With the passing of England’s golden generation
of warrior Plantagenets such as Edward III, the Black Prince and John of Gaunt, it seemed
as though Albion’s wartime fortunes had finally run out: hard-won possessions in Aquitaine
had been almost completely lost in just over a decade, France and its allies had control
of the sea and the island kingdom was undergoing political turbulence which left it unable
to conduct the war. However, king Henry IV would reinvigorate
his realm, change its character forever and fight one of the most famous battles in European
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code “KINGSANDGENERALS”! The reign of Lancastrian usurper-king Henry
IV did not begin well, and almost immediately rebellions sprang up to resist his rule, first
by Owain Glyn Dŵr in Wales and then three years later by a disaffected member of the
Percy family known as ‘Hotspur’1. As he was closest to the rebels, the king’s
sixteen-year-old son - Henry of Monmouth - skillfully blocked Welsh and Percy forces from uniting
with one another and then played a decisive role in the royalist victory at Shrewsbury
in 1403, charging his victorious division into Hotspur’s flank and winning the battle. It was just a taste of the military prowess
the young prince would display in the future. Despite the victory, further revolts broke
out during the first decade of the fifteenth-century and Wales remained recalcitrant. Henry IV also began to suffer from numerous
illnesses during the later part of his reign which left him more and more incapable of
ruling his realm. From around 1407 onwards, governance of England
would increasingly fall to the heir - Henry of Monmouth, who even at this early stage
was noted as a diligent administrator and capable leader. As the new royal House of Lancaster was solidifying
its hold over England, their Valois rivals in France were busy destroying any unity the
French kingdom might have had. Two and a half decades earlier, twenty-five
year-old Charles VI suffered a psychotic episode whilst riding through a forest, and from that
point descended quickly into total madness, famously believing himself to be made of glass. This deficiency on the throne created a power
vacuum which would bring disaster to France. Louis I - Duke of Orleans took the reins of
government following his elder brother’s fall to madness, continuing the war with England
whilst also increasing his own wealth and power on the side. As the second son of Charles V, Orleans had
the status of a Valois ‘prince du sang’ or ‘prince of the blood’, and was therefore
among the highest nobility in France. The main victim of this state of affairs was
the House of Valois-Burgundy, Dukes of Burgundy since the Capetian cadet house’s extinction. Jean II granted the vacant Duchy as an appanage
to his youngest son Philip the Bold in 1363, and that son had subsequently been the dominant
force in Charles VI’s minority. Upon Philip’s death in 1404 the powerful
Duchy of Burgundy2, which now included wealthy Flanders and Artois in the north, passed to
John the Fearless. Jonathan Sumption describes him as ‘a short,
bull-headed man of unprepossessing appearance, graceless, awkward and taciturn.’, but aside
from his less-than-perfect personality, he was a man of supreme talent. John’s military experience was extensive,
culminating in his leading of the French contingent in the Battle of Nicopolis, while his excellent
administrative skills often led his father to rely on John as a capable deputy during
times of need. A bitter struggle for power and control over
the kingdom began between John the Fearless and the Duke of Orleans which quickly turned
violent. The two men clashed on almost every single
important policy issue. While John supported the pope in Rome and
opposed continued war with England due to the danger it caused to trade in Flanders,
Orleans deferred to the Avignon Papacy and wanted to continue the conflict. Factions began to develop around both parties
- Orleanists, later called ‘Armagnacs’ followed Louis and Burgundians rallied to
John, with street brawls even occurring between both groups of supporters in the capital city
streets. This simmering tension finally boiled over
when, on November 23rd 1407, the Duke of Orleans was dragged from his mule and brutally bludgeoned
to death on a Paris street by assassins sent by John. Louis’ young son Charles inherited the Dukedom
and, advised by the late Louis’ father in law the Count of Armagnac, swore an oath of
vengeance against the Duke of Burgundy. This started a vicious civil war between the
‘Armagnac’ and ‘Burgundian’ factions which was to last for decades. After securing power in Paris by means of
a coup d'état, John the Fearless was besieged in the city by the Armagnacs in 1411, led
