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Hundred Years' War · 1415 Free to explore

Agincourt, 1415

On St Crispin's Day, 25 October 1415, Henry V's small, exhausted English army, marching for Calais after taking Harfleur, was brought to battle by a much larger French army near the village of Azincourt in Artois. Drawn up between two woods on fresh-ploughed, rain-soaked ground, the English — mostly archers — shot down the French cavalry charges and then fought the dismounted French men-at-arms to a standstill in the mud, killing thousands, including much of the French nobility. During the battle Henry ordered the killing of many prisoners. Numbers on both sides are disputed: modern estimates range from about 6,000–9,000 English against roughly 12,000–15,000 or more French. The victory opened the way to Henry's conquest of Normandy and the Treaty of Troyes (1420).

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Battle of Agincourt (Vigiles de Charles VII)
Battle of Agincourt (Vigiles de Charles VII) — 15th-century miniature — public domain

The battle, stage by stage

  1. 24–25 October 1415, night

    A night of rain

    After a seventeen-day march from Harfleur, Henry V's sick and hungry army finds its road to Calais blocked. The English spend a wet night in and around the hamlet of Maisoncelle, under orders to keep silence; the much larger French army camps to the north, around Ruisseauville and in the fields between Azincourt and Tramecourt, across the road north. Chroniclers on both sides remember the rain, and the French noise and confidence. How many were there is disputed: modern estimates run from about 6,000 to 9,000 English, mostly archers, against perhaps 12,000 to 15,000 French (Anne Curry, Bertrand Schnerb, Jonathan Sumption) or more if armed servants are counted (Clifford Rogers); the chroniclers' figures are far higher.

  2. 25 October, dawn

    Between the woods

    At first light Henry draws up his army across the open ground between the woods of Azincourt and Tramecourt, fresh-ploughed and soaked by the night's rain. His few men-at-arms stand in three 'battles' four deep — the Duke of York on the right, the King in the centre, Lord Camoys on the left — with archers on the wings, perhaps also between the battles (historians still argue over the 'herce'). Facing them, the French, under the Constable Charles d'Albret and Marshal Boucicaut, form a dismounted vanguard crowded with great lords, a second line behind it, a mounted rearguard, and cavalry wings meant to ride down the archers. The woods were larger in 1415 than today, so the gap drawn here is approximate.

  3. 25 October, about 10–11 AM

    Within long bowshot

    For some three hours neither side moves; the French, still expecting reinforcements, are content to block the road. Henry acts first. On the order 'Avaunt banner', reportedly preceded by Sir Thomas Erpingham throwing his baton in the air, the English pull up their stakes, walk forward to within long bowshot of the French — perhaps 250 to 300 metres — re-plant the sharpened stakes before the archers, and begin shooting. Monstrelet reports that 200 archers were also sent to lie hidden in a meadow near Tramecourt; others doubt it.

  4. 25 October, late morning

    The cavalry charges

    Stung by the arrows, the French mounted wings charge — but far fewer men are at their posts than planned, and the woods stop them riding round the flanks. They are funnelled onto the archers' stakes and shot down; Guillaume de Saveuse is said to have been killed at the stakes. Wounded and panicking horses gallop back through the advancing French vanguard, breaking its order and churning the mud.

  5. 25 October, about noon

    Into the mud

    The dismounted vanguard advances on foot in heavy plate through deep, churned mud, under arrows from front and flanks. To avoid the archers and reach the English men-at-arms, the French bunch towards the three English banners. The English line is pushed back 'a spear's length' but holds. In the press, men fall and those behind cannot move; men are crushed or smothered, and the archers, running out of arrows, come out from behind their stakes with swords, hatchets and mallets to strike down men who cannot rise. Henry fights in the centre, reportedly standing over his wounded brother Humphrey of Gloucester.

  6. 25 October, early afternoon

    The second line, the baggage and the prisoners

    The French second line comes up into the same killing ground and is drawn into the slaughter; the Duke of Brabant, arriving late, throws himself in wearing a trumpeter's banner as a surcoat and is killed. The English begin taking prisoners by the hundred. Then two alarms reach Henry: a raid on the English baggage at Maisoncelle by local men led by Ysembart d'Azincourt and Robert de Bournonville, who carry off royal treasures, and the sight of the French rearguard apparently forming to attack. Fearing that the prisoners would rearm, he orders them killed. Many were — the number is unknown, and the order was later withdrawn — although the highest-ranking were kept for ransom. The chroniclers of both sides record it; Shakespeare's version, that it avenged murdered boys, is not supported by the sources.

