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Agincourt
On Friday 4 December 2009, at the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea, Professor
Anne Curry (pictured right), president of The Historical Association, gave a captivating
talk to the HA’s Swansea branch. Her topic was the Battle of Agincourt, about which
she is the undoubted expert.
Professor Curry was introduced to the audience by Dr John Law, chairman of the
branch, and in a fascinating talk she described to a very attentive audience of about
75 people the events at Agincourt in October 1415, not only recounting in a very
engaging way the details of the battle and its participants but also giving consideration
to the site and to the weather encountered by the forces present there.
Following the talk, Professor Curry kindly answered pertinent questions from the
audience.
The Battle of Agincourt, which took place on 25 October 1415, resulted in a decisive victory for the English over the French in the Hundred Years' War.
In support of his claim to the French crown, Henry V of England invaded Normandy in August 1415. He took Harfleur in September, but by then about half his troops had been lost to battle and disease. Henry decided to travel northeast to Calais, from where his weakened troops could return to England. However, a large French force blocked Henry’s advance to the north.
The French force, many of them mounted knights in heavy armour, caught the exhausted and debilitated English army at Agincourt. The French unwisely chose a battleground that had a narrow frontage of only about 1,000 yards of open ground between two woods. In this confined space, which made large-scale manoeuvres almost impossible, the French effectively forfeited the advantage of their greater number.
At dawn on 25 October, the two armies prepared for battle. Three French divisions (the first two dismounted) were drawn up one behind another. Henry had about 5,000 archers and 900 men-at-arms set out in a dismounted line. The dismounted men-at-arms were grouped in three central blocks joined by projecting wedges of archers, with
additional groups of archers formed forward wings to the left and right of the English line.
Henry led his troops forward into arrow-range, where their long-range archery provoked the French into an assault. A number of small French cavalry charges broke upon a line of pointed stakes in front of the English archers. Then the main French assault, consisting of heavily armoured, dismounted knights, advanced over the muddy ground. As more French knights entered the battle, they became so tightly packed that some of them could hardly raise their arms to strike a blow. At this crucial point, Henry ordered his lightly equipped English archers to attack with knives and axes. They hacked down thousands of French soldiers; thousands more were captured, many of whom were executed when another French attack seemed imminent.
The battle was a disaster for the French. About a dozen members of the highest French nobility, some 1,500 knights, and about 4,500 men-at-arms were killed on the French side, while the English lost less than 450 men. The English were brilliantly led by Henry V, but the confused tactics of the French significantly contributed to their defeat.
CWJ
Photograph by Claire Vivian