by the Duke of Berry - another prince of the blood. Seeking assistance, the Duke of Burgundy sent
envoys to Henry IV in England, promising territory in Flanders and other concessions in return
for aid. A few weeks later, 3,000 English troops under
the Earl of Arundel ventured to France and managed to break the siege before returning
home. The harsh rule of John the Fearless angered
Paris’ civilians, and in 1413 the Duke was forced out of the city, isolating himself
in his own vast domains3 while the Armagnacs secured most of the country. Unfortunately for them, time had run out. In England, Henry IV passed away of chronic
illness in March of 1413 and was succeeded by his son, who was coronated as Henry V on
April 9th as a snowstorm raged outside of Westminster Abbey. The new ruler consciously transformed his
behavior upon coming to the throne. From an unruly and riotous Prince of Wales
fond of wine, women and quarrelling with his father, now-King Henry V immediately began
conducting himself with gravitas and level-headedness, taking his responsibilities as a monarch seriously. He gathered worthy, incorruptible advisors
around himself, kept household costs low, engaged personally in ensuring justice in
his realm and subdued lawlessness wherever and whenever he could. Yet, he also delved into Christianity and
became a religious zealot capable of extraordinary brutality when he thought it necessary. When Henry’s heretical old friend John Oldcastle
plotted to kidnap him, the king had him and all of his followers burned alive. Above all, however, was Henry V’s desire
to regain the rights and territories of the English royal family in France. It was clear that the new king would not maintain
the truce for long. In late 1414, a grand embassy was sent to
Paris to discuss proposals for peace, but Henry’s demands were extremely high. The 1360 Treaty of Bretigny was to be fully
re-implemented and England’s stolen territories in Aquitaine, Poitou and Ponthieu were to
be returned. More than that, any outstanding funds from
Jean II’s ransom agreement would be paid along with an additional £330,000, the annexation
of Normandy, Maine and Anjou as well as overlordship of Brittany, Flanders, Beaufort and Nogent. Perhaps Henry V was simply attempting to regain
lost English lands in France, but such untenable terms might have been intended to be rejected. Whatever the case, the French did indeed reject
them and that made the resumption of war inevitable. With his rejection the dauphin of France - Louis
of Guyenne, sent the English king an insulting gift, arrogantly stating to the ambassadors
that he would ‘send to King Henry, because he was young, little balls to play with and
soft pillows to sleep on to help him grow to manly strength’. In response, Henry stated to his advisors
that “If perchance they thought to lie abed with soft pillows, then I, perchance before
they wish, shall arouse them from their slumbers by hammering on their doors at dawn’. With that, orders were sent out to raise the
largest English army since Crecy. 320 captains were contracted to muster troops
in various regions around the kingdom under an indenture - a legal contract between a
soldier and the man he served under. It specified the conditions and length of
service, disciplinary practices, pay grades and other matters, and was a sign that mobilising
troops in England was becoming more professionalised. Other feudal lords raised retinues from their
own fiefs and Henry himself even drew warriors from his royal lands in Cheshire, Lancashire
and South Wales. Overall, the army which gathered in Southampton
was around 12,000 strong4 with a large archer contingent. After dealing with a plot to depose him and
executing its ringleaders, Henry V and his invasion force embarked from England on August
11th 1415 in around 700 ships. The king himself and his closest advisors
sailed aboard a 500 ton flagship known as Le Trinite. The armada reached the Normandy coast three
days later and disembarked near Chef du Caux at the mouth of the Seine River. Rather than launching a devastating chevauchée
through the area as his royal predecessors had, Henry marched to the strategic port of
Harfleur and, when his surrender demand was rejected, put the city to siege. However, unexpectedly dogged resistance by
the small garrison led to a siege of six weeks, during which the English army was ravaged
by outbreaks of malaria and dysentery which eventually killed or debilitated almost a
third of its troops. Henry finally took the city on the 22nd of
September and then conferred with his advisors as to what their next move was going to be. At the time he was doing so, a large French
army of about 20,000 men was slowly gathering in Rouen under the dauphin, ready to intercept
