Saint Crispin’s Day and the Battle of Agincourt

                          Saint Crispin’s Day and the Battle of Agincourt

       Today is the anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt, taking place in 1415 (605 years ago) between the forces of France and her various allies and the invading English forces under the command of King Henry V. Shakespeare, by having his character Henry V repeatedly refer to the day of the battle as St. Crispin’s Day, otherwise saved this obscure saint from being lost, save for experts in hagiography, to the mist of history.

            Agincourt was the third of a trio of famous battles in the course of the 100 Years War; the other two were Crecy (1346) (I reviewed the Battle of Crecy in an earlier post) and Poitiers (1356).  The English won all three of these battles.  In the end they lost the war.  If you should want a comprehensive review of the 100 Years War, the four volume treatment by Jonathan Sumption (The Hundred Years War I – Trial by Battle; The Hundred YearsWar II – Trial by Fire; The Hundred Years War III – Divided Houses; The Hundred Years War IV – Cursed Kings and The Hundred Years War - Triumph and Illusion is authoritative.

      The English forces, likely numbering in the range of 7,000, were compelled to do battle with a numerically superior French force likely numbering in excess of 20,000. All else being equal, the English force should have expected to be annihilated. As is typical in the case of significant historical events, however, all things were not equal. The French and their allies were disorganized, and overall command of the battlefield was never achieved.  Rather, individual nobles led their own contingents forward in a disorganized and sometimes conflicting manner.  The terrain favored the English in several ways.  The French “artillery,” crossbowmen (largely Pisan mercenaries) were not effectively deployed, and they had the unenviable task of shooting uphill.  That same terrain required the French forces, both mounted and on foot, to attack uphill over a recently plowed field that, consequent to the recent rain, was more mud than dirt. The French knights and men at arms, slogging their way uphill, were a “target rich environment” for the rain of arrows let loose by the English longbows; assuming Henry’s forces numbered 7,000, likely 5,800 were longbowmen, each releasing four to six arrows a minute.

      Another factor was that the very size of the French force worked to its disadvantage in that those behind continued pressing forward, hoping for their moment of glory, even while those at the front were being slaughtered. It was not quite the situation suffered by the Romans at the hands of Hannibal at Cannae, but then likely it was not hugely better.

      While comparative casualty figures are effectively impossible to ascertain, it is clear that the French were badly mauled with significantly more casualties than the English. Further, a significant number of French nobles fell in contrast to only two English nobles. Also, a significant number of French knights who had been captured in anticipation of being ransomed were executed.  The validity of the execution order, given by Henry V, is to this day debated.

      For an excellent review of the battle, see Juliet Barker's Agincourt: Henry V and the Battle That Made England. It is also covered in volume four of Sumption’s treatise.

      As invented by Shakespeare in Henry V, Scene iii, the St. Crispin’s Day speech would immortalize Henry V:

WESTMORELAND. O that we now had here

But one ten thousand of those men in England

 That do no work to-day!

 KING. What’s he that wishes so?

 My cousin, Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin;

 If we are mark’d to die, we are enow

 To do our country loss; and if to live,

 The fewer men, the greater share of honour.

 God’s will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.

 By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,

 Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;

 It yearns me not if men my garments wear;

 Such outward things dwell not in my desires.

 But if it be a sin to covet honour,

 I am the most offending soul alive.

 No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England.

 God’s peace! I would not lose so great an honour

 As one man more methinks would share from me

 For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!

 Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,

 That he which hath no stomach to this fight,

 Let him depart; his passport shall be made,

 And crowns for convoy put into his purse;

 We would not die in that man’s company

 That fears his fellowship to die with us.

 This day is call’d the feast of Crispian.

 He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,

 Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam’d,

 And rouse him at the name of Crispian.

 He that shall live this day, and see old age,

 Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,

 And say “To-morrow is Saint Crispian.”

 Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,

 And say “These wounds I had on Crispin's day.”

 Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,

 But he’ll remember, with advantages,

 What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,

 Familiar in his mouth as household words-

 Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,

 Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester-

 Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb’red.

 This story shall the good man teach his son;

 And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,

 From this day to the ending of the world,

 But we in it shall be remembered-

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;

 For he to-day that sheds his blood with me

 Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,

 This day shall gentle his condition;

 And gentlemen in England now-a-bed

 Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,

 And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks

 That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.

 

           HERE IS A LINK to Kenneth Branagh’s masterful rendition.

          Not recited in the list of nobles who were part of the battle was Edward of Norwich, the Duke of York (a grandson of Edward III)   He was killed while defending the king.

            In 1420 Isabeau of Bavaria, queen to the incapacitated Charles VI, signed the Treaty of Troyes, granting the French Crown to Henry V and his heirs in place of her son. Further to that treaty, Henry V married Catherine of Valois; she would be the mother of Henry VI with the Valois inherited mental instability that would contribute to the Cousins War (a/k/a the War of the Roses); HERE IS A LINK to a discussion of that situation. Henry V died in 1422. Joan of Arc would join the fray in 1429; while she would be in the field just a year and a half she helped turn the tide, and the 100 Years War would end with England holding only the region of Calais.  It would be lost in the reign of Mary (a/k/a Bloody Mary).

     October 25 is as well the anniversary of the elevation of Henry II to the throne upon the death of Steven of Blios, thereby bringing to an end "The Anarchy,' and the 1854 Battle of Balaclava and the better known "Charge of the Light Brigade" during the Crimean War. The latter engagement did not go so well for the British forces.

