Authors: Marcus Cowper
Tags: #Military History - Medieval
It is this image of Henry as military hero that has
T H E
remained through to the 20th century, reintroduced
C R G N I C L E "
in the age of film through the performances and
direction of Laurence Olivier in his 1944 version
H i f t o r y of H e n r y the fift,
and Kenneth Branagh in 1989. Olivier's version,
c ^ coming at the height of World War II, is perhaps
With his battell fought at
Agm Qourt
in c
France.
Togither with
Aunttent s r
understandably propagandist, down to its dedication To the commandos and airborne troops of Great
As it hath benefrndry tmes^jdbjtheKJ^tJjmrdk
the Ltrdchamber laine hisferuantsS * —
Britain', while Branagh's film is much grittier in its
portrayal of the battle scenes in particular.
Modern academic tradition has a much more
nuanced view of Henry and his achievements, though
still influenced by the work of the noted 20th-century
medievalist K. B. MacFarlane, who considered Henry
the greatest man to have ruled England. The late 20th
century and early 21st century has seen something of
an explosion of works on the subject, helped no end by
the translation of sources of the battle published
L O N D O N
by Anne Curry in 2000, while recent work on the
Printed b y
Thomas Crecde,fo
rTho. Milling-
ton,and folm Busby. A n d are to be
financial records of both sides has shed new light on
fold at his houfein Carter Lane, next
the numbers involved in both the Agincourt campaign
thePpwlehead* 1600. •
and the foundation of Lancastrian Normandy.
The title page of the
first quarto edition of
Shakespeare's Henry V,
F U R T H E R R E A D I N G
published in 1600.
The play is thought to
In recent years there has been a proliferation of material on both Henry V and
have first been performed
the Lancastrian kingdom of France, with recent works by Juliet Barker being
at the Globe theatre
popular, well written and scholarly. Ian Mortimer's just published day-by-day
between February
account of the year 1415 puts much of the run up to the battle of Agincourt
and September 1599.
within its European context and is useful for the insights it provides in that
(Author's collection)
direction.
Anne Curry's work on Henry V and the Hundred Years War has proved
particularly valuable, in particular her edited sources for the battle, while
her
Agincourt: A New History
dramatically revises the numbers involved in
the battle based upon her use of financial records from both the English
and French sides; mention must also be made of the online database
developed by Anne Curry amongst others listing English soldiers involved
in the Hundred Years War:
http://www.icmacentre.ac.uk/soldier/database/.
Printed primary material
Cole, Charles Augustus,
Memorials of Henry the Fifth, King of England
Longman,
Brown, Green, Longmans, and Roberts: London, 1858
Curry, Anne (ed.),
The battle of Agincourt: Sources and Interpretations
Boydell Press:
Woodbridge, 2000
62
Given-Wilson, C. (ed.),
The Chronicle of Adam Usk, 1377-1421
Clarendon Press:
Oxford, 1997
Kingsford, C. L. (ed.),
The first English life of king Henry the fifth ... by an anonymous
author known commonly as the translator ofLivius
Oxford, 1911
Taylor, Frank, and Roskell, John S. (eds.),
Gesta Henrici Quinti
Clarendon Press:
Oxford, 1975
Secondary material
Allmand, C. T.,
Henry V,
Methuen: London, 1992
Barker, Juliet,
Agincourt: the King, the Campaign, the Battle
Little, Brown: London, 2005
, Conquest: the English Kingdom of France, 1417-1450
Little, Brown: London, 2009
Bennett, Matthew, Campaign 9:
Agincourt 1415
Osprey Publishing Ltd: Oxford, 1991
Curry, Anne (ed.),
Agincourt, 1415: Henry V, Sir Thomas Erpingham and the Triumph of
the English Archers
Tempus: Stroud, 2005
Curry, Anne,
Agincourt: A New History
Tempus: Stroud, 2005
Curry, Anne, and Hughes, Michael, (eds.)
