1. It was preceded by the Siege of Harfleur

Although the siege eventually proved successful, it had been long and costly for Henry’s army.

2. The French army positioned themselves near Agincourt, blocking Henry’s route to Calais

The French army’s clever manoeuvring forced Henry and his beleaguered army to fight if they were to have any chance of reaching home.

3. The French army consisted almost entirely of heavily-armoured knights

These men were the warrior elite of the time, equipped with the best arms and armour available.

4. The French army was commanded by the French marshal Jean II Le Maingre, also known as Boucicaut

Boucicaut was one of the greatest jousters of his day and a skilled tactician. He was also aware of the past defeats the French had suffered at English hands at both Crecy and Poitiers the previous century and was determined to avoid a similar outcome.

5. Henry’s army consisted mainly of longbowmen

A self-yew English longbow. Credit: James Cram / Commons.

These men trained every single week and were highly-skilled professional killers. This was no doubt helped by English law, which made archery practice compulsory every Sunday to ensure the king always had a steady supply of archers available.

6. Henry made the first move

Henry advanced his army further up the field to a position protected by woodland on either side in his hopes to entice the French knights forwards.

7. The English longbowmen deployed sharpen stakes to protect them from cavalry charges

The stakes also tunnelled the French knights towards Henry’s heavily armed infantrymen in the centre.

The longbowmen had protected their positions on the flanks of Henry’s army with stakes. Credit: PaulVIF / Commons.

8. The first wave of French knights was decimated by the English longbowmen

As the knights charged forwards, the longbowmen rained volley after volley of arrows down on their opponents and decimated the French ranks.

A 15th-century miniature of the Battle of Agincourt. Contrary to the image, the battlefield was chaos and there was no exchange of archer fire. Credit: Antoine Leduc, Sylvie Leluc and Olivier Renaudeau / Commons.

9. Henry V fought for his life during the fray

When the French knights clashed with the English heavy infantry at the height of the battle, Henry V was in the thickest of the action.

Supposedly the English king suffered an axe blow to his head which knocked off one of the crown’s jewels and was rescued by a Welsh member of his bodyguard, Daffyd Gam, who lost his life in the process.

10. Henry had more than 3,000 French prisoners executed during the battle

One source claims Henry did this because he was worried the captives would escape and rejoin the fighting.

The Hundred Years’ War

Agincourt was one of the key turning points of the Hundred Years’ War, a conflict that began in 1337 and ended in 1453. This extended period of near constant fighting between England and France began with the ascension of Edward III to the throne of England and, alongside it, his claim to the throne of France.

Popular, enigmatic and confident, Edward quartered (joined together) the coats of arms of England and France before sailing across the channel and embarking on a series of military campaigns through which he gained land. In 1346, his persistence paid off and he won a great victory at the Battle of Crécy.

These military successes cemented Edward’s popularity as king, but it was mostly due to a clever propaganda campaign that placed his French campaigns in a chivalric context.

Help from Arthur

From the 10th century, “chivalry” became recognised as an ethical code of conduct during war – a promotion of clemency between opposing sides. This idea was later taken up by the church with the emergence of patriotic religious figures such as Saint George and, later, by literature, most famously in the legend of King Arthur.

Before his victory at Crécy, Edward found himself having to persuade both the English parliament and the English public to support his ambitions across the Channel. Not only did he need parliament to okay another tax to fund his French campaigns but, with little overseas support, he would be forced to mainly draw his army from Englishmen.

To promote his cause, Edward turned to the Arthurian cult for help. Casting himself in the role of Arthur, the quintessentially English king, he was successfully able to portray warfare as a romantic ideal, akin to the glorious battles of Arthurian legend.

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In 1344, Edward began building a Round Table at Windsor, his would-be Camelot, and hosted a series of tournaments and pageants. Membership of his Round Table became highly sought after, something that brought with it military and chivalric prestige.

Edward’s propaganda campaign ultimately proved successful and two years later he claimed his famous victory at Crécy, defeating a much larger army led by French King Philip VI. The battle was reenacted at a tilt before an enraptured audience and it was during these festivities that the king and 12 knights wore a garter around their left knee and on their robes – the Order of the Garter was born.

An elitist fraternity, the Order espoused the brotherhood of the Round Table, though some high-born women did become members.

Propaganda vs. reality

The traditional customs of the chivalric code were not just espoused by Edward during his propaganda campaign, but also upheld by him during battle – at least according to chroniclers such as Jean Froissart, who described the events that took place following the capture of three French knights at the siege of Limoges in France.

Ironically, although common people were massacred during the assault on Limoges, the elite French knights appealed to Edward’s son, John of Gaunt, to be treated “according to the law of arms” and subsequently became prisoners of the English.

Prisoners were largely treated kindly and well. When the French king Jean Le Bon was captured by the English at the Battle of Poitiers, he spent the night dining in the royal tent, before eventually being taken to England, where he lived in relative luxury at the opulent Savoy Palace.

