The Battle of Agincourt was fought on October 25, 1415 as part of
the Hundred
Years' War between the heavily outnumbered army of King Henry V of
England and that of Charles VI of France. The English army prevailed against
the heavily armoured French cavalry which floundered in the mud and was
wiped out in the hail of arrows rained down on them.
The battle was fought in the defile formed by the wood of Agincourt and
that of Tramecourt, at the northern exit of which the army under d'Albret,
constable of France, had placed itself so as to bar the way to Calais against
the English forces which had been campaigning on the Somme. The night of
the 24th of October was spent by the two armies on the ground, and the
English had but little shelter from the heavy rain which fell. Early on
the 25th, St Crispin's day, Henry arrayed his little army (about 1000 men-at-arms,
6000 archers, and a few thousands of other foot). It is probable that the
usual three "battles" were drawn up in line, each with its archers on the
flanks and the dismounted men-at-arms in the centre; the archers being
thrown forward in wedge-shaped salients, almost exactly as at the Battle
of Crécy. The French, on the other hand, were drawn up in three lines,
each line formed in deep masses. They were at least four times more numerous
than the English, but restricted by the nature of the ground to the same
extent of front, they were unable to use their full weight (compare Bannockburn);
further, the deep mud prevented their artillery from taking part, and the
crossbowmen were as usual relegated to the rear of the knights and men-at-arms.
All were dismounted save a few knights and men-at-arms on the flanks, who
were intended to charge the archers of the enemy. Prior to the battle King
Henry spoke to his troops from a little gray horse. French accounts state
that in his speech he told his men that he and the dukes, earls and other
nobles had little to worry about if the French won because they would be
captured and ransomed for a good price. The common soldier on the other
hand was worth little and so he told them that they better fight hard.
For three hours after sunrise there was no fighting; then Henry, finding
that the French would not advance, moved his army farther into the defile.
The archers fixed the pointed stakes, which they carried to ward off cavalry
charges, and opened the engagement with flights of arrows. The chivalry
of France was not an army but a group on knights who came together by request
from Charles VI,they were undisciplined and careless of the lessons of
the battles of Crécy and Poitiers, was quickly stung into action, and
the French mounted men charged, only to be driven back in confusion. The
constable himself headed the leading line of dismounted men-at-arms; weighted
with their armour, and sinking deep into the mud with every step, they
yet reached and engaged the English men-at-arms; for a time the fighting
was severe. The thin line of the defenders was borne back and King Henry
was almost beaten to the ground. But at this moment the archers, taking
their hatchets, swords or other weapons, penetrated the gaps in the now
disordered French, who could not move to cope with their unarmoured assailants,
and were slaughtered or taken prisoners to a man. The second line of the
French came on, only to be engulfed in the mèlée; its leaders, like those
of the first line, were killed or taken, and the commanders of the third
sought and found their death in the battle, while their men rode off to
safety. The only success for the French was a sally from Azincourt castle
behind the lines. Ysambart D'Azincourt took over the King's baggage. While
this was happening the King was trying to get his own nobles to kill their
prisoners. Unlike him they profited from the battle by getting ransom and
they refused to kill their captives. In addition, they knew it was unchristian
and against their code. The King had to order the commoners to do his butchery.
For this reason coupled with his earlier behavior at Harfleur and later
atrocities Henry V is considered to be a war criminal.
The closing scene of the battle was a half-hearted attack made by a
body of fugitives, which led merely to the slaughter of the French prisoners,
which was ordered by Henry because he had not enough men both to guard
them and to meet the attack. In the morning Henry came back to the battlefield
and killed any wounded French who survived the night in the open. The total
loss of the English is stated at thirteen men-at-arms (including the duke
of York, grandson of Edward III) and about 100 of the foot. The French
lost 5000 of noble birth killed, including the constable, 3 dukes, 5 counts
and 90 barons; 1000 more were taken prisoners, amongst them the duke of
Orléans (the Charles d'Orléans of literature).
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation
License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire
work (including additions) remains under this license. See http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html
for details. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Battle_of_Agincourt
|
