Over the course of British history there have been several key battles, and the Battle of Agincourt ranks high among our greatest.
A battle fought in Agincourt, France, you might be wondering why the battle has any historical relevance, especially given that Britain itself was not under attack – or threat. The truth is the Battle of Agincourt alongside the French campaign of King Henry V was instrumental in securing British interests – both domestically and overseas.
Let’s explore the Battle of Agincourt, including why it was fought, how it was won and why it had significant relevance for Britain going forward.
The Context – Why Was King Henry V in France?
The Battle of Agincourt was a part of a large scale and prolonged military conflict between England and France known as the Hundred Years’ War.
Before The Hundred Years’ War
Before the Hundred Years’ War broke out, France as a nation is not the state we have today. In fact, some of what is now northern France was owned by England and there were many coastal areas that also belonged to England.
England directly controlled the following in 1314:
- Gascony
- Guyenne
- Burgundy
- Ponthieu
England controlled both Britanny and Flanders by way of vassal state.
France like much of mainland Europe at the time was not a contiguously controlled entity with many territories falling under an overall monarch but having relative autonomy over their feudal states. This is very similar to the structure of Germany over the course of much of its history.
England however had far more centralised control, under a single monarch and as a result had been able to successfully mobilise troops overseas to take further territory.
The Outbreak of the Hundred Years’ War
Most royal households across Europe intermarried and famously preserved Royal blood to varying degrees. A prime example of this inter-familial breeding is the Hapsburg Jaw whereby several family members of the Hapsburg family have a distinctive and pronounced jaw due to genetic mutations from inbreeding.
Inbreeding aside, the intermingled royal lines across Europe gave rise to many claimants whenever a monarch died. Edward III of England had a legitimate claim to the French throne and to some extent, future British monarchs for 600 years would go on to stake a claim to the French throne.
To try and enforce his claim to the French throne, Edward III instigated the Hundred Years’ war to try and militarily force his ascension to power.
The Early French Campaign
Edward III first requested a meeting with the French King Philip VI in 1337 to discuss management of British interests overseas but was refused. Slighted by the French king, Edward III decided he would formally stake his claim to the French throne so he could not only acquire further territory but also strengthen administration of overseas territories. He launched an invasion of France and landed in Normandy.
Initially it is unclear to what extent Edward intended to take the French throne and some accounts state he simply wanted to bring the French King to the negotiation table in order to better manage British territories.
Whatever his intention, Edward III found himself in the position of being confronted by a vast French army that far outnumbered his own troops. Instead of cutting his losses and running, he decided that Crecy was favourable to have a battle and the Battle of Crecy, a decisive British victory would go down as another legendary British battle.
Fast-Forward to Henry V
The Hundred Years’ War raged on with peaks and troughs of activity until Henry V ascended the English throne. The great grandson of Edward III, he maintained the by now decades long tradition of claiming the French throne.
Unlike previous monarchs, Henry V was keen to act on this claim and genuinely wanted to take the French throne. He staged his invasion of France in 1415, almost a century after Edward III had first laid claim to the French throne.
France at the time was struggling with internal disputes and it was felt that by invading, Henry V would not only be able to sure up control of assets overseas but potentially also take control of France. His rival king Charles VI of France was particularly vulnerable as he had bouts of severe and sometimes psychotic mental illness.
Henry V rightly thought, Charles VI would not himself be able to stage a coherent defence. It would turn out however that French nobility in stead of their king would be able to unite and form an organised opposition – and a formidable one at that.
British Troops Facing Mounting Pressures
Initially, Henry V had a rough time.
Landing in France he decided to attack the fort at Harfleur with a standing army of around 11,000 men. His army consisted of around 2,300 men-at-arms who were a mix of heavy cavalry, armoured pikemen, and even heavy artillery (the first time such weapons had been used overseas by the British). Basically, the men-at-arms were professional soldiers and everything you might imagine a medieval knight would be.
Complementing the men-at-arms were a contingency of longbowmen that was numbered at 9000 or sometimes 10,000 depending on the source.
Longbowman were highly skilled but not professional soldiers. In England there were laws that stipulated all young men would be trained by their church in archery and although there would be a large amount of seasoned longbowmen who had seen action, there is a high likelihood that a sizeable portion would have been raised from local communities as the army marched south to the English coast.
Despite this, longbowmen were all highly skilled and trained from a young age with the weapon. In fact, the Battle of Agincourt would stand as a testament to how powerful the longbowman force was.
The Siege at Harfleur
As sieges go, especially for the time, Harfleur was relatively long with almost a month before the French troops surrendered.
