battle of agincourt middle finger

All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. [93] Entire noble families were wiped out in the male line, and in some regions an entire generation of landed nobility was annihilated. [50] Both lines were arrayed in tight, dense formations of about 16 ranks each, and were positioned a bowshot length from each other. [Adam attaches the following memo, which has been floating around the Internet for some time.] New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1991 ISBN 0-471-53672-5 (pp. And I aint kidding yew. 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? Image source [128] The original play does not, however, feature any scenes of the actual battle itself, leading critic Rose Zimbardo to characterise it as "full of warfare, yet empty of conflict. Battle of Agincourt - HISTORY His men-at-arms were stationed in the centre, flanked by wedges of archers who carried longbows that had an effective range of 250 yards (229 metres). [89] A slaughter of the French prisoners ensued. Thinking it was an attack from the rear, Henry had the French nobles he was holding prisoner killed. The Battle of Agincourt (October 25, 1415) was a pivotal battle in the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453), resulting in an English victory over the French. [33], Early on the 25th, Henry deployed his army (approximately 1,500 men-at-arms and 7,000 longbowmen) across a 750-yard (690m) part of the defile. [59], The field of battle was arguably the most significant factor in deciding the outcome. [56] Some 200 mounted men-at-arms would attack the English rear. 33-35). But frankly, I suspect that the French would have done a lot worse to any captured English archers than chopping off their fingers. 42 Share 3.9K views 4 years ago There is an old story that allegedly gives the background of how we came to use the middle finger as an insult along with the alleged origin of the "F-word". Battle of Agincourt | Facts, Summary, & Significance | Britannica The city capitulated within six weeks, but the siege was costly. This suggests that the French could have outnumbered the English 5 to 1. [105] Other benefits to the English were longer term. On February 1, 1328, King Charles IV of France died without an heir. The Burgundian sources have him concluding the speech by telling his men that the French had boasted that they would cut off two fingers from the right hand of every archer, so that he could never draw a longbow again. 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. Opie, Iona and Moira Tatem. A Dictionary of Superstitions. Some notable examples are listed below. The metallography and relative effectiveness of arrowheads and armor during the Middle Ages. News of the contrivance circulated within Europe and was described in a book of tactics written in 1411 by. Moreover, with this outcome Henry V strengthened his position in his own kingdom; it legitimized his claim to the crown, which had been under threat after his accession. The French knights were unable to outflank the longbowmen (because of the encroaching woodland) and unable to charge through the array of sharpened stakes that protected the archers. Departing from Harfleur on October 8, Henry marched northward toward the English-held port of Calais, where he would disembark for England, with a force of 1,000 knights and men-at-arms and 5,000 archers. Henry V's victory in the mud of Picardy remains the . See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. There was no monetary reward to be obtained by capturing them, nor was there any glory to be won by defeating them in battle. According to research, heres the true story: 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. I suppose that the two-fingered salute could still come from medieval archery, even if it didnt come specifically from the Battle of Agincourt, although the example that Wikipedia links to (the fourteenth-century Luttrell Psalter) is ambiguous. [36] Henry, worried about the enemy launching surprise raids, and wanting his troops to remain focused, ordered all his men to spend the night before the battle in silence, on pain of having an ear cut off. [5] [b] Henry V 's victory at Agincourt, against a numerically superior French army. [62] King Henry V at the Battle of Agincourt, 1415 by Sir John Gilbert, Atkinson Art Gallery, Southport, Lancashire. Omissions? Battle of Agincourt: English victory over the French | Britannica Despite the lack of motion pictures and television way back in the 15th century, the details of medieval battles such as the one at Agincourt in 1415 did not go unrecorded. 78-116). This symbol of rocking out is formed by tucking the middle and index finger and holding them in place with the thumb. Africa: Funny but Fanciful - Little Evidence for Origin of the F Word 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. This famous weapon was made of the native English yew tree, and the act of drawing the longbow was known as plucking the yew. Much to the bewilderment of the French, the English won a major upset and began mocking the French by waving their middle fingers at the defeated French, saying, See, we can still pluck yew! Over the years some folk etymologies have grown up around this symbolic gesture. But lets not quibble. Bowman were not valuable prisoners, though: they stood outside the chivalric system and were considered the social inferiors of men-at-arms. [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. By 1415, negotiations had ground to a halt, with the English claiming that the French had mocked their claims and ridiculed Henry himself. [52] The dukes of Alenon and Bar led the main battle. October 25, 1415. The decorative use of the image of Priapusmatched the Roman use ofimages of male genitalia for warding off evil. This would prevent maneuvers that might overwhelm the English ranks. Maybe it means five and was a symbol of support for Henry V? [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. The cavalry force, which could have devastated the English line if it had attacked while they moved their stakes, charged only after the initial volley of arrows from the English. [73] The mounted charge and subsequent retreat churned up the already muddy terrain between the French and the English. 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. The town surrendered on 22 September, and the English army did not leave until 8 October. [126], Shakespeare's depiction of the battle also plays on the theme of modernity. 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. [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. The Battle of Agincourt was another famous battle where longbowmen had a particularly important . [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. They were successful for a time, forcing Henry to move south, away from Calais, to find a ford. 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. 138). [84] The exhausted French men-at-arms were unable to get up after being knocked to the ground by the English. The body part which the French proposed to cut off of the English after defeating them was, of course, the middle finger, without which it is impossible to draw the renowned English longbow. [32] In 2019, the historian Michael Livingston also made the case for a site west of Azincourt, based on a review of sources and early maps. The traditional view of the years 131821 is one of domination by Since the French had many more men-at-arms than the English, they would accordingly be accompanied by a far greater number of servants. [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. Clip from the 1944 movie "Henry V" (137 min). 