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Daniel Spencer

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Wolvesey Castle and diplomacy with France

Central to Henry V’s pretext for war in 1415 was his claim of pursuing a just war against the French in support of his rights in France.  In the parliament of November 1414, Henry had been advised to send an embassy to France.  This was duly sent and arrived in Paris in February 1415, but although the French were prepared to make territorial concessions, the English delegates felt that they lacked the authority to accept the terms offered. Continue reading →

The financial contributions of the city of Salisbury for the expedition

The king’s expedition to France was a costly undertaking as can be seen by the financial contributions made by the city of Salisbury.  In the fifteenth century Salisbury was a wealthy and populous city due to its manufacture of cloth.  This meant, however, that it had to provide large sums of money to fund the king’s war with France. Continue reading →

Armour and the royal household

In the medieval period when a king went to war he was accompanied by a large number of men from his household. These included the knights and esquires of his chamber who waited on him, as well as officials and servants who fulfilled the different functions necessary for the running of the royal household. We know that in 1415 many of these men served on the campaign. The men from the royal household who served as men-at-arms were generally expected to provide their own equipment. Continue reading →

Armour and the men-at-arms

When Henry V’s army departed in August 1415, about a quarter of the soldiers were men-at-arms. Most of these were of the status of esquire – indeed that term was often used to describe them -  and were paid one shilling per day (twice the rate of pay of an archer) but some were of noble and knightly rank and received higher rates of pay based on their social status. A duke, for instance, was paid 13 s 4d per day. Continue reading →

Christmas presents Lego and the Battle of Agincourt

We were delighted to find this clip on Youtube.  Amazing what you can do with Lego.  So if you are receiving any for Christmas, go for it! Sending all our readers seasons greetings.  We will be back in the New Year with the first of our lists of soldiers who served on the Agincourt campaign.  The archers from South Wales will be the first to be put on the site.  Watch this space. Continue reading →

New Romney and the Cinque Ports

The church tower of St Nicholas Church, New Romney, Kent In 1415 the federation of the Cinque Ports were called upon to supply ships for Henry V’s expedition to France.  This was a confederation of ports in East Sussex and Kent, which since the twelfth century had been granted special privileges in return for supplying fifty-seven ships each year for fifteenth days at their own expense. Continue reading →

Without Calais, no Agincourt

In 1414, Richard de Beauchamp, earl of Warwick, was appointed captain of Calais. His indenture specified that the garrison of the town in peacetime should consist of 40 mounted men-at-arms and 40 mounted archers, together with 200 men-at-arms and 200 archers on foot. In wartime these numbers were expected to expand to 160 mounted men-at-arms and 160 mounted archers, with 100 men-at-arms and 184 archers on foot. Continue reading →