Morning of the Battle of Agincourt
by Sir John Gilbert
(English painter, 1817-1897)
ON the morning of the battle of Agincourt the English
troops were in a pitiable condition. They were weakened
by illness and exhausted by the five weeks' siege of
Harfleur. Food was scanty, and Henry was endeavoring to
fall back to Calais. This was at best a long and
dangerous march. At the river Somme he succeeded in
going a long way around and so crossing the stream, but
when he came to the little village of Agincourt, the
French were lined up against him only a quarter of a
mile away. They had three or four times his numbers,
and battle could not be avoided. The English could have
had little hope of success; but the result was a
repetition of the story of Crécy. The French had
learned little of warfare since that day, and they
still encased themselves in heavy armor.
Terror-stricken as they were at the tempests of
yard-long arrows of the English bowmen, they fought
bravely. In a final charge they struggled to gallop
their horses through the clinging, muddy clay, but were
thrust back by the stern English pikes. The English
lost a few hundred, the French perhaps ten thousand.
Sad reports went over France, for their princes and
nobles and the very flower of their chivalry were
either slain or taken prisoners.
This picture shows the English forces just before the
battle. At this solemn moment, when their destruction
seemed imminent, the Host was raised in sight of all
the army and the soldiers bowed their heads in prayer.
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