Arms, Armies and Fortifications in the
Hundred Years War
Boy dell Press: Woodbridge, 1994
, The Hundred Years' War, 1337-1457
Osprey Publishing Ltd: Oxford, 2002
Dockray, Keith,
Warrior king: the Life of Henry V
Tempus: Stroud, 2007
Hardy, Robert,
Longbow: a Social and Military History
Patrick Stephens: Sparkford, 1992
Jones, Michael K.,
Agincourt 1415
Pen & Sword: Barnsley, 2005
Keen, M. H.,
England in the Later Middle Ages: a Political History
Methuen:
London,1973
, Medieval Warfare: a History
Oxford University Press: Oxford, 1999
Knight, Paul,
Henry V and the Conquest of France 1416-53
Osprey Publishing Ltd:
Oxford, 1998
McFarlane, K. B.,
Lancastrian Kings and Lollard Knights
Clarendon Press: Oxford, 1972
Mortimer, Ian,
The fears of Henry IV: the Life of England's Self-Made King
Jonathan
Cape: London, 2007
, 1415: Henry V's Year of Glory
The Bodley Head: London, 2009
Rothero, Christopher, Men-at-Arms 113:
The Armies of Agincourt
Osprey Publishing
Ltd: Oxford, 1981
Seward, Desmond,
Henry V as Warlord
Sidgwick & Jackson: London, 1987
Shakespeare, William,
Complete Works
Macmillan: Basingstoke, 2007
I N D E X
References to illustrations are shown in
Falaise 4 2 , 4 6
Livio, Tito
see Vita Henrici Quinti
bold. Plates are prefixed pi, with captions
family trees 5
Lollards 58
on the page in brackets.
First English Life of Henry V
, 12, 13, 14,
Louis of Guienne, Dauphin of France
40-41, 42, 55, 61
and Burgundians 43
Aberystwyth, siege of (1407) 14, 50
France
death 54
Agincourt, battle of (1415) 28-37, 30, 32,
Burgundians vs Armagnacs 14-15,
disinherited by Troyes treaty 44, 45
33, 35, 36, 59
43, 53
and Henry V 25, 26, 47, 53
battlefield now 28, 29, 31, 34, 36, 38
early days of Hundred Years War 6
march to 25-28
English rights to throne 4 - 6
March, Earl of 52-53
monument to dead 37
Henry V's campaigns 9, 15-48, 16,
Meaux, siege of (1421) 47, 49, 59
Albret, Charles d', Constable of France
39, 47
Monstrelet, Enguerran 33, 34-36
26, 29, 30, 54
intervention in Welsh Revolt 13
Mortimer, Sir Edmund 10, 50, 51
Alen^on 43, 44, 45
Lancastrian kingdom of 55-57
Mowbray, Thomas, Duke of Norfolk 7
Alen^on, John, Duke of 30, 36, 53-54
archers 17, 19, 28-29, 29, 31-33, 40
Gesta Henrici Quinti
26-27, 28, 36, 58, 60
Nogent-le-Retrou 4 8
Arundel, Archbishop Thomas 14, 58
Gesta Vita Henrici
20-21, 21-22, 22-24
Northumberland, Henry Percy, Earl of 10,
Arundel, Thomas, Earl of 14, 15, 25, 59
Glendower, Owen 9-11, 13-14, 49-50, 4 9
11, 13, 50, 51, 52
Gloucester, Humphrey, Duke of 7, 25, 33,
Bauge, battle of (1421) 45
35, 42, 55-56
Orleans, Charles, Duke of 30, 36, 53, 54
Beaufort family
Grey of Ruthvin, Lord Reginald de 10, 50
Orleans, Louis, Duke of 15, 53
Beaufort, Henry, Bishop of Winchester
Orleans, siege of (1428) 56
background 7
Harfleur 39-40, 56
Oxford, Earl of 25
helps finance the war 17, 46
Harfleur, siege of (1415) 18-25, 20,
on Irish expedition 8
21, 23
Percy, Henry (Hotspur) 10-13, 51-52, 53
as part of Henry V's political faction 14
Henry lV, king of England (Henry
Pole, Michael de Ia, Earl of Suffolk 24, 36
strife with Gloucester 5 5 - 5 6
Bolingbroke) 5