The Second Battle of Philippi

 The Second Battle of Philippi

 

      Today is the anniversary of the Second Battle of Philippi (42 b.c.), the final battle in the civil war between forces loyal to Brutus and Cassius, leaders of the assassins of Julius Caesar, and those of Marc Antony and Octavian. It was by any measure a significant engagement; the opposing armies may have totaled 200,000 troops.

 

      There were actually two battles of Philippi some three weeks apart, the first being on October 3.  In the first battle, the forces under the command of Cassius faltered, and Cassius in turn committed suicide (actually he had one of his servants kill him).  At that same battle, however, forces of the command of Brutus were able to push back those of Octavian, actually capturing his camp.  At the second battle, fought on October 23, Brutus’ forces were routed and his camp was captured by forces under Octavian.  Brutus, with remnants of his forces, retreated, but he would ultimately commit suicide.

 

      For those familiar with the HBO series Rome, in that presentation the two Battles of Philippi were condensed into a single engagement.  In addition, it portrayed Cassius as having fallen in battle and Brutus having commit suicide by wading into the battle after stripping off his armor.  While certainly a heroic suggestion, that is not what happened.

 

            Now in clear control of the Roman Empire, the Second Triumvirate of Octavian (Caesar’s heir), Marc Antony and Lepidus would jointly rule until they would eventually fall on one another, with Octavian emerging victorious as the first Roman Emperor.

The Battle of Hastings

 The Battle of Hastings

Today marks the anniversary of the Battle of Hastings.

1066 has already been a tumultuous year in England. On January 5, Edward the Confessor died, leaving the English throne to Harold Godwinson (King Harold II). Harold’s family, the Godwins, were the most powerful in England. Harold was himself an earl, and as well the brother-in-law to Edward the Confessor, the latter having been married to Harold’s daughter Edith. William of Normandy, also known as William the Bastard, claimed that he had been designated as Edward’s successor and that Harold had once promised him that he, Harold, disclaimed any right to the throne, leaving it instead to William. In addition, Harold Hardrada of Norway asserted a claim to the English throne.

Sometime in September, Harold Hardrada had landed his troops in the north of England. After fast marching his troops north, the army of Harold Godwinson met the invading army of Harold Hardrada (supported by Tostig Godwinson, Harold’s brother) at the Battle of Stamford Bridge (HERE IS A LINK to a posting on those events). The invading army was defeated, and Hardrada was killed. Learning of William’s invasion in the south, Harold had to turn his army around and fast march it south in order to respond to this new threat. Those forced marches were some 240 miles each way. Or that is what we thought.  In a recently released book, Harold: Warrior King by Tom License it is argued that Harold's army did not march but rather sailed, an entirely plausible thr=eory in light of the availability of excess ships left behind when Harold Hardrada's greatly depleted army retreated.

For reasons that have baffled many later historians, Harold, upon arriving in London, quickly turned his troops, already exhausted from the march, toward Hastings (again, if License's theory holds true they were not eachuasted from a march). Regardless, he did so notwithstanding that reinforcements were due to arrive the following day. Still, Harold led his forces towards William’s beachhead, leaving word for the reinforcements to actual up as soon as possible. Those reinforcements included the archers.

The Battle of Hastings proper (there was an earlier skirmish) probably began around 11 in the morning. Through most of the day the forces of Harold prevailed – attacks on the shield wall were not effective, and the Norman archers were not effective firing up-hill. Harold holding his own against William would have been for Harold a win. As observed by Frank McLynn in 1066-The Year of Three Battles:

 

[Harold] knew he had only to hold out until nightfall when reinforcements were certain to arrive; he could play for a draw but William had to have a win.

The Norman infantry having failed to break through, William sent in his calvary. Attacking uphill, they did not have the force necessary to break through. When William’s flank started to fail (the Breton forces) and William was unhorsed and rumored to be dead. Harold’s forces began an advance downhill, their shielded wall still intact and functionally invulnerable. But then the advance lost its momentum, perhaps due to the death of its leader Leofwine, Harold’s brother. William’s forces pushed back and in order Harold’s forces reversed themselves back uphill. It was then a battle of attrition, and the Norman invaders were lost at a lower rate than were Harold’s forces. A combined archery and armored calvary assault finally broke the shield wall, and the battle dissolved into combat between small units ensued. Harold and the remaining troops around him were attacked and Harold fell to multiple sword blows and a lance through his chest. 

Maybe an hour after Harold fell, reinforcements, including additional housecarls, arrived.

The accepted, albeit almost certainly apocryphal, story is that Harold fell after being struck in the eye with an arrow. The Bayeux Tapestry may be interpreted as saying such. However, the “King Harold was killed” heading is over two figures (neither wearing a crown), one with an arrow in his eye and the other being struck down by a sword. If the former is meant to be Harold, the famous arrow in the eye as depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry may be a later invention. It is not mentioned in the earliest accounts of the battle. In addition, in medieval iconography, an arrow in the eye is the punishment afforded a perjurer. Having gone against his oath to leave the throne to William, some might have felt it poetic justice, even if not based in reality.

By Christmas William was crowned King of England and was in Westminster Abbey accepting pledges of fealty from England’s mobility. Still, the next two decades of his reign would see numerous rebellions and challenges, including one from his own son Robert.

            As for the Bayeux Tapestry itself, HERE IS A LINK is an animated (and translated) version.

                A body of reinactors will this year, the 959th anniversary of the battle, demonstrate what it likely was like to be there that day.

 

            The English like to claim that the Norman Invasion was the last invasion of England. This is not true. For example, during the Barons War, a French force invaded and had control of a significant portion of southern England, and the Isle of Wight was invaded in 1545. But the Norman Conquest is the last successful invasion of England.