When it comes to the Hundred Years' War between England and France, people are familiar with the Famous Battle of Joan of Arc, which was the famous Battle of Agincourt, in which the British army defeated a large number of French knights, laying the foundation for a series of subsequent victories. This battle also became the most brilliant victory of the British longbowmen, so what are the French knights in this battle doing?
One. Agincourt's cause
In 1415, the negotiations between King Henry V of England and France reached an impasse, of course, in Henry V's view, he had already given France the greatest concession, as long as France recognized the British control of Normandy, Traine, Anjou, Brittany, Flanders, Aquitaine, and the King of France married his youngest daughter Catherine to Henry and gave him a dowry of sixty thousand gold coins, Henry V could abandon the claim of the title of King of France, so the negotiations ended in mutual insults and ridicule.
The breakdown of the negotiations completely angered Henry V, so he decided to lead an army to attack France, believing that he deserved the crown of king of France, because his grandfather Edward III had obtained the right to claim the title of king of France through war and marriage. The British nobles, who had opposed the expansion of the war, suddenly changed direction and began to support his king's wise and divine decision, so a conference to wage war against France was convened.
After a series of intensive and detailed plans, finally in mid-August 1415, 1,600 warships led by Henry V landed at Cox, France, and the next day an army of thirty thousand men came ashore, consisting of 6,000 warriors and 24,000 archers.
The British immediately launched a military campaign against the French town of Havre, and the Commander of the French Garrison immediately sent a request for reinforcements to friendly forces, stating that he would surrender to the British if by 23 September he did not have any reinforcements. Then the French army, which received the distress letter, did not have any intention of acting, so Haffler really surrendered.
The first military victory was not a blessing for the British, as malaria began to spread among the British for health reasons, and Henry V needed to consider whether to abandon his great dream and return home to England.
After a fierce ideological struggle, Henry V decided to leave a garrison at Havrel and then led the rest of the troops out of town to prepare for their return to Calais.
They searched for a bridge along the Somme so that they could cross the river without danger, but the cunning French dismantled the bridge in advance, demolished the villages along the road, and eventually the hungry, tired and malaria-ravaged British army encountered a French army near Agincourt that blocked their way, and the British had to prepare for battle.
Two. Preparations for both sides
The battle would take place in a clearing between the woods near Agincourt, with the French continuing to wait for follow-up troops to arrive while following the British on the north bank of the Somme River. Some small units continued to conduct reconnaissance and riots against the British. The French nobles wore heavy armor on their longbows and horses against the British, in preparation for learning the lessons of past battles.
After receiving the information prepared by the French, the British used wooden stakes to make the horse barrier to carry in order to form a defensive position at any time, which provided favorable defensive support for the British army in the subsequent battles.
At dawn on 19 October, the British began to cross the river, but the French did not effectively intercept, and a small number of French harassment troops were defeated by the British.
In fact, the French were still waiting for the arrival of the follow-up troops, and when the French command received the news that the British were crossing the river, the British had built defensive positions and were waiting for them, so the French commander decided not to make unnecessary sacrifices, and when the follow-up troops arrived, they could use the superior forces to eliminate the British forces.
That night, the British army could finally stay and rest well, and the smooth crossing of the river did restore the confidence of the British.
Both sides were ready to fight on Thursday, October 24, but the rains throughout the night forced the two armies to endure and wait for the right time to fight.
Fortunately, the entire battlefield was covered with meadows, especially on the side occupied by the French army, and the muddy terrain put the French army at a disadvantage, and the knights of the French army were wearing heavy armor, and some unlucky eggs even drowned because they fell and could not stand up in the mud.
At dawn on Friday, Henry V divided his army into four legions, each of which was under the leadership of a nobleman who could fight. The Duke of York commanded the right wing, while Lord Camos was on the left front wing. The archers were commanded by the Duke of Elpingham, while a squad of 200 other archers was in the woods to prevent the French from being surrounded.
Finally, the British army defended itself with rows of wooden stakes.
The French, on the other hand, were divided into three parts, with so many French nobles in the army that they had to be superimposed, because the sheer size of the personnel hindered the deployment of the troops in the clearings in the woods, so according to the plan, the French knights would be divided into four waves to launch a charge against the British army.
But considering that it had just rained and the land was muddy, the French commander hoped that he could wait for the land to be relatively dry after the weather was clear before attacking.
