Archery

Agincourt 600: 1415 – 2015

 

The 25th of October 2015 was the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt between the kingdoms of England (there was no “United Kingdom of Great Britain” at this time) and France.  Agincourt is a battle famous for the triumph of the English War Bow.

Although I was in Chiang Mai, Thailand, this didn’t stop me from shooting some commemorative arrows in remembrance of all those on all sides that took part in the battle.

 

The Triumph of the English War Bow: King Henry V of England (1386 to 1422 CE) and the original “Band of Brothers” at the Battle of Agincourt, Saint Crispin’s Day, 25 October 1415

 

King Henry V’s great grandfather, King Edward III of England (1312 to 1377 CE), started the Hundred Years’ War between England and France in 1340 by declaring himself the King of France.  His claim to the French throne was through his mother, Isabella of France, who was the daughter of King Philip IV of France.

In 1415, 75-years after his great grandfather had first proclaimed himself to be both the King of England and France, the 28 year old King Henry V of England, also known as Henry of Monmouth, renewed the English war effort against France as part of his perceived hereditary claim to the French throne.  He mobilized an army of between 8,000 and 12,000 men.  This army consisted mostly of English and Welsh archers and lesser numbers of men-at-arms.  They arrived at Chef-en-Caux in northern France on 13 August 1415.

The first action of the campaign was the siege of the port town of Harfleur.  It was during this siege that the Henry’s army was hit hard by dysentery, a potentially fatal bacterial infection that causes intestinal inflammation.  A quarter of Henry V’s army was lost as a result this disease.

Harfleur surrendered to the English on 22 September 1415.  But with the numerical strength of his army weakened and those that remained suffering from disease, King Henry V decided to garrison Harfleur and retreat with the remainder of his men through enemy territory towards Calais, which was an English-held town at this time, and escape from there back to England.  It looked as if his campaign was coming to a disastrous end.

Eager to annihilate the weakened English forces before their escape, the French amassed a large army.  Their goal was not just to defeat the English but also to capture King Henry V and ransom him for a huge sum of money.  Estimates for the size of the French army range from a force just a few thousand greater than the English force to a force that outnumbered the English by 5 to 1.

On Saint Crispin’s Day, 25 October, in 1415, the French army blocked the road to Calais to the west of the modern village of Azincourt.  It was here that the hungry and disease-weakened English-led army, comprising of 5,000 archers and 900 men-at-arms, faced-off against the French army.

Despite the odds favouring the French army, the English army gained the victory on the day due to the combined effectiveness of their strategy and their weapon of choice, the long bow.

On the English side, an estimated 600 were killed.  On the French side, there were up to 11,000 killed and 2,200 captured.