Henry V and the Battle of Agincourt
This week I attended a one-day course at the City Lit college in central London on “Henry V And The Battle Of Agincourt”. Our lecturer was Vanessa King of the Mary Ward Centre who ran a course I attended last Autumn on “The Danish Conquest Of England”.
Henry V (1386-1422) is one of the most famous and revered kings in English history. Why? mainly it is because he led the English in the Battle of Agincourt when he defeated superior French forces and his fame was immortalised in Shakespeare’s play. But Henry’s reputation has been helped by his short life – he died of dysentery aged just 35 – and the contrasting performance of the kings who preceded and succeeded him: respectively Henry IV who seized the throne in circumstances of dubious legitimacy and Henry VI who was a child when be became king and suffered from serious mental illness.
The Battle of Agincourt (located south of Calais) took on the feast day of an obscure Saint Crispin: 25 October 1415 – so later this year, we will celebrate the 600th anniversary of the event. Henry did not choose the location – it was the French who attacked him.
According to Shakespeare, the English were outnumbered five to one, but modern historians belief that the numbers were not vastly different: around 12,000 French to maybe 9,000 English. The battle lasted around three hours
What is definite is that the English won or, put another way, the French lost (some two-thirds of their men were killed), so we hold the battle to be one of the greatest victories in our history while the French regard it as a footnote in history. Why did French lose?
1) The French lacked discipline, cohesion and a single command
2) England had an inspirational leader in Henry V
3) The English had the longbow which could be fired six times a minute.
4) There was an element of luck- heavy rain the night before made the newly ploughed field separating the armies very soft which hampered the French attack.