The battle of Agincourt, the fight that decimated the French nobility

Stéphane Bern, edited by Alexis Patri 10:00 a.m., February 12, 2022

It remains one of the key battles of the Hundred Years War, which saw English and French knights clash.

It's raining on Agincourt this morning of October 24, 1415. It's autumn that wants it, and the region too: yesterday as today, Agincourt is a small town in Artois and the weather is northern there.

For hours, a good drache, as they say there, has been falling on the two armies facing each other on either side of the long clearing, which stretches gently downhill between two small woods.

On one side, the French.

On the other, the English.

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The peasants of the surrounding villages have just plowed the land to sow the winter wheat, the kind that will break through in the spring.

The troops of Henry 5 of England took up position to the south, at the top of the hill.

The French troops of Charles d'Albret, constable of France, face them to the north, barely 900 meters away.

Some 6,000 exhausted English soldiers

The two armies are far from displaying the same face.

The 1,000 men-at-arms and the 5,000 English archers are exhausted.

Ravaged by dysentery after a largely failed expedition, they have just swallowed 300 kilometers on a forced march, in a dozen days.

They thought they could reach their stronghold of Calais and cross the Channel before winter, before being cut off in extremis by French forces who have everything on their side.

The number first: Charles d'Albret can count, at the very least, on 10,000 men.

25,000 knights even advance some historians.

Morale then: it is in good shape on the French side.

Every man has understood that there is nothing in front, or almost.

All the fine flower of French chivalry is there: 6,000 horsemen reassembled at full speed against a sad band of beggars who have been shivering, exhausted, for hours in the October rain.

Yes, the English enemy makes a pale figure at the top of this little hill of nothing at all, and his lines of men seem very thin.

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Around 11 am, however, it was the English troops who advanced first.

Each step is hazardous for these exhausted men, who stumble in this field transformed into a quagmire.

But, 250 meters from the French lines, they took up position.

The insults fuse.

The French are stamping with impatience, ready to devour the slope to rush on their opponents when suddenly, from the undergrowth, a strange sound is heard: that of 5,000 bows whose strings are released at the same time.

In the French camp, we raise our heads before lowering it instinctively, so impressive is the spectacle of these 5,000 arrows, which rise 30 meters high before plunging into hail.

Of course, armor and helmets are designed to deflect impact.

But you have to imagine the frightening hammering of the arrows which fall on the skulls of the men and the rumps of the horses, less well protected.

A confusing masterpiece

And it doesn't take seven to eight seconds before the second volley arrives, then the third, then the following ones… When the French crossbowmen are still looking for their targets from behind!

Then the French cavalry snorts and launches the assault.

250 meters separate them from the English lines, barely more than two football fields, a misery for horses capable of rushing at 20km / h, once launched at a gallop. 

But there are too many knights for such a narrow terrain: the withers rub against each other, each slowing down the other.

Worse still, the mounts struggle to pick up speed, entangled in the loam that sticks to their hooves.

And the closer the French chivalry approaches, the more the tense shot of the English archers hurts, with these arrows which seek and find the perfect impact, the one which pierces armor and helmets, these pointed helmets supposed to protect the knights.

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The horses collapse one by one, and the men with them, suddenly frozen by the weight of their armor in the cold, soaked mud.

Those who pass by don't see the trap until the last moment.

Too late to avoid impaling themselves with all their weight on the stakes planted by the English.

The sequel is a confusing masterpiece.

The second French line, that of the infantrymen, rushes in turn towards the English lines, but crosses on its way dozens of panicked horses which leave in the other direction.

Every step is difficult under the features of the archers.

The French sink to mid-thigh and arrive out of breath on the enemy troops.

The spears collide with a noise reminiscent of two hockey sticks colliding violently, multiplied by the mass of individual clashes that then ensue.

English orders contrary to all rules of honor and chivalry

In this general disorder, the battle is ready to switch when, suddenly, the king of England is put down.

A blow strikes the helm of Henri 5 himself, but his guard is on him and immediately pulls him back.

The archers, who have emptied their quivers, rush on the fallen French.

The foot soldiers, we settle his account, the time to place a dagger through the visor or, failing that, armor.

