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Anne Curry

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A personal reminiscence of the battle

‘In 1415 I was at the battle of Ruisseauville where I was wounded in the knee and the head, and I lay with the dead. But when the bodies were searched through, I, wounded and helpless, was taken prisoner and kept under guard for a while. I was then led to a nearby house nearby with 10 or 12 other prisoners who were all wounded. There, when the duke of Brabant was making a new attack, a shout went up that everyone should kill his prisoners. Continue reading →

The military retinue of John Mowbray, Earl Marshal, for the 1415 campaign

The army which Henry V took to France was paid. As a result we know a great deal about its size and composition. In order to avoid fraud, Exchequer officials checked that those who had promised troops had actually brought them. This was done by carrying out musters which listed all the names of the soldiers. You will find more details of these processes and documents on other pages of this website. Continue reading →

Did the Welsh win the battle of Agincourt?

It is often said that Welsh archers were the reason why Henry V won the battle of Agincourt. But recent research by Dr Adam Chapman at the University of Southampton has looked more closely at the Welsh archers raised for the invasion of France in 1415. (Read his posting of 1 March 2013). He drew on financial records and muster lists in the National Archives at Kew (especially TNA E101/46/20). Continue reading →

Oranges are not the only fruit

And Agincourt is not the only interesting battle! You might be interested to know about the work of The Battlefields Trust. As the Trust points out, nearly everyone in the UK lives within half an hour’s drive of a battlefield. Battles have played their part in the way we live today and are a priceless historical resource to be enjoyed by all. The Trust has played a key role in the preservation and interpretation of battlefields. Continue reading →

Henry V’s ships at Southampton

Godshouse Tower In the summer of 1415 all ships over 20 tons at London were ordered to assemble at Southampton to transport Henry V’s army to France. But Southampton had also been chosen by Henry as a location where some of his ships would be constructed. These works were carried out by William Soper, a wealthy burgess of the town (who later served as an MP and had an affair with the niece of his fellow MP!). Continue reading →

Henry V’s hard line from Southampton

From the beginning of July 1415 Henry V’s army began to gather in Southampton. On 28 July the king wrote a letter to King Charles VI of France, ‘our cousin and adversary’, from the castle of Southampton. This contains one of the first known invocations of the law of Deuteronomy: if one prepares to attack a town then one must first offer it peace. But if this is refused, the town can be put the sword. Continue reading →

Calais remembers Agincourt

In a text written in the 1530s or 40s Henry VIII was urged to stage annual triumphs as anti-papal propaganda. One of the examples of good practice which the author mentioned was the yearly celebration at Calais of the English victory at Agincourt. Commemoration of battles is nothing new. But Calais, the last part of the English conquests of the Hundred Years War, was lost within the next twenty years. Continue reading →

Early battlefield tourism

In 1475 King Edward IV visited the site of the battle of Agincourt fought sixty years earlier. We know this thanks to a letter written by a John Albon to Thomas Palmer, esquire, of Holt in Leicestershire. We even know the exact day Edward and his lords, including the king’s friend and chamberlain William, Lord Hastings, were at the battle site – 27 July. Three days earlier a group of French captains had been at Agincourt. Continue reading →

Only two years to go!

Image by: Anne Curry The battle of Agincourt was fought on Friday 25 October 1415. And today is Friday 25 October 2013. So, only two years to go before we celebrate the 600th anniversary of this fascinating battle. Only a kill-joy would mention the 12 days ‘lost’ in 1752 when Great Britain and Ireland caught up with Catholic Europe! In 1582 a bull of Pope Gregory XIII ordered Catholic states to adopt a reformed calendar. Continue reading →