the English. Henry V wasn’t the only thing Charles had
to worry about. John the Fearless declared himself eager to
join the fight against England, but his presence was judged to be detrimental, as it would
only cause divisions in the army. So the dauphin asked the Duke of Burgundy
to send 800 troops instead of coming himself, but this insulted the Duke and he instead
refused to send any assistance. Throughout the entire campaign, the nominally
‘Armagnac’ French leaders would have to keep one eye on Burgundy - it had long been
rumoured that he was collaborating with the English. Nevertheless, the delay at Harfleur put King
Henry into a predicament. It was late in the campaigning season now,
but he could not just sail back to England without achieving anything more. Nor could he risk marching towards Bordeaux
as he had intended, or Paris itself - the army was too depleted and an attack on the
capital might forcibly reunite the French factions. Instead it was decided that the army would
head immediately for Calais, so that Henry might tread the same steps through ‘his’
lands in Normandy and Ponthieu that his great-grandfather Edward III had. After garrisoning the newly-captured Harfleur
the English army set out on its march, intending to remain on the coast all the way to Calais. The trek started well enough and rivers near
Dieppe and Eu were easily forded, but this all changed on the 13th. As Henry’s army approached the old Roman
ford over the Somme at Blanchetaque, where the king planned to cross, a captured Gascon
prisoner informed him that an advance guard of 6,000 French under Constable Charles d’Albret
was waiting and ready to block any attempt to cross. Realising that he would have to cross further
inland, Henry pivoted right and marched upstream, shadowed all the way by d’Albret on the
other side of the bank. After managing to shake his pursuers off however,
the English managed to cross at Nesle, but it was already too late. In the meantime, the main French army under
Bourbon5 cut across the Somme at Amiens and proceeded to unite with d’Albret near Peronne. The tired English, wracked by hunger, disease
and now almost completely depleted of supplies continued marching north, and on October 23rd
reached Blangy. It was there, as Henry’s army crossed a
tributary of the great river, that it witnessed a terrifying sight. Drawn up on a slightly elevated ridge about
a mile in front of them was the entire French army - rank after rank of magnificent mounted
knights and men-at-arms, a sight which led the English king to draw up in battle formation
as well. After a tense, hour-long standoff, the French
pulled back even further and took up position for the night in a blocking position on the
road to Calais near a small hamlet known as Agincourt. On the night of October 24th, Henry ordered
complete silence in the English camp, while the French could be heard rejoicing and celebrating
across the rain-filled night air. The battlefield which both sides lined up
on the following morning was an area of sodden, recently ploughed field in an area between
the village of Agincourt in the west, Tramecourt in the east and Maisoncelles in the south,
bounded by forested terrain on the flanks of each army. Henry V’s depleted army was now about 8,500
strong and severely lopsided in composition, with 7,000 archers and only 1,500 dismounted
knights and men-at-arms. Due to its limited numbers, it was arrayed
in a single line of battle. In the centre were three small divisions of
melee infantry, known as ‘battles’, with units of longbowmen between them. The left ‘battle’ was under the command
of the veteran Baron of Camoys, the right was led by Edward, Duke of York while Henry
V took control of the central division. Even more archers were equally placed on both
the left and right flanks, with a significant portion in the woods on each side of the field. The archers were under the authority of Sir
Thomas Erpingham. All of the army was protected by a defensive
wall of stakes and caltrops, designed to blunt cavalry charges. On the other side of the field, a grand French
royal army of around 20,000 was under the nominal, but insecure dual command of Constable
Charles d’Albret and Marshal Boucicaut6, professional men whose relatively low birth
meant that they were outranked by high nobles such as the Dukes of Orleans7, Alencon and
Bourbon. Their army was deployed in three lines of
battle - the first and second comprising most of France’s proud dismounted knights and
men-at arms for use as a sledgehammer against the English, while a line of mainly archers
and crossbowmen were kept in the rear - it was the duty of the nobility to win the battle,
not mere bow-wielding peasants. On both flanks a heavily armoured cavalry