In that time though Henry’s forces were almost decimated. With between 2000 and 5000 of his men killed in battle and a further 2000-plus wiped out by disease.
By the end of the siege, Henry V was victorious but with very little in terms of his army left and fewer still combat fit.
Realising his predicament, Henry V attempted to return back to England in order to rebuild his army and rest over the winter before returning to fight in France in the spring and summer of the following year. His target was Calais, an English stronghold in northern France and a place that itself offered respite for his troops and a gateway to Dover.
The French realised Henry was in a bad position and blocked his route north back to Calais. Strategically, this was great as the French knew Henry would easily be able to flee back to England, rearm, re-troop and ultimately return. Cutting him off and decisively beating him, or better still killing him, would ruin England’s ability to make war in France.
Henry V however was not an easy target, finding his route north blocked he navigated his army along the River Somme where the French had set up on the opposite side and found a place to ford.
Dysentery Ravages Henry V’s Troops Further
A common disease that afflicts armies and was even present during the much more recent World Wars, dysentery was already rife in Henry V’s army.
By the time delays to crossing the Somme had occurred, his army was severely ravaged with many soldiers dying on the road.
After fording the river, the French army moved to shadow the English army, looking for an opportunity to either cut the advance north off again or to have a standing battle.
What is Dysentery? The Battle of Agincourt
Dysentery is caused by poor sanitary conditions. It is passed around groups in closed groups quickly by drinking unsanitary water or eating contaminated food, but also can be passed around because the soldiers could not wash regularly.
It can be fatal as for lack of better words, you can shit yourself to death. The fever is strong, and the accompanying diarrhoea is bloody. Supplementary symptoms include cramping which is especially brutal if you are trying to fight a battle.
The French Side – On Paper a Dominant Adversary
The French army consisted of a much larger force than the English with 10,000 men-at-arms, 5000 crossbowmen and potentially up to 10,000 armed servants. These armed servants would have varied in both competence and weaponry, ranging from maces and pikes to some being provided crossbows and swords.
By the time the English had set camp at Agincourt, their army had dwindled with around 1000 men-at-arms remaining including Henry V and his personal guard and the remaining forces made up of longbowmen, numbering around 5000. Of this remaining force, a fair portion were sick with dysentery.
At a glance, the French troops numbered up to 25,000 against the Henry’s remaining 6000 – around half the troops he set out with initially. The men-at-arms on the French side outnumbered the English at 10 to 1 and the archers of both sides numbered about the same – though differentially equipped.
Overall, the French had around a 5-1 advantage or if you take out the armed servants, a 3 to 1 advantage. In military terms, this is an overwhelming advantage.
The English favoured longbows and the French, crossbows.
The Battle of Agincourt 1415 – How Each Side Lined Up
By the time the English reached Agincourt which bordered the region of Calais they found the French army had blocked them off.
They had two choices – neither of them good. Henry could about turn and try to navigate around the French position or form up to fight. With the condition of Henry’s army failing on a daily basis, re-routing and potentially encountering another French blockade with a far more diminished force was suicidal. So, Henry V took up position to fight.
The French lined up their forces in three main lines, with archers formed up in small groups on the flanks.
Henry arranged his troops with his longbowmen (the bulk of his forces) out on the flanks around his small group of remaining men-at-arms which held the centre.
The ground between both forces was muddy, boggy, and saturated with October rainfall.
The Role of Longbowmen in the Battle of Agincourt
Henry V was particularly cunning in his arrangement and tactics.
The French formation was clumsy and had automatically nullified their ranged attack group because the crossbowmen were out of range of English forces. Being out on the flanks in small collective groups made it more difficult for them to manoeuvre into firing range once the battle commenced, and ultimately, the crossbowmen would have little to no impact on the ensuing battle.
Longbowmen however had weapons designed for long range combat and Henry instructed his archers to send volley after volley into the central column of the French army.
This left the French commanders with a big problem and the smartest option would to have been to withdraw and form up in a better strategic position. Instead, under heavy arrow bombardment, the French cavalry lines charged forward, hoping to overwhelm and break the English formation.
This was disastrous as the French armour was heavy, the horses got bogged down in the ground and what initially started as a ferocious charge became a gruelling slow march toward the English forces.
All the while, the longbowmen were having an absolute field day firing wave upon wave of arrows into the increasingly slow advancing French troops.
By the time the French made it to the English lines, they had the usual pikemen to overcome before they could get into the traditional combat. The longbowman lines were fortified with a wall of wooden stakes that made horse warfare even more difficult. The longbowman continued firing with glee at their weakening enemy.
