The Battle of Agincourt, 1415
A famous English victory that was followed by a terrible war crime
25th October 1415 is one of the great dates in English history (not so that of France!), because it was on this day that King Henry V defeated a much larger French army at Agincourt and gave inspiration (albeit some 180 years later) to William Shakespeare to write some of his greatest speeches to put into the mouth of King Henry (“Once more unto the breach” and so on).
The Battle of Agincourt
Henry V (reigned 1413–22) laid claim to parts of what is now France, as a result of his Angevin ancestry. He saw an opportunity to further his claim soon after coming to the throne, due to France being in a very weak state under the rule of King Charles VI, whose mental state was always “delicate” to put it mildly. In what might be regarded as a reversal of the Norman invasion of 1066 (which was also in support of a dubious territorial claim) Henry landed in France in August 1415 and soon captured the fortress at Harfleur (near present day Le Havre).
However, his army had been reduced to around 6,000 men due to battle casualties and disease, and Henry decided that, rather than advance further into France, his best bet would be to proceed along the French coast towards Calais, which had long been in…
