Believe it or not, the kids in my apartment building in Kyiv thought that this was how you spelled that well-known insult.
Posted on 05/28/2005 5:51:42 PM PDT by quidnunc
The scale of Henry V’s triumph at Agincourt, which has been feted as one of the greatest victories in British military history, has been exaggerated for almost six centuries, a new book is to reveal.
The English and Welsh were still outnumbered, according to Anne Curry, professor of medieval history at Southampton University — but only by a factor of three to two. For the last 50 years historians have believed the odds were at least four to one.
Curry is the first academic to untangle the true scale of Henry’s victory in 1415 by sifting through original enrolment records at the National Archives in London and the French Bibliothèque Nationale.
“The figures have been exaggerated over the centuries for patriotic reasons,” said Curry, whose book Agincourt: A New History will be published next month. “It was a myth constructed around Henry to build up his reputation as a king.”
Curry discovered there were more English and Welsh troops than previously thought, and far fewer on the French side. She was able to count the number of soldiers on both sides accurately because all were paid recruits. Their names and wages were recorded. She calculates that total numbers were about 8,000 on Henry’s side and 12,000 on the French.
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(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
On either the History or Discovery Channel I saw an analysis of Agincourt which included an examination of the actual battlefield.
The intial charge of the French knights started on a broad front but was funnelled down into a narrow one by topography.
The cast iron arrowheads of the English bowmen couldn't penetrate the French knights' armor, but it could and did bring down their horses or cause them to become unmaageable.
When the first rank of knights went down those behind just kept piling into the tangle.
The ground was wet and the soil at Agencourt formed a clinging, sticky mud which made walking difficult, particularly for those wearing armor.
Two ways of looking at "crushing defeat". Vastly outnumbered side wins. Losing side takes dispororinate casulaities.
Like that early 19th centuary naval battle whose name must not be mentioned. The EU side had 33 ships to 27 British. but they lost 22 ships to zero.
Well, to be fair, the French wage war mainly for the clever quotes:
"Nous somme dans une pot de chambre, et nous y serrons emmerdes." - Marshal McMahon at the battle of Sedan
Well, Shakespeare, for one, cites numbers of approx. 50 to 1, if I recall correctly. That's obviously nonsense.
History Channel. It was excellent. I'm not sure if it was the "Battlefield Detectives" series or not.
Especially interesting element was the modern crowd-analysis computer modeling of the traffic flow, as it were, on the battlefield.
Ooops. Missed your post. Thanks for the link.
It still is an astounding victory, because the English were 4/5 footsoldiers, and most of their knights were dismounted. They relied heavily on archers. The French were overwhelmingly knights and were slaughtered in the mud. No matter how many French died, it marked the end of knight-based cavalry in Europe.
Read John Keegan's "The face of Battle". It give a very readable in-depth analysis of Agincourt as well as several other famous battles including waterloo and The Somme. outstanding book, required reading when I went to Norwich University.
Believe it or not, the kids in my apartment building in Kyiv thought that this was how you spelled that well-known insult.
The English Archers were postioned in front, each was
required to bring a sharpened wood stake several inches
in diameter and 8 or 9 feet longwhich were planted in the ground at an angle,with the Archers shooting from between them.
AS the French knights charged, the archers who could loose many more arrows than the french Genoise crossbowmen, retired behind the stakes at the last and the French horses were impaled on the stakes allowing the English men at arms to go to work on the downed knights.
Thanks. It's going on my booklist.
Yep. And the first wave, which tried to retreat, ran headlong into the second charging wave.
And to think that some attribute these beautiful passages to an illiterate man from Avon - poor Oxford.
More like they continue to attempt to establish a French version of victory in which surrendering is the same thing as winning.
I loved the pic!
One cannot but admire the French taste in colorful armor.
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