The Main Battle
Upon realising the cavalry was going to be wiped out, the French fell back pulling their horses from the field as the remaining French rows proceeded on foot toward the English. The longbowman fired at will into the retreating French cavalry and then again at the advancing foot soldiers (mainly made up of armed servants, men-at-arms and the aforementioned crossbowmen trying to position themselves to respond).
Making matters worse, the disarray of the retreating cavalry caused them to collide with their own advancing forces, causing further unnecessary fatalities. By the time the foot soldiers had reached the English, their formation had been scattered by their own cavalry and they were tired from the trek across the mud-soaked field.
Finding themselves particularly vulnerable at the flanks from the raining arrows, the French infantry clustered together toward the centre. This proved another mistake as they were now boxed in and the longbowmen who had previously been a little more cautious due to having their lines attacked, were free to assault the French without worrying about defence.
By now the French had all of the troops (apart from the cavalry which had scarpered) in a massive and tightly packed block. They were able to push back the English men-at-arms slightly due to sheer number of troops involved, however the French were so tightly packed they had no space to raise their weapon let alone swing a sword.
The Casualties of the Battle of Agincourt
After three hours, the French realised they were in terrible shape. The fighting had been brutal and desperate for them and the English had captured or killed a vast number of their troops.
They retreated, under the final arrows of the heroic longbowmen and reset their formation.
Henry V, upon seeing the French line up once more was disturbed. While the English had successfully repelled the first assault, it had been at the cost of arrows. He knew his longbowmen did not have an indefinite supply and a further assault would potentially risk his own life.
The English had killed around 6000 Frenchmen at this point, many of which were French nobility who died during the ill-fated cavalry charge. They had also taken around 2,200 men prisoner.
By comparison, the English had suffered minor casualties, around 600 in total, most of which was from their central line. Roughly speaking, it left the English with most of their longbowmen intact but only around 300 men-of-war. A large unit of which made up Henry’s personal guard.
This left English forces of around 5400 against 19,000 standing on the French side – minus 2,200 for captives. Whatever way he must have looked at it, it was clear the French still held a 3-1 advantage, and they would have learned from the first assault’s mistakes.
The Contentious Execution of French Prisoners
It is easy to look back at history and view what Henry V did next as despicable. But, when considered in the round and what Henry’s army was facing, it is not really so. He ordered the captured men to be bought to the front of English lines and then executed for the French to see.
A war crime, even by standards of the day and one viewed as being barbaric by most modern historians.
But hindsight is tricky. You see, we know now that the French never sent a second assault. But Henry did not know that. And Henry also didn’t know (as we don’t know) whether the French were planning to go again.
His execution of the surrendered Frenchmen sent a clear message to the French. You go again and even if you surrender, you die. And it worked, the French surrendered their position, and the English won the battle.
Had he not executed the captured French soldiers, who knows? Would the French have taken a second crack at the English? Would the English have withstood a second wave? Would Henry V have died that day?
We don’t know. What we do know is that the English won, and the Battle of Agincourt became a symbol of British pride – even until this day.
Agincourt Today – The Battle of Agincourt Defines it
Like so many medieval battle fields, Agincourt is as unremarkable today as it was in 1415. It just happened to be a place where at a point in history two opposing forces lined up to fight each other.
The exact site of the battle is now farmland and Agincourt (Azincourt in French) is little more than a collection of farmhouses with a population of around 200 people.
There does however stand a museum that I hope to visit soon and an annual Agincourt festival.
Funnily and ironically, this used to run in October, but had to change because of the muddy conditions, so they now run the reenactments and festival in summer.
The Legacy of the Battle of Agincourt
Agincourt could have changed the course of history and strengthened England further as it went through the medieval period and entered the industrial age.
As a result of the battle, Charles VI surrendered his succession of the French throne to Henry V. Upon Charle’s passing the French throne would become Henry’s and thus France would become England.
Henry V however predeceased Charles VI and ultimately, the French crown would pass along its original succession line.
It did however cement the English as a truly formidable force within Europe with many states being far more cautious with diplomacy. It can be argued that Crecy and Agincourt became crucial foundations for British expansionism in the centuries following. It also highlighted the vulnerability of mainland Europe compared to the island state of Britain for invasion.
Despite his untimely death and his cutthroat attitude to prisoners of war at Agincourt, Henry V is now fondly remembered as one of the greatest English monarchs. And the V sign we use in England, is derived from the longbowmen who used them (their bow drawing fingers) to taunt the French.