High net worth individuals were a lucrative commodity and many English knights made a fortune during war by capturing French nobility for extortionate ransoms. Edward’s closest comrade, Henry of Lancaster, became the wealthiest magnate in the country through the spoils of war.

The fall of chivalry

The reign of Edward III was the golden age of chivalry, a time when patriotism was high in England. After his death in 1377, the young Richard II inherited the English throne and war ceased to be a priority.

The concept of chivalry became immersed in court culture after Edward III’s death.

Chivalry instead became immersed in court culture, becoming more about pomp, romance and frivolity – qualities that did not lend itself to warfare.

Richard was eventually overthrown by his cousin Henry IV and the war in France became a success once again under his son Henry V. But by 1415, Henry V did not see fit to extend the traditional chivalric customs that had been demonstrated by his predecessors in France.

The Hundred Years’ War ultimately began with the rise of chivalry and closed with its fall. Chivalry may have enabled Edward III to lead his countrymen into France but, by the end of the Battle of Agincourt, Henry V had proved that chivalry no longer had a place in hard war.

The Battle of Agincourt is seen as part of the Hundred Years War, which began when King Edward III claimed that he was the true heir to the kingless land of France.

Henry’s initial foray

The Hundred Years War, despite its name, was not a continuous conflict, and in fact in the months before Henry’s campaign the opposing nations had been trying hard to reach a diplomatic compromise which would suit them both.

Negotiations broke down however, and Henry was furious at the French delegation’s haughty treatment of him, launching an expedition into France in retaliation.

Detail of a miniature of Henry V of England. Image credit: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Henry’s army of 12,000 besieged the coastal town of Harfleur. This was not expected to take long, but the defenders were well-lead and motivated, and the siege continued for well over a month. As it dragged on, the English army was ravaged by dysentery and thousands died in miserable agony.

By the time the town fell on the 22nd September, campaigning season was almost over, as winter presented serious problems for the supply lines of medieval armies.

Though his army was too small to fight the French directly again, Henry wanted to march from Harfleur in Normandy to the English-held town of Calais in a display of impudence.

The French counter-attack

However, the French had gathered a vast army around the town of Rouen in the meantime. A contemporary source gives the size of the their force as 50,000, though it was probably slightly fewer, and on their way north to Calais, the English army found its way barred by a vast host of Frenchmen.

The differences between the two armies went beyond size. The English was largely comprised of longbowmen, largely lower class men, skilled with the English longbow. Few men around today could draw the weapon, which required years of training to use.

Longbowmen possessed astonishing strength, which meant that they were also deadly in a melee despite their almost complete lack of armour. Some were so beset by dysentery that they had to fight without trousers on.

The French, on the other hand, were far more aristocratic, and one source even claims that the French turned down the use of 4000 crossbowmen because they believed that they would not need the help of such a cowardly weapon.

The only thing that the English had in their favour was the battlefield itself, near the castle of Agincourt. The battlefield was narrow, muddy, and hemmed in by thick woodland. This was bad terrain for horsemen, and a critical factor, as many French nobles liked to fight mounted as a sign of status.

The battle

The French knights launched a furious charge at their enemy, but volleys of arrows combined with the mud and angled stakes, placed in the ground by the longbowmen, ensured that they got nowhere near the English lines. Adopting a different approach, the heavily armoured French men-at-arms then advanced on foot.

A hundred years prior, at Crecy, English arrows had been able to pierce through plate armour, but now advances in the design meant that only a lucky strike or close-range hit would do any serious damage. As a result, despite hails of arrows the French were able to close with the English line and then begin furious close-quarters fighting.

Though the English arrows had not killed many Frenchmen outright, by the time they reached the English lines they were utterly exhausted.

‘The Morning of the Battle of Agincourt’ (1884) by John Gilbert. Image credit: Sir John Gilbert (1817–1897), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Fresh and unencumbered by heavy armour, the longbowmen were able to dance around their richer opponents and hammer them to death using hatchets, swords and the mallets they had used to drive their stakes in.

Henry was in the thick of the fighting himself and suffered an axe blow to his head which knocked half of the crown off the King’s helmet.

French commander Charles d’Albret poured more men into the fight, but the narrow terrain meant that they could not use these numbers to their advantage, and more and more died in the crush. D’Albret was killed, joining many thousands of his men.

The aftermath

Henry’s army made it back to Calais. The prisoners they took at the battle had almost outnumbered the English, but with many Frenchmen still lurking nearby the King had them all killed – much to the disgust of his men, who had hoped to sell them back to their families for large sums.

Late 15th-century depiction of Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Valois. Image credit: Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Shellshocked by the scale of the defeat, the ailing French King Charles VI declared Henry his heir in 1420. England had won.

Then Henry V died young, in 1422, and the French went back on their promise. Eventually they forced all Englishmen out of their country and won the war in 1453.

The Battle of Agincourt, immortalised by William Shakespeare, has come to represent an important part of British national identity.