The knights are dragged to the rear, without consideration for the ransom.

Around 4 p.m., the French third line, which had never moved, ended up retreating.

Guided by a 27-year-old king, the English have just cut to pieces an army three to four times larger than theirs.

Worse still, something unthinkable happens: when the rumor of an attack on his rear reaches him, Henry 5 orders his troops to execute the prisoners.

It is against all the rules of honor and chivalry, but the English sovereign is inflexible!

So for long minutes, we massacre with axes and clubs all that remains of French chivalry.

The next day, at dawn, it is the turn of the wounded and the dying to go to the sword.

As at Crécy in 1346, as at Poitiers in 1356, the promised victory turned into a disaster.

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The day after his victory, King Henry 5 of England received a deserved triumph in London.

But even he may not have immediately felt the impact of what is so much more than a battle!  

In the short term, Agincourt is obviously a landslide victory for England.

France left 6,000 knights in the mud of Agincourt when England lost only 13 of its own!

And 500 or 600 men-at-arms and archers, in all, in this mess.

And again, that's not all: to this difference of 1 to 10 is added a good thousand high-ranking lords, spared during the massacre of prisoners thanks to their high birth and brought back to England.

Their exorbitant ransoms will soon bleed their families.

All the royal administration decapitated

That's already a lot, but it's only the tip of the iceberg!

For the crown of France, the consequences of Agincourt are much more disastrous.

Before giving battle, Henry 5 had sought to negotiate.

Better still, he had said he was ready to renounce the crown of France, which could have put an end to the Hundred Years' War which opposed the Plantagenet dynasty to that of the Valois, the kingdom of England to that of France, 40 years ahead! 

Sure of himself, Charles d'Albret nevertheless made the bet to end up in arms.

The constable of France died sword in hand, without seeing the consequences: France did not lose only 6,000 knights, it also lost 6,000 lords, including a large number of senior administrative and military officials, as many of bailiffs and seneschals who will have to be replaced.

All the royal administration is decapitated at the worst moment.

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But the consequences of October 25, 1415 go even beyond this deadly struggle between France and England.

It's not just the fine flower of French chivalry that fell in the rain at Agincourt, it's a certain idea of ​​war.

Poorly organized, overconfident, guided by a taste for individual prowess, the knights charged headlong and disorderly, unable to adapt their battle plan to the circumstances.

But their high lineage and their undeniable courage clashed with the cold efficiency of the English artillery, a few thousand beggars, villains and frumpy commoners whose calm and discipline broke the furious assault of the French nobility. .

Knights slowed down by mud and rain, too numerous to fight at ease, betrayed by their own strength.

Skill trumped prowess, and cunning trumped brute force.

At Agincourt, it's not just knights who died, it's chivalry.

Jean Teulé: "The battle of Agincourt is a festival of bullshit"

Guest of "Historically yours", the novelist Jean Teulé publishes Agincourt in rainy weather.

He tells the microphone of Europe 1 why this battle made no sense.

"The French should not have fought this battle which was useless. It is the most stupid battle in the history of humanity: there was nothing to gain with this battle. For a month and a half, the English are attacking France. France does not move and does not give a damn. And by the time the English are leaving, when they have almost arrived in Calais, because all they want to do is go back to London to drink beers, the French army leaves Rouen in a huge army, goes around them from the east and blocks their way. It was a battle, but completely stupid.

Especially since the next day, when Henry 5 discovered the size of the French army, he sent a hero-at-arms, a kind of emissary, to propose not to fight, to return Harfleur, even Calais, and that they can return home.

And the French nobles said 'Ah, but not at all, it's not knowing chivalry!

We're going to fight you.'

The French did a funny thing: they had a myth erected with the oriflamme of death, which is also called the ensign of Saint-Denis.

He warns the enemy that they will take no prisoners, and that they will kill them all.

And that's exactly what happened.

So this battle of Agincourt is a bullshit festival.

I learned a month ago that the English, at the moment, are building a nuclear submarine which they are going to call what?

Agincourt.

What a joke for the French!

I hope he's not going to attack us, because Agincourt doesn't work for us."