But the nobles thought that the opportunity could not be lost, the British army was tired, and had just experienced heavy rain, and the British bow and arrow would be weakened by the dampness,
Hence the proud aristocrats who think that "if you wave of WAGGGGH passes, they're finished."
So the French began to move.
The French vanguard consisted of three thousand neatly dressed knights, commanded by the noble Duke Albert, the Duke of Bourbon, etc. The second wave consisted of four thousand men, commanded by the Duke of Orléans and the Duke of Brittany. The third wave consisted of nobles led by the Duke of Barr, the Count of Nevers, the Earl of Charolais and others. The two wings consisted of two thousand four hundred knights, commanded by the Count of Richmond and the Mayor of Paris, Chastel.
Three. The battle begins with a tragic end
During the first three hours, the two armies did not fight, but began negotiations, and the French representatives demanded that Henry V relinquish his title as King of France and return the French territories previously occupied by the British, and it was clear that the British king would not accept this condition, so the negotiations broke down.
When King Henry V kissed the ground and prayed, the battle began,
The French cavalry charged, but as the rain soaked the land, the land became soft and filled with muddy water, so the French cavalry in armor was in an extremely embarrassing situation from the beginning, and the horses were too heavy to run in the mud
So the knights had to get off their horses and fight on foot, and when they rushed into the first line of defense of the British army, King Henry V of England was even beaten by the crown in the battle, and more than a dozen guards who followed him were killed by the French.
The king insisted on carrying his crown, so the French frantically pounced on Henry V.
At the critical time, the British archers shot their bows and arrows as much as possible despite the dampness of the bowstring, which made the French knights fall into chaos, they bowed their heads to protect themselves, unable to fight effectively, the British knights dismounted and fought with the French knights, while the British archers took hammers and axes and rushed into the battlefield.
The English were initially stunned by the number of French troops, the Duke of York was also killed by the French in battle, the Earl of Oxford was knocked to the ground and wounded, the British retreated some distance, but the French attack also failed, the knights and horses trampled on the fallen in the mud, the battlefield became a big quagmire, people fell and were trampled to death, when the British launched a counterattack, the French nobles panicked, their will collapsed, they tried to surrender to the British.
It is said that the Duke of Alençon of France tried to surrender to another nobleman according to the law of war of the nobility, and he handed over his gloves and removed his helmet, but was stabbed to death by the other side's sword. It is also said that when the Duke of Alenson found out that the British army was not going to accept the surrender, he desperately resisted, he knocked down the guards guarding the Duke of Bedford, pressed the Duke of Bedford into the muddy water and almost drowned, and it was the archers who came later who cut the neck of the Duke of Alenson with a dagger to save the Duke of Bedford.
In fact, by this time, the third wave of the french army had not yet been launched, and these nobles who were waiting for the order to attack were so stunned when the royal governor, the grand nobles and the grand marshals died one after another, and after seeing the Surrender of the French army in battle, they scattered like a group of frightened "roosters"
。
About 600 knights who refused to leave this way, led by Sir Mahler and Sir Fürkenberg, launched their final charge, and it was natural that they repeated the tragedy of the French army.
After the complete defeat of the French army, the King of England was considering how to deal with prisoners of war, according to the rules of engagement of the nobles,
The captured family could be released by paying enough ransom, but then a message reached the King, who was attacking the British army, seizing the poor grain and grass supplies and plundered wealth of the British army, and because the British army was overloaded and exhausted, King Henry V ordered most of the prisoners to be executed
Despite the opposition of nobles such as the Duke of Bedford, orders had been given.
By order of the King,
The English archers killed most of the nobles who were not on the "captive list", using hammers, axes and daggers, and the Kingdom of France lost 6,000 knights, four grand dukes, including the royal marshal, 5 earls, more than 90 barons and more than a thousand knights
Their bodies were piled up and burned, and even the Duke of Brabant, the younger brother of the Duke of Burgundy, was executed by the British as a punishment for disloyalty to the Burgundy forces, despite the Burgundy's neutrality.
Summarizing the lessons of the hundred years of war against the British army, the French noble knights and knights who spent a lot of money to build heavy armor were turned into the dust of history by the British army, so that now it is also a daily ridiculed talk.
epilogue
If the third wave of French troops had chosen a temporary retreat after the collapse, and then organized the surrounding vigilante groups and other gentry to lay siege to the British, perhaps they would have been heroes in turning the tide, but their glory and courage had ruined their last hope of victory.
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Agincourt - The Fate of the Prisoner
The Hundred Years' War