[Steppes] Happy Saint Crispin's Day

[Leza M.]

I'm a Big Fan of Henry V  and thought y'all might like to know and or be reminded of St. Crispins' Day. I remain,
Nzingha, The Moor Of Dundee.

On October 25, St. Crispin's Day 1415, the English and French met on 
the battlefield of Agincourt, where the English under Henry V were 
overtaken by a much larger force of French troops under the Marshal 
of France, Jean Boucicaut. The English, who had been on French soil 
since August, were already half-starved and battle weary, living off 
plunder and ransom as they made their way eastward from Normandy to 
Calais. On the evening of October 24, as a heavy rain fell, the 
larger forces of Boucicaut trapped the English in a diamond-shaped 
clearing between three wooded areas that surrounded the French 
fortified towns of Agincourt, Tramecourt and Maisoncelles. Adopting a 
strategy that had served his ancestor William the Conqueror well at 
Hastings three centuries earlier, in the muddy clearing Henry took 
the gambit of attacking from a well-defended position. The next 
morning, beneath gray but dry skies, he moved his army forward and 
separated his Welsh archers with their Yew longbows by placing them 
between divisions of his men-at-arms.

As the English moved within bow range of the French cavalry, the 
French mounted men-at-arms charged. The heavy mud of the ploughed 
fields hampered their assault and sometimes knee- or waist-deep in 
the muck, they became easy targets for the Welsh archers who cut them 
down by the hundreds. The heavily armored Frenchmen tumbled into the 
slop as their horses were felled by arrows, and they were either 
trampled by other charging horses, smothered in their suits of armor, 
or slain by the English soldiers as they lay helpless often three men 
deep on the ground. The favored method of killing the fallen knights 
was to lift the knight's visor and thrust a dagger through his eye.

Frightened, riderless horses, hemmed in by the woods turned and 
retreated into their advancing compatriots, causing confusion and 
mayhem as the accurate and deadly rain of arrows fell on the 
battlefield. Those Frenchmen who made it across the field of death 
were met by English soldiers and by sharp stakes imbedded in the 
ground by archers. The third line of French soldiers, armed with 
crossbows and rudimentary guns, observed the carnage of the 
battlefield and fled, playing little part at all in the fight.

Within an hour the battle was over. The number of French prisoners 
far outweighed the number of English available to guard them and 
Henry was forced to make a bloodthirsty decision. Rather than allow 
the Frenchmen to be ransomed to fight again, he ordered their 
slaughter. When the carnage was over, on the field of Agincourt lay 
11,000 dead Frenchmen. Among them the Duke of Brabant and the Count 
of Nevers, brothers of the Duke of Burgundy, the Duke of Alencon, the 
Duke of Bar, Charles d'Albret, Constable of France, the counts of 
Marle, Roucy, Dalm, Vaudemot and Dammartin.




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Azel Nzingha Makeda Hatshepsut, The Moor of Dundee,Bard 343 Of Bardic Realm Guilde,SCA Bardic-Barony Of Steppes, North Dallas OTTER,Drunken Dragon,ArmourAmazon Diva, Serpentine Fyre- http://www.rogueofdundee.com Ambassador For Ren Radio 

 

 

 


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