  7. 25 October, afternoon

    The rearguard withdraws

    The Counts of Marle and Fauquembergue rally a few hundred horsemen for a last attack and are killed or taken. The rest of the French rearguard, with no great lords left to lead it, draws off northwards. By late afternoon the English are left on the field, and Henry, told by the French herald Montjoie that the day is his, names the battle after the nearest castle, Azincourt.

  8. 25–26 October 1415

    Aftermath

    The French dead may have numbered around 6,000, including the Constable d'Albret, the Dukes of Alençon, Bar and Brabant, and many counts; the Dukes of Orléans and Bourbon and Marshal Boucicaut are among the prisoners taken to England. English dead were a few hundred at most, among them the Duke of York and the young Earl of Suffolk. The English spend a second night at Maisoncelle and march on to Calais. Local people buried the French dead in pits; a calvary set up in 1870 marks their presumed site. No grave has been excavated, and Tim Sutherland's 2002 survey of the accepted field found no securely identified battle finds — so the exact ground is still debated.

Weapons

French army

Plate armour

Plate armour

Full harness of steel plates · about 1400–1600 (transitional mail and plate earlier)

At Agincourt: Full plate kept many arrows out but wore the French men-at-arms down across the soaked, ploughed field and in the crush at the English line.

By 1415 a man-at-arms could be enclosed head to foot in steel. It kept most arrows out, but at Agincourt the French men-at-arms advanced across soaked, ploughed ground under arrow fire and arrived exhausted, packed so tightly that many could not lift their weapons. At Poitiers in 1356 armour was still transitional: mail, coats of plates and growing plate limb defences.

Weight
about 20–30 kg, spread over the body
Protection
proof against most arrows except at short range or weak points
Weakness
heat, exhaustion and mud
Photo: Gothic plate armour · Rama · CC BY-SA 2.0 fr
Mailed knight and couched lance

Mailed knight and couched lance

Heavy cavalry · 11th–13th centuries

At Agincourt: The mounted wings meant to ride down the archers were smaller than planned and broke against the stakes.

With the lance couched under the arm, a knight put the weight of man and horse behind the point. A massed charge could break almost any enemy that stood to receive it, so Muslim commanders tried to avoid it, scattering and shooting at the horses instead.

Armour
mail hauberk, helmet, kite or heater shield
Weapon
lance held under the arm, then sword or mace
Weakness
unarmoured horses; heat and thirst
Photo: Morgan Picture Bible, Paris, c. 1250 · Public domain
Crossbow

Crossbow

Mechanical bow · about 1100–1500 in Western armies

At Agincourt: The French crossbowmen were placed behind the vanguard and hardly used.

A short, powerful bow mounted on a stock and spanned with the feet or a hook, shooting a heavy bolt. It took less skill than a longbow and outranged the Turkish horse archer's bow at close quarters, so Crusader armies used crossbowmen to screen their knights.

Draw
spanned by foot stirrup or belt hook
Range
effective to about 150–200 yd
Rate
about 2 bolts a minute
Photo: Metropolitan Museum of Art · CC0

English army (Henry V)

English longbow

English longbow

Self bow of yew · about 1250–1550

At Agincourt: About five-sixths of Henry's army were archers. Shooting from behind sharpened stakes, they broke the cavalry and harried the advancing men-at-arms into a packed mass.

A single stave of yew, as tall as a man, that took years of practice to draw. Massed in thousands behind stakes or hedges, English archers broke French charges at Crécy, Poitiers and Agincourt by killing and maddening the horses and pinning men-at-arms in the crush. Bows recovered from the Mary Rose (sunk 1545) show how heavy the draw weights were.

Draw weight
commonly about 100–150 lb (Mary Rose bows)
Range
about 250–300 yd for volleys with light arrows
Rate
up to 10–12 arrows a minute for a trained archer
Photo: Archer's kit and longbow from the Mary Rose · Tim Sheerman-Chase · CC BY 4.0
Poleaxe

Poleaxe

Staff weapon · about 1400–1550

At Agincourt: The English men-at-arms fought on foot; archers joined in with mallets, hatchets and swords against men fallen in the mud.

The armoured man-at-arms' weapon for fighting on foot: an axe or hammer head with spikes on a long haft, built to crush and pierce plate. At Agincourt dismounted men-at-arms on both sides fought with poleaxes, swords and lances cut down to a manageable length.

