AZINCOURT

Azincourt (or Agincourt) is one of the best-known and well-documented battles of history. We know the exact location of the battle and the battle site is little changed over the past five hundred years. We also have a good understanding of the numbers of combatants and who they were.

In the summer of 1415 Henry V was only twenty-seven years old and had been king of England for two years. His passion was to reacquire lands in France lost previously during the Hundred Years War. England remained in control of Calais and Bordeaux, but Henry was determined to reacquire Poitou and Aquitaine. As this area constituted almost a third of the territory of France, the French were understandably not inclined to give it up.

Henry’s military strategy for his French campaign is a matter of debate. A deep invasion into France was probably unlikely as that would have seriously taxed his supply lines. More likely, his intent was to reduce one by one the network of walled towns and castles that guarded French territory. First however, he needed a secure base with a short sea route back to England. For this reason, Henry chose Normandy and, more particularly, the port of Harfleur.

In August, Henry and his army set sail with a force of eight thousand archers, two thousand men of arms and camp followers.

Men of Arms – Denotes a soldier of the High Medieval to Renaissance periods, typically well trained in the use of arms and fully armored. These men could be a knight or nobleman, a member of a knight or nobleman’s entourage or a mercenary in a company under a mercenary company.

He also brought at least one horse for each man of arms and others for the baggage train and wagon teams. On August 14, the army began to disembark, unopposed by the French, near Harfleur. Three days later the investment of the town began. The town had a small garrison but had strong walls and the advantage of the natural defences of the River Seine, River Lezarde and a series of marshes that combined left the only feasible attack route to be from the west. Henry deployed at least three heavy guns in a bombardment of that section of the walls, that lasted almost a month, until a gated portion of the wall collapsed. The French sent out a series of sortie parties, who were unable to dislodge the English and seeing no relief force on the way, the Harfleur Garrison surrendered on Sunday, September 22.

Much later than desired, Henry now had his coastal base of operations. However, this acquisition came at a heavy price as a third of his army was dead or disabled, principally due to dysentery.

Dysentery was the scourge of every medieval army. Known to the English as “the Bloody Flux”, dysentery’s main symptom is bloody diarrhea. The disease is caused by the bacterium Shigella dyseteriae type 1 which is spread through human feces. This is usually the result of food or water coming into contact with infected feces, but also by hand contact. During an epidemic, dysentery results in a death rate of 10-20 percent within 13 days of the onset of symptoms.

Seasonal rains had also arrived, and campaigning was very problematic. Despite the unfavorable circumstances, Henry was keen to make a show of force, so he determined that the English would march across French territory to Calais in the hopes of provoking a battle. The English army marched along the Somme River, and on October 13, having marched eighty miles in five days, moved to cross the Somme above its estuary. Henry’s scouts reported that the path ahead was blocked by a French force of six thousand. Henry chose not to retreat but instead turned his force east to follow the line of the river to an unguarded ford. The French shadowed the English from the other side of the Somme. Although short of food and fodder Henry force marched his army, got ahead of the French, and crossed the Somme. Having marched over two hundred miles in twelve days the English force was exhausted, and Henry declared a day of rest on October 20. It was not to be French heralds appeared with a challenge and inspired Henry to keep his force on the move. Over the next four days the English marched a farther seventy miles. Despite English urgency, the French managed to catch up and on October 24 Henry learned that the French were deployed for battle in the path of the English army. The English force halted in and around the village of Maisoncelles. Probably to not give away the location of his force, as Henry was fearful of ambush, the English soldiers were ordered to spend the evening of October 24 in complete silence.

The next day, October 25 – Saint Crispin’s Day, English knights and archers took up position between two woods. On the English left was the village of Agincourt and on the right the village of Tramecourt. The terrain of the battle ground would play a major role in this fight. The field was hemmed in on two sides by dense woodland that hampered cavalry and the battlefield had recently been ploughed, and so was composed of thick mud.  

The English army was organized into three battles comprised of the vanguard led by the duke of York, the main battle under Henry himself, and the rearguard under Lord Camoys. The English archers were directed by Sir Thomas Erpingham, who likely directed the archers to drive stakes (palings) facing forward as a defence against cavalry.  

The French army drew astride the road to Calais and was composed almost exclusively of mounted and dismounted Men at Arms, eschewing the usual formation of a forward line of archers.  The French force was much larger than the English. The French also aligned in three battles: the first led by Marshal Boucicault, Constable d’Albret and the dukes of Orléans and Bourbon; the second under the dukes of Alencon and the count of Nevers; and the third led by the counts of Fauconberg and Dammartin. Because the battle site was narrow, the French seem to have decided that the presence of archers, crossbowmen and commoners would hamper the attack of the Men at Arms. In any event, the French attitude was that these “inferior” combatants would not be needed to crush the ragtag English.

