Battle of Agincourt: was a major English victory against a much larger French army during the Hundred Years’ Year.  The battle took place on Friday 25 October 1415  in north western France.

Prelude to Battle
Henry V participated directly as a warrior at the battle of Agincourt.  The French king, Charles VI, was too much of a weakling to participate directly in the war.  He relied on French nobles to do his fighting for him. commanded by a the king’s constable, Charles d’Albret.

Before any major fighting took place, the French approached the English to negotiate terms for peace.  The French did not actually want peace.  They were simply trying to delay the English.  The French were actually trying to buy time for more reinforcements to arrive.  Henry realized what the French were doing. Thus, he ordered his longbowmen to strike at the French to provoke them into a pitched battle.

The battle itself was fought in the narrow strip of open land formed between the woods of Tramecourt and Agincourt.  The French army was positioned so as to prevent the English from escaping to their nearby stronghold of Calais.  Early on the 25th, Henry deployed his army (approximately 1,500 men-at-arms and 7,000 longbowmen) across the span between the two forests.  He divided his army into three divisions.  Henry placed archers on both sides of his three divisons.  The archers buried stakes in front of them to prevent the French cavalry from attacking them directly. The stakes actually "funneled" the French knights into the strong English center. See diagram below.

A Look at the Field of Battle
The field of battle was arguably the most significant factor in deciding the outcome. The recently ploughed land hemmed in by dense woodland favoured the English, both because of its narrowness, and because of the thick mud which the French knights had to walk through.  Moreover, the battlefield was so narrow that the French knights had absolutely no way to flank the archers.  Their only choice was as dangerous and costly full frontal assault through a narrow, muddy field flanked by forest.

Although the French initially pushed the English back, they became so closely packed that they are described as having trouble using their weapons properly.  The French monk of St. Denis says: "Their vanguard, composed of about 5,000 men, found itself at first so tightly packed that those who were in the third rank could scarcely use their sword." The area was less a field of battle and more of a meat grinder.

Making matters worse was that the field was recently ploughed. Also, the fields were extremely muddy because of the previous night's rain. Therefore, marching on the field was extremely difficult for the French knights plodding along in their full plate armor.

The French monk of St. Denis describes the French troops as "marching through the middle of the mud where they sank up to their knees. So they were already overcome with fatigue even before they advanced against the enemy.”

The deep, soft mud particularly favoured the English force because, once knocked to the ground, the heavily armoured French knights had a hard time getting back up to fight.  In fact, some knights actually drowned in the mud because their armor weighed them down.  Also, the limited mobility of the French made them easy targets for English archers.

The Battle
The English opend up the hostilities by marching on the French.  The French were caught by surprise; however, the French responded by counter-attacking and pushing the English back. However, the French lines soon became congested due to over-crowding in the narrow passage.  This gave English archers the opportunity they needed to pick off the slow moving French knights.

The French cavalry charged the English longbowmen.  The charge was a disaster.  The stakes placed (see above) in the ground prevented the French horse from flanking the enemy archers.  The forest on either side of the narrow passage likewise limited the movements of the French horse.  This initial charge retreated in confusion.  In fact, the French mounted warriors ran headlong back through their own lines to escape the flurry of arrows.

According to contemporary English accounts, Henry was directly involved in the hand-to-hand fighting. Upon hearing that his youngest brother Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, had been wounded in the abdomen, Henry took his household guard and cut a path through the French, standing over his brother and beating back waves of soldiers until Humphrey could be dragged to safety.

Henry Orders the Execution of French Prisoners
The only French success was an attack on the lightly protected English baggage train at the back of the English line.  This was where those French that had been captured were being kept; it was watched by squires and English of low social station.  When the French hit the English rear Henry believed it be a full-fledged attack.  In reality, it was just a raid.

Henry did not know the attack was just part of a small raid.  He believed that the French were threatening to regroup.  In particular, Henry looked across the field of battle to the third line of the French.  This third line had not fought yet and was completely fresh; it would have been disastrous for the English side had this third line become involved in the battle.

Henry thus ordered the slaughter of several thousand French prisoners who were being kept at the baggage train (in the rear).  The English king feared that the French would be freed by their comrades and rejoin the battle.  The English would have been too exhausted to fight back.  Henry’s action was ruthless but perhaps justified given the circumstances.  Anyhow, the murder of the French prisoners marked the end of the battle.  The third line of the French (also called the rearguard) retreated from the field.

Aftermath
Henry returned to England as a conquering hero.  Following Agincourt the Burgundians actively joined the English side.  The armies of Burgundy actually marched on Paris.  This bought Henry time to re-organize his forces to undertake another attack.  After five more years of battle, Henry eventually was recognized by the French in the Treaty of Troyes as the heir to the French throne.  This agreement was cemented by his marriage to Catherine of Valois, the daughter of King Charles VI.