Length
about 1.5–2 m
Head
axe or hammer, with a top spike and often a back spike
Use
two-handed, by armoured men on foot
Photo: Italian poleaxe, Metropolitan Museum of Art · CC0
Knightly sword (arming sword)

Knightly sword (arming sword)

Straight, double-edged sword · 10th–14th centuries

At Agincourt: Henry fought in the front line; by tradition he stood over his wounded brother Humphrey of Gloucester.

The knight's sidearm once the lance had broken: a broad, double-edged cutting blade with a simple cross guard and a disc or brazil-nut pommel. Swords were costly, prized and often blessed, and the cross shape of the hilt was not lost on men who had taken the cross.

Blade
about 75–90 cm, broad and fullered
Weight
about 1–1.4 kg
Use
one-handed, with a shield, on foot or horseback
Photo: A 12th–13th-century sword, Kostroma museum-reserve · CC0

Paintings and photographs

Battle of Agincourt (Vigiles de Charles VII)
Battle of Agincourt (Vigiles de Charles VII) The battle as imagined in a late 15th-century French manuscript, the Vigiles de Charles VII (Martial d'Auvergne). 15th-century miniature — public domain · source
Morning of the Battle of Agincourt (Gilbert)
Morning of the Battle of Agincourt (Gilbert) Sir John Gilbert's 1884 painting of the English on the morning of the battle. Sir John Gilbert (1817–1897) — public domain · source
Henry V (National Portrait Gallery)
Henry V (National Portrait Gallery) Henry V, late 16th/early 17th-century portrait after a lost original (National Portrait Gallery, London). Unknown artist — public domain · source
Calvary on the battlefield
Calvary on the battlefield The calvary put up in 1870 beside the Maisoncelle road, over the presumed grave pits of the French dead. No grave has been excavated. Patrimoine7vallees — CC BY 4.0 · source

Medieval reconstruction. No troop maps survive for this battle. Positions follow the chronicles of both sides and modern studies, numbers are disputed, and the map shows the shape of the battle rather than exact spots.

Where was it fought? Michael Livingston (2023) argues the battle was fought south and west of the traditional field: the English north-west of Maisoncelle, the French south of Azincourt. The two battle lines follow a published reconstruction of his work, georeferenced here to within perhaps 100–150 m; the contingents are carried over from the traditional reconstruction and widened, so everything beyond the two lines and the burial ground is schematic. Open this version in the map.

Free for everyone every year on its anniversary: October 25.

Accuracy score: 51/100 (limited)

How the accuracy score works

Sources and method

Agincourt, 25 October 1415 — a medieval reconstruction. No contemporary troop map exists; contingents are placed on the traditional site between the woods of Azincourt and Tramecourt from the chronicle descriptions and are schematic.
Primary sources: Gesta Henrici Quinti (ed. F. Taylor & J. S. Roskell, Oxford, 1975); Enguerrand de Monstrelet, Chronique; Jean de Waurin and Jean Le Fèvre (both present, with the French and the English respectively); the Chronique de Ruisseauville; the Religieux de Saint-Denis — collected and translated in Anne Curry, The Battle of Agincourt: Sources and Interpretations (Boydell, 2000).
Modern studies: Anne Curry, Agincourt: A New History (Tempus, 2005) and the University of Southampton's Medieval Soldier project (medievalsoldier.org); Juliet Barker, Agincourt (2005); Jonathan Sumption, Cursed Kings (2015); Clifford J. Rogers, 'The Battle of Agincourt', in The Hundred Years War (Part II) (Brill, 2008); Encyclopaedia Britannica, Battle of Agincourt; the Historical Association's Agincourt 600 resource pack.
Site and archaeology: Tim Sutherland, 'The Battle of Agincourt: An Alternative Location?', Journal of Conflict Archaeology 1 (2006), 245–265 (academia.edu) — a 2002 metal-detector survey found no securely identified battle artefacts on the accepted site; Michael Livingston's 2023 terrain study proposing a site to the south and west (medieval.eu summary); Archives départementales du Pas-de-Calais, La bataille d'Azincourt. Village positions from commune gazetteers; the woods were larger in 1415 and their edges here are schematic; the Calvary position is approximate. Numbers are disputed throughout (chroniclers give far higher French figures). Images from Wikimedia Commons.

Where the positions come from

Approximate locations

Further reading