Arcadia England

This Spring, you each have the opportunity to visit the Tower of London - one of London's leading attractions. Not only is the Tower beautiful, but it is laden with over 1000 years of history. You will learn about the Yeomen, about the ravens, the white tower, and the fortress - whilst also stopping off to peek at the Crown Jewels.

You may also notice an additional exhibition, commemorating the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt. Unless you're a big Shakespeare fan, Agincourt may very well have sailed right over your head. Luckily, Glenn Richardson is here to help us refresh our memories as to why this battle holds such monumental weight in British history.

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
Or close the wall up with our English dead.

Henry V and Agincourt

If you know only one quote from Shakespeare’s play Henry V, it will be that one.  This literary battle cry has a hallowed place in English popular culture and in the folk memory of Henry as one of England’s greatest kings and war heroes. He enjoyed a good reputation among his contemporaries, but it is Shakespeare’s Henry who most people think about when they hear his name.

Henry claimed to be the true king of France in succession to Edward III, who had begun what we now call the Hundred Years War with an invasion of France and his own great victory at Crécy in 1346.  After nearly a further century of intermittent war and peace, Henry began the fighting again with an invasion of Normandy in the summer of 1415. He successfully captured the port of Harfleur (during the attack on which Shakespeare has him rally his troops with the words quoted above).

The town came at a high price as Henry lost almost half the troops he brought to France, to dysentery and other diseases. It has been estimated that he had no more than about 6,000 men. Why he then decided to march through Normandy towards the English held coastal city of Calais is still debated by historians. The French moved an army estimated to be at least three times the size of Henry’s into Picardy to counter his move. It was unable to prevent him from crossing the river Somme but, on 24 October, it finally blocked his path to Calais.

Henry took up a defensive position in a field between the small villages of Maisoncelle and Azincourt. On either side of the field were woods which narrowed the battle line. On the morning of 25 October, the king lined his troops up, with his dismounted men-at-arms and infantry in the centre, flanked by his archers. As the French did not immediately attack, Henry moved forward to within about 200 yards of the enemy and the archers launched a series of deadly arrow volleys, straight into the French lines. The French response was an all-out attack. Contrary to popular myth, the French knights were dismounted and found the advance on foot towards Henry’s position, across the recently ploughed field still wet from overnight rain, hard going. They were under constant attack from the archers. Because the field narrowed at the point of the English line, the French could not make use of their numerical superiority and were unable to break the English defence– but it was close.

Henry’s men eventually gained the upper hand and forced the French back on themselves, causing panic and collapse in the ranks of troops still coming on. The French began to break away and flee the field, but at one point it appeared they were rallying. Henry heard reports that the baggage train was being attacked. He ordered the execution of the French prisoners. Some historians believe he was guilty of what today would be called a war crime. In the end the expected counter-attack never came and Henry won the day. He named the battle after the nearby village of ‘Agincourt’.

Henry launched another attack on Normandy in 1417, in alliance with the duke of Burgundy. In 1420, he forced the French to conclude the Treaty of Troyes, making him the next king of France in succession to Charles VI. But Henry died in 1422, only weeks before Charles and the treaty was never really put into effect. Although Henry VI was crowned king of France (by the English) he was never accepted in France. Instead, aided by Joan of Arc, Charles VII rallied the French and by 1453 had driven the English from all their territory in France apart from Calais. Henry V’s reputation as king therefore rests very largely on his qualities as a field commander and leader of men in his victory at the battle of Agincourt – as portrayed by Shakespeare.

Dr Glenn Richardson
Associate Professor of Early-Modern History
St Mary’s University, London