1995 - 2023 by Snopes Media Group Inc. Battle of Agincourt. It. The 'middle finger salute' did not derive from the defiant gestures of English archers whose fingers had been severed at the Battle of Agincourt. After the battle, the English taunted the survivors by showing off what wasn't cut off. People who killed their social betters from a distance werent very well liked, and would likely have paid with their lives as did all the French prisoners, archers or otherwise, whom Henry V had executed at Agincourt, in what some historians consider a war crime. [127], Shakespeare's play presented Henry as leading a truly English force into battle, playing on the importance of the link between the monarch and the common soldiers in the fight. The king received an axe blow to the head, which knocked off a piece of the crown that formed part of his helmet. Before the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, the French, anticipating victory over the English, proposed to cut off the middle finger of all captured English soldiers. The field that the French had to cross to meet their enemy was muddy after a week of rain and slowed their progress, during which time they endured casualties from English arrows. . This article was. The Battle of Agincourt took place during the the Hundred Years' War, a conflict which, despite its name, was neither one single war nor did it last one hundred years. (Indeed, Henry V was heavily criticized for supposedly having ordered the execution of French prisoners at Agincourt. [92], The French had suffered a catastrophic defeat. Jones, P. N. (1992). King Henry V at the Battle of Agincourt, 1415 by Sir John Gilbert, Atkinson Art Gallery, Southport, Lancashire. The delay allowed a large French force, led by the constable Charles dAlbret and the marshal Jean II le Meingre (called Boucicaut), to intercept him near the village of Agincourt on October 24. Shakespeare's portrayal of the casualty loss is ahistorical in that the French are stated to have lost 10,000 and the English 'less than' thirty men, prompting Henry's remark, "O God, thy arm was here". After a difficult siege, the English forces found themselves assaulted by a massive French force. He claimed the title of King of France through his great-grandfather Edward III of England, although in practice the English kings were generally prepared to renounce this claim if the French would acknowledge the English claim on Aquitaine and other French lands (the terms of the Treaty of Brtigny). The English had very little food, had marched 260 miles (420km) in two and a half weeks, were suffering from sickness such as dysentery, and were greatly outnumbered by well-equipped French men-at-arms. Snopes and the Snopes.com logo are registered service marks of Snopes.com. [53] A further 600 dismounted men-at-arms stood in each wing, with the left under the Count of Vendme and the right under the Count of Richemont. [96] Of the great royal office holders, France lost its constable (Albret), an admiral (the lord of Dampierre), the Master of Crossbowmen (David de Rambures, dead along with three sons), Master of the Royal Household (Guichard Dauphin) and prvt of the marshals. Very quickly after the battle, the fragile truce between the Armagnac and Burgundian factions broke down. In Nature Embodied: Gesture in Ancient Rome, Anthony Corbeill, Professor of Classics at the University of Kansas wrote: The most familiar example of the coexistence of a human and transhuman elementis the extended middle finger. The English Gesta Henrici described three great heaps of the slain around the three main English standards. [62] In his 2007 film adaptation, director Peter Babakitis uses digital effects to exaggerate realist features during the battle scenes, producing a more avant-garde interpretation of the fighting at Agincourt. [46] Many lords and gentlemen demanded and got places in the front lines, where they would have a higher chance to acquire glory and valuable ransoms; this resulted in the bulk of the men-at-arms being massed in the front lines and the other troops, for which there was no remaining space, to be placed behind. King Charles VI of France did not command the French army as he suffered from psychotic illnesses and associated mental incapacity. In December 1414, the English parliament was persuaded to grant Henry a "double subsidy", a tax at twice the traditional rate, to recover his inheritance from the French. Im even more suspicious of the alleged transformation of p to f. Update [June 20, 2022]: Updated SEO/social. 33-35). The effect of the victory on national morale was powerful. Fighting commenced at 11:00 am, as the English brought their longbows within killing range and the first line of French knights advanced, led by cavalry. [93] In all, around 6,000 of their fighting men lay dead on the ground. Legend says that the British archers were so formidable that the ones captured by the French had their index and middle fingers cut off so that they . Your opponent is not going to pay you (or pay you much) for the return of mutilated soldiers, so now what do you do with them? The Battle of Agincourt was dramatised by William Shakespeare in Henry V featuring the battle in which Henry inspired his much-outnumbered English forces to fight the French through a St Crispin's Day Speech, saying "the fewer men, the greater share of honour". [51] Albret, Boucicaut and almost all the leading noblemen were assigned stations in the vanguard. The Battle of Agincourt took place on October 25, 1415. [7] Barker, who believes the English were outnumbered by at least four to one,[120] says that the armed servants formed the rearguard in the battle. The deep, soft mud particularly favoured the English force because, once knocked to the ground, the heavily armoured French knights had a hard time getting back up to fight in the mle. