The Agincourt Campaign Of 1415

First full investigation into the men of Agincourt - their service, backgrounds, lives and experiences.

Agincourt is one of the most evocative names in English military history. Henry V's forces were tired, hungry, and faced a French army three to six times more numerous. However, they possessed several advantages, and English success resulted from the combination of heavily armoured men-at-arms with troops armed with the infamous longbow-- the havoc this weapon wreaked was crucial. Using original fifteenth century evidence, including the surviving French battle plan and the accounts of men present in both armies, this title discusses the lead-up to the battle, the tactical dispositions of the two forces and the reasons for the ultimate English success.

On St Crispin's Day, 25 October 1415, Henry V's English army crushed the French in the most famous battle of the Hundred Years' War. His outnumbered force of men-at-arms and archers repelled the repeated charges of the French mounted men and killed or captured the leading members of the French nobility. The encounter changed the course of the war and made a mark on English and French history that endures to this day. In this compelling new study, medieval historian Michael K. Jones looks critically at the historical evidence and retells in graphic detail the story of this extraordinary campaign. He also provides a fascinating tour of the sites associated with it - Harfleur, Henry V's route across northern France and the Agincourt battlefield itself.

Agincourt took place on 25 October 1415 and was a turning-point not only in the Hundred Years War between England and France but also in the history of weaponry. Azincourt (as it is now) is in the Pas-de-Calais, and the French were famously defeated by an army led by Henry V. Henry V's stunning victory revived England's military prestige and greatly strengthened his territorial claims in France. The exhausted English army of about 9,000 men was engaged by 20,000 Frenchmen, but the limited space of battle favoured the more compact English forces. The undisciplined charges of the French combined with the exceptional skill of the English archers contributed to a pivotal moment in European warfare. Not more than 1,600 English soldiers died; the French probably lost more than 6,000 men. Juliet Barker's shimmeringly brilliant narrative commemorates and analyses a canonical battle in British history.

'Agincourt! Agincourt! Know ye not Agincourt?' So began a ballad of around 1600. Since the event itself (25 October 1415), Agincourt has occupied a special place in both English and French consciousness. Some early French writers could not bring themselves to mention it by name, using instead descriptions such as 'the accursed day'. For the English, it was one of the greatest military successes ever, and thus was celebrated and commemorated in many forms over the centuries which followed. In the First World War, there were stories of angelic Agincourt bowmen giving support and inspiration to the British army. Much ink has been spilt on the battle but do we really know Agincourt? Many historical works have relied on one or two well known sources or even on Shakespeare. Not since Harris Nicolas's History of the Battle of Agincourt was published (1827-33) has there been a full attempt to survey the sources. This book brings together, in translation and with commentary, English and French narrative accounts and literary works of the fifteenth century. It also traces the treatment of the battle in sixteenth -century English histories and in the literary output of, amongst others, Shakespeare and Drayton. After examining how later historians interpreted the battle, it concludes with the first full assessment of the extremely rich administrative records which survive for the armies which fought 'upon Saint Crispin's day'.