force of around 750 knights each was in the process of forming up8, while more units were
slowly trickling into the French army as time went by. Having learned the harsh lesson from their
defeats at Crecy and Poitiers, the French did not charge right away and instead remained
where they were. It was clear to d’Albret and Boucicaut that
while their enemy’s army would only wither away with time, their own would get even stronger. Whatever its merits, the impetuous knights
and nobles of France chafed at this ‘cowardly’ strategy of delay. Seeing that the French weren’t going to
attack him, Henry V knew he had to make the first move before it was too late. So, after conferring with his captains the
king ordered his entire army to uproot its stakes and slowly shift forward in an orderly
manner, supposedly shouting to his troops “Felas, lets go!” After advancing into longbow range, the army
once again hammered down its stakes, after which English archers immediately began loosing
heavy volleys at the surprised knights out in front. This withering arrow fire panicked the hastily-formed
French cavalry units and they now charged full-tilt at Henry’s line9. Erpingham had the longbowmen knock an arrow
and draw their bowstrings back and then commanded them to wait. Then, as the French mounted knights - drawn
from the very best horsemen in the army came close to the line through the soaking mud
of the field, Erpinham shouted “Now, strike!” and his archers loosed at point blank range
from the front and treeline. The sky darkened for a second before hundreds
of knights and their horses were struck and slain by the dense volley of bodkin-tipped
arrows. Those who did manage to get through were trapped
on the sharp stakes or routed back to their own lines. While the massacre of the mounted charge was
going on, a group of peasants and cavalry led by a few Burgundian nobles looted Henry’s
baggage train, stealing the king’s bedding, his crates of cash and even one of his crowns. It didn’t affect the course of the battle
until later. d’Albret’s first line of infantry was
trudging with difficulty through often knee-deep mud at the same time, made worse by the preceding
cavalry charge. A combination of the bad terrain, heavy armour
and having their cohesion disrupted by their own retreating cavalry left the French vanguard
sitting ducks for lethally accurate English longbowmen, who loosed volley after volley
into the almost immobile mass and inflicted horrific losses. Despite the setbacks, the flower of France’s
military might smashed into the thin English line like a tidal wave and immediately forced
it back before the equally stubborn men-at-arms under Henry halted the push. While a vicious melee began at the point of
contact, the second line of infantry now pushed forwards also, but they caused a crush upon
nearing the vanguard which prevented most of the army from engaging and most frontline
troops from retreating. Though the French were suffering, Henry’s
melee infantry was taking a mauling. In the right division, Edward Duke of York
was cut down in some of the fiercest fighting, while Henry V himself was almost killed and
a portion of his crown cut off. When the archers on the flanks ran out of
arrows, they charged in from the wings with whatever weapons they could find to assist
their own warriors. Shortly after noon, the French attack collapsed,
and the English took many prisoners of low and high rank, including the Dukes of Bourbon,
Orleans and Marshal Boucicaut. At that moment, someone in the English formation
shouted that enemy reinforcements were incoming, perhaps having seen the looters at the camp
earlier in the battle. With the amount of captives they had taken,
it was plausible that a prisoner uprising re-armed with discarded equipment, along with
fresh foes might doom Henry’s army. The English king therefore ordered 200 archers
to go to the camp and kill almost every single soldier the army had taken captive. With thousands dead on the field of Agincourt
and even more prisoners slaughtered in the din of battle, the terrified remainder of
French forces retreated. That night, King Henry V of England made the
captured Dukes of Orleans and Bourbon wait on his feasting table, before reaching Calais
and sailing home in mid-November. The English monarch had won perhaps the most
famous clash of the Hundred Years’ War, but the war hadn’t been won yet. Even though his greatest political triumphs
were yet to come, Henry V was to soon be overshadowed by one of the most famous figures in French
history - Joan of Arc. We will tell the story of her participation
in the war in our next episode, so make sure you are subscribed and have pressed the bell
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