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994. In the words of Juliet Barker, the battle "cut a great swath through the natural leaders of French society in Artois, Ponthieu, Normandy, Picardy. Rather than retire directly to England for the winter, with his costly expedition resulting in the capture of only one town, Henry decided to march most of his army (roughly 9,000) through Normandy to the port of Calais, the English stronghold in northern France, to demonstrate by his presence in the territory at the head of an army that his right to rule in the duchy was more than a mere abstract legal and historical claim. [44] There was a special, elite cavalry force whose purpose was to break the formation of the English archers and thus clear the way for the infantry to advance. This was not strictly a feudal army, but an army paid through a system similar to that of the English. The historian Suetonius, writing about Augustus Caesar, says the emperor expelled [the entertainer] Pylades . The Duke of Brabant (about 2,000 men),[65] the Duke of Anjou (about 600 men),[65] and the Duke of Brittany (6,000 men, according to Monstrelet),[66] were all marching to join the army. October 25, 1415. Mortimer also considers that the Gesta vastly inflates the English casualties 5,000 at Harfleur, and that "despite the trials of the march, Henry had lost very few men to illness or death; and we have independent testimony that no more than 160 had been captured on the way". (There is an Indo-European connection between the p-sound and f-sound see the distinction between the Latin pater and the Germanic Vater/father but that split occurred a long time ago.) [116] One particular cause of confusion may have been the number of servants on both sides, or whether they should at all be counted as combatants. And I aint kidding yew. The French army blocked Henry's way to the safety of Calais, and delaying battle would only further weaken his tired army and allow more French troops to arrive. [38], The French army had 10,000 men-at arms[39][40][41] plus some 4,0005,000 miscellaneous footmen (gens de trait) including archers, crossbowmen[42] (arbaltriers) and shield-bearers (pavisiers), totaling 14,00015,000 men. Then they had to walk a few hundred yards (metres) through thick mud and a press of comrades while wearing armour weighing 5060 pounds (2327kg), gathering sticky clay all the way. 78-116). If the one-fingered salute comes from Agincourt, as the graphic suggests, then at what point did it get transformed into two fingers in England? The metallography and relative effectiveness of arrowheads and armor during the Middle Ages. But frankly, I suspect that the French would have done a lot worse to any captured English archers than chopping off their fingers. Rogers suggested that the French at the back of their deep formation would have been attempting to literally add their weight to the advance, without realising that they were hindering the ability of those at the front to manoeuvre and fight by pushing them into the English formation of lancepoints. [62] Le Fvre and Wavrin similarly say that it was signs of the French rearguard regrouping and "marching forward in battle order" which made the English think they were still in danger. [126], Shakespeare's depiction of the battle also plays on the theme of modernity. He told his men that he would rather die in the coming battle than be captured and ransomed. The Hundred Years War was a discontinuous conflict between England and France that spanned two centuries. query that we are duty bound to provide a bit of historical and linguistic information demonstrating why this anecdote couldn't possibly be accurate: The 'Car Talk' show (on NPR) with Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers have a feature called the 'Puzzler', and their most recent 'Puzzler' was about the Battle of Agincourt. Many folkloric or etymological myths have sprung up about its origin, especially the widely quoted one about the interplay between the French and English soldiery at the battle of Agincourt 1415, where the French threatened to amputate the middle fingers of the English archers to prevent them from drawing their bows, which of course is absolute A Dictionary of Superstitions. The English numbered roughly 5,000 knights, men-at-arms, and archers. Winston Churchhill can be seen using the V as a rallying call. 138). The English King Henry V and his troops were marching to Calais to embark for England when he was intercepted by forces which outnumbered his. [90] In his study of the battle John Keegan argued that the main aim was not to actually kill the French knights but rather to terrorise them into submission