For four hours after dawn nothing happened. Henry did not want to move his force, either in attack or retreat, and his forces stood idle, waiting for a French attack. Finally, though, Henry decided to advance his archers toward the French line. The English archers planted defensive stakes some three hundred yards from the French line, which was the maximum range of bow shot. As a challenge to the French, the English archers loosed off their first flight of arrows. As hoped, the French, provoked by this attack, launched charges by mounted knights from the wings of the main body. They were followed by dismounted men of arms who, like the mounted knights, were wearing armour. The French army failed to break the English line and retreated. In this retreat, they collided with their own line of men of arms. This jumble, though harassed by the English archers, managed to reorganize and re-advanced directly into the middle of the English line. While the English were temporarily pushed back, the French were too tightly bunched to make full use of their weapons. The English Men at Arms struck back and were joined by archers now armed with axes, mallets, maces, swords and other weaponry abandoned on the field.

Bloody hand-to-hand combat ensued, which heavily favored the more lightly-armoured English who enjoyed greater manoeuverability on the field. The knee-deep mud exhausted the advancing French armored Men at Arms, many of whom lost their footing and were unable to easily arise. Thus exposed, they were slaughtered. It is suggested that some of these knights actually drowned in their helmets.

The French second line entered the fray, but for the same reason that the first line failed the second line was unable to take advantage of their superior numbers. Having suffered significant losses, the French fighters who were able to disengage from the melee made their way back to the third line of mounted Men at Arms, who had stood by watching this French disaster unfold.

The duke of Brabant gathered a force for an improvised charge, but this was repelled by the English line. Later in the afternoon, as the French were attempting to organize themselves for a further charge, a body of armed English peasants, led by three mounted knights, appeared behind the French lines at the baggage train where they killed a number of French camp followers and stole objects of value, including the king’s crowns.

Harry still faced a considerable French force, and needing all available fighters, he ordered all French prisoners to be executed. The military reason for this was a concern that prisoners at the rear might rally and attack the English with weapons retrieved from the field. English soldiers were hesitant to carry out these executions, not for chivalric reasons but because they did not want to lose the prospective ransoms these prisoners could fetch. Henry was, however, determined and detailed some two hundred archers to carry out the executions, which only stopped when it became clear that the French third line was withdrawing from the field.

The richest and noblest of the prisoners were however spared and dined that evening with Henry. The following day, the English marshalled prisoners, loaded the wounded and collected booty for transport, and marched onward to Calais. Any remaining French prisoners whom it was determined would not fetch a ransom were executed. On October 29, the English reached Calais with two thousand prisoners.

While Agincourt was clearly a rout of the French forces, it was of little strategic value. The exhausted English returned home after the battle and did not return to France until two years later in 1417. The battle, thanks to William Shakespeare, became a part of English mythology.

Azincourt Today

Other than the battle site, there is really no other reason to visit the village of Azincourt. With a population under four hundred it is too small to offer much to tourists. Perhaps that will change with the redevelopment of the Centre Historique Médiéval, Map which was scheduled to be complete mid 2019 . The old museum was good for a one-hour visit but perhaps the new museum will provide an updated and expanded experience. historic-centre-of-agincourt

While I will try to visit the renovated museum soon, if you have any current information about the museum or the medieval festival, please add it to our comments section.

The town has traditionally hosted a medieval festival the last Sunday of July. The festival does not appear to have a website, but there is a listing of medieval festivals and events here: Azincourt Events .

LAWRENCE OLIVIER AS hENRY V

So for now, we treat Azincourt as a “passing through” stop rather than a destination. Unfortunately, Azincourt is not really on the way to anywhere particularly interesting. It is a one-hour drive away from the Great War battlefields (taking back roads), an hour drive from Calais, and eighty minutes from Amiens. If you are determined to see the place of battle, then your GPS should get you there without much difficulty.

There is an obelisk monument in town, but it is actually about nine hundred metres from the actual battle site. To get a view of the battle site, navigate to the intersection Hameau de la Gacogne and Rue de Tramecourt. There is a sign here indicating the battle site and from this position at the eve of battle you would have been sitting on the right flank of Henry V’s position, with the French positioned just under a kilometre to the northwest.

There is another viewing spot on Rue Henri V. The village has helpfully set up a line of cut-out archers along this road to demarcate the forward line of Henry’s longbowman and from where thousands of arrows were loosed on the advancing French knights.

But let’s be honest, when we say you are looking at a battlefield, what you are looking at is a farm field.