and quell any possibility they might resume the fight, which would probably have caused the uncommitted French reserve forces to join the fray, as well. It supposedly describes the origin of the middle-finger hand gesture and, by implication, the insult "fuck you". [49], The French vanguard and main battle numbered respectively 4,800 and 3,000 men-at-arms. Giving the Finger - Before the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, the French, anticipating victory over the English, proposed to cut off the middle finger of all captured English soldiers. [68], Henry's men were already very weary from hunger, illness and retreat. [135] The battle also forms a central component of the 2019 Netflix film The King. Archers were not the "similarly equipped" opponents that armored soldiers triumphed in defeating -- if the two clashed in combat, the armored soldier would either kill an archer outright or leave him to bleed to death rather than go to the wasteful effort of taking him prisoner. It seems to me that the single upturned middle finger clearly represents an erect penis and is the gestural equivalent of saying f*ck you! As such, it is probably ancient Wikipedia certainly thinks so, although apparently it became popular in the United States in the late nineteenth century under the influence of Italian immigration, replacing other rude gestures like thumbing the nose or the fig sign. [97] According to the heralds, 3,069 knights and squires were killed,[e] while at least 2,600 more corpses were found without coats of arms to identify them. This famous English longbow was . Henry would marry Catherine, Charles VI's young daughter, and receive a dowry of 2million crowns. Read more about our work to fact-check social media posts here . [133] Branagh's version gives a longer, more realist portrayal of the battle itself, drawing on both historical sources and images from the Vietnam and Falkland Wars.[134]. What does DO NOT HUMP mean on the side of railroad cars? (Its taking longer than we thought.) The town surrendered on 22 September, and the English army did not leave until 8 October. (Storyline based on the play by William Shakespeare "The Cronicle History of King Henry the Fift with His Batt. The French monk of St. Denis says: "Their vanguard, composed of about 5,000 men, found itself at first so tightly packed that those who were in the third rank could scarcely use their swords,"[63] and the Burgundian sources have a similar passage. The brunt of the battle had fallen on the Armagnacs and it was they who suffered the majority of senior casualties and carried the blame for the defeat. [114][115] Curry and Mortimer questioned the reliability of the Gesta, as there have been doubts as to how much it was written as propaganda for Henry V. Both note that the Gesta vastly overestimates the number of French in the battle; its proportions of English archers to men-at-arms at the battle are also different from those of the English army before the siege of Harfleur. The two armies spent the night of 24 October on open ground. You would think that anything English predating 1607, such as the language, Protestantism, or the Common Law, would have been a part of Americas patrimony. It is unclear whether the delay occurred because the French were hoping the English would launch a frontal assault (and were surprised when the English instead started shooting from their new defensive position), or whether the French mounted knights instead did not react quickly enough to the English advance. Without the middle finger, it would be impossible to draw the renowned English longbow; and therefore, they would be incapable of fighting in the future. Despite the numerical disadvantage, the battle ended in an overwhelming victory for the English. Its up there with heres something that they dont want you to know.. [56] Some 200 mounted men-at-arms would attack the English rear. The French could not cope with the thousands of lightly armoured longbowmen assailants (who were much less hindered by the mud and weight of their armour) combined with the English men-at-arms. In the song Hotel California, what does colitas mean? At least one scholar puts the French army at no more than 12,000, indicating that the English were outnumbered 2 to 1. The Battle of Agincourt (/dnkr(t)/ AJ-in-kor(t);[a] French: Azincourt [azku]) was an English victory in the Hundred Years' War. Certainly, d'Azincourt was a local knight but he might have been chosen to lead the attack because of his local knowledge and the lack of availability of a more senior soldier. [76] Modern historians are divided on how effective the longbows would have been against plate armour of the time. When the first French line reached the English front, the cavalry were unable to overwhelm the archers, who had driven sharpened stakes into the ground at an angle before themselves. The play focuses on the pressures of kingship, the tensions between how a king should appear chivalric, honest, and just and how a king must sometimes act Machiavellian and ruthless. [citation needed], In any event, Henry ordered the slaughter of what were perhaps several thousand French prisoners, sparing only the highest ranked (presumably those most likely to fetch a large ransom under the chivalric system of warfare). [74], The plate armour of the French men-at-arms allowed them to close the 1,000 yards or so to the English lines while being under what the French monk of Saint Denis described as "a terrifying hail of arrow shot". The third line of the French army, recoiling at the pile of corpses before them and unable to make an effective charge, was then massacred swiftly. This moment of the battle is portrayed both as a break with the traditions of chivalry and as a key example of the paradox of kingship. Jean de Wavrin, a knight on the French side wrote that English fatalities were 1,600 men of all ranks. The English and Welsh archers on the flanks drove pointed wooden stakes, or palings, into the ground at an angle to force cavalry to veer off. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). There is no evidence that, when captured in any scenario,archers had their finger cut off by the enemy( bit.ly/3dP2PhP ). The battle occurred on Friday, 25 October 1415 ( Saint Crispin's Day ), near modern-day Azincourt, in northern France. The 'middle finger salute' is derived from the defiant gestures of English archers whose fingers had been severed by the French at the Battle of Agincourt. The Battle of Agincourt is an iconic moment in English military history. Many people who have seen the film question whether giving the finger was done around the time of the Titanic disaster, or was it a more recent gesture invented by some defiant seventh-grader. There had even been a suggestion that the English would run away rather than give battle when they saw that they would be fighting so many French princes. [101] The bailiffs of nine major northern towns were killed, often along with their sons, relatives and supporters. Battle of Agincourt, (October 25, 1415)Battle resulting in the decisive victory of the English over the French in the Hundred Years' War. Whether this was true is open to question and continues to be debated to this day; however, it seems likely that death was the normal fate of any soldier who could not be ransomed. [b] The unexpected English victory against the numerically superior French army boosted English morale and prestige, crippled France, and started a new period of English dominance in the war that would last for 14 years until France defeated England in the Siege of Orlans in 1429. ), And even if killing prisoners of war did not violate the moral code of the times, what would be the purpose of taking archers captive, cutting off their fingers, and then executing them? Modern test and contemporary accounts conclude that arrows could not penetrate the better quality steel armour, which became available to knights and men-at-arms of fairly modest means by the middle of the 14th century, but could penetrate the poorer quality wrought iron armour. The English won in a major upset and waved the body part in question at the French in defiance. One final observation: any time some appeal begins with heres something that intelligent people will find edifying you should be suspicious. [34][d] The French apparently had no clear plan for deploying the rest of the army. Thepostalleges that the Frenchhad planned to cut offthe middle fingers ofall captured English soldiers,to inhibit them fromdrawingtheir longbowsin futurebattles. [20] He initially called a Great Council in the spring of 1414 to discuss going to war with France, but the lords insisted that he should negotiate further and moderate his claims. [27], During the siege, the French had raised an army which assembled around Rouen. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. [26] He also intended the manoeuvre as a deliberate provocation to battle aimed at the dauphin, who had failed to respond to Henry's personal challenge to combat at Harfleur. Without the middle finger it would be impossible to draw the renowned English longbow and therefore [soldiers would] be incapable of fighting in the future. The middle finger gesture does not derive from the mutilation of English archers at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. They had been weakened by the siege at Harfleur and had marched over 200 miles (more than 320 km), and many among them were suffering from dysentery. Without the middle finger it would be impossible to draw the renowned English longbow and therefore be incapable of fighting in the future. [130][131] Partially as a result, the battle was used as a metaphor at the beginning of the First World War, when the British Expeditionary Force's attempts to stop the German advances were widely likened to it.[132]. Tudor re-invention, leading to the quintessential Shakespearean portrayal of "we happy few", has been the most influential, but every century has made its own accretions. The English were not in an ideal condition to fight a battle. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1991 ISBN 0-471-53672-5 (pp. The Face of Battle.New York: Penguin Books, 1978 ISBN 0-140-04897-9 (pp. After the victory, Henry continued his march to Calais and arrived back in England in November to an outpouring of nationalistic sentiment. The battlefield was a freshly plowed field, and at the time of the battle, it had been raining continuously for several days.
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