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. 78-116). Sumption, thus, concludes that the French had 14,000 men, basing himself on the monk of St. Denis;[119] Mortimer gives 14 or 15 thousand fighting men. [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. 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. Since then there had been tension between the nobility and the royal house, widespread lawlessness throughout the kingdom, and several attempts on Henry Vs life. This was not strictly a feudal army, but an army paid through a system similar to that of the English. The effect of the victory on national morale was powerful. There is a modern museum in Agincourt village dedicated to the battle. Theodore Beck also suggests that among Henry's army was "the king's physician and a little band of surgeons". 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. Longbowmen and "The Finger" - (on 'TheBeckoning') Band of Brothers: Henry V and the Battle of Agincourt After the battle, the English taunted the survivors by showing off what wasn't cut off. A BBCNews Magazinereportsimilarlytracesthe gesture back toAncient Greek philosophers ( here ). Barker, Sumption and Rogers all wrote that the English probably had 6,000 men, these being 5,000 archers and 9001,000 men-at-arms. The earliest known photograph of "the finger," given by Charles "Old [23] The army of about 12,000 men and up to 20,000 horses besieged the port of Harfleur. [125] Shakespeare illustrates these tensions by depicting Henry's decision to kill some of the French prisoners, whilst attempting to justify it and distance himself from the event. Without the middle finger it would be impossible to draw the renowned English longbow and therefore be incapable of fighting in the future. A list of English archers killed at Agincourt, as recorded in the village's museum, The story of the battle has been retold many times in English, from the 15th-century, Dates in the fifteenth century are difficult to reconcile with modern calendars: see, The first known use of angled stakes to thwart a mounted charge was at the Battle of Nicopolis, an engagement between European states and Turkish forces in 1396, twenty years before Agincourt. [72], The French cavalry, despite being disorganised and not at full numbers, charged towards the longbowmen. The two armies spent the night of 24 October on open ground. [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. 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. England had been fraught with political discord since Henry IV of the house of Lancaster (father of Henry V) had usurped the throne from Richard II in 1399. This famous weapon was made of the native English yew tree, and so the act of drawing the longbow was known as "plucking yew". The recently ploughed land hemmed in by dense woodland favoured the English, both because of its narrowness, and because of the thick mud through which the French knights had to walk. In the other reference Martial writes that a certain party points a finger, an indecent one, at some other people. Jean de Wavrin, a knight on the French side wrote that English fatalities were 1,600 men of all ranks. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. . Some historians trace its origins to ancient Rome. One Of The Oldest Insults: The Origin Of The Middle Finger - Storypick [citation needed], The French responded with what they considered the generous terms of marriage with Catherine, a dowry of 600,000 crowns, and an enlarged Aquitaine. The two candidates with the strongest claims were Edward III of England, who was the son of Charles's sister, and Philip, Charles's paternal . Adam Koford, Salt Lake City, Utah, Now for the facts. I admit that I bring this story up when I talk about the Hundred Years War only to debunk it. 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. Despite the numerical disadvantage, the battle ended in an overwhelming victory for the English. Kill them outright and violate the medieval moral code of civilized warfare? Although it could be intended as humorous, the image on social media is historically inaccurate. Agincourt and the Middle Finger | First Floor Tarpley Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. After a difficult siege, the English forces found themselves assaulted by a massive French force. The Burgundians seized on the opportunity and within 10 days of the battle had mustered their armies and marched on Paris. (Its taking longer than we thought.) Dear Cecil: Can you confirm the following? It forms the backdrop to events in William Shakespeare's play Henry V, written in 1599. French chroniclers agree that when the mounted charge did come, it did not contain as many men as it should have; Gilles le Bouvier states that some had wandered off to warm themselves and others were walking or feeding their horses. [91] Such an event would have posed a risk to the still-outnumbered English and could have easily turned a stunning victory into a mutually destructive defeat, as the English forces were now largely intermingled with the French and would have suffered grievously from the arrows of their own longbowmen had they needed to resume shooting. And where does the distinction between one and two fingers come from? Contemporary accounts [ edit] Read more about our work to fact-check social media posts here . Keegan also speculated that due to the relatively low number of archers actually involved in killing the French knights (roughly 200 by his estimate), together with the refusal of the English knights to assist in a duty they saw as distastefully unchivalrous, and combined with the sheer difficulty of killing such a large number of prisoners in such a short space of time, the actual number of French prisoners put to death may not have been substantial before the French reserves fled the field and Henry rescinded the order. While numerous English sources give the English casualties in double figures,[8] record evidence identifies at least 112 Englishmen killed in the fighting,[103] while Monstrelet reported 600 English dead. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. The idea being that you need two fingers to draw a bow, which makes more sense, and thus links up a national custom with a triumphant moment in national history! [48] On account of the lack of space, the French drew up a third battle, the rearguard, which was on horseback and mainly comprised the varlets mounted on the horses belonging to the men fighting on foot ahead. Henry V and the resumption of the Hundred Years War, That fought with us upon Saint Crispins day, https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Agincourt, World History Encyclopedia - Battle of Agincourt, Warfare History Network - Miracle in the Mud: The Hundred Years' War's Battle of Agincourt, Battle of Agincourt - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). In the Battle of Agincourt, the French threatened the English Soldiers that they would cut off their fingers and when they failed the Englishmen mocked them by showing their fingers. The campaign season was coming to an end, and the English army had suffered many casualties through disease. Singer Robbie Williams insults the viewer. The main part of the speech begins "This day is called the feast of . [39] Curry, Rogers[118] and Mortimer[42] all agree the French had 4 to 5 thousand missile troops. .). [18] A recent re-appraisal of Henry's strategy of the Agincourt campaign incorporates these three accounts and argues that war was seen as a legal due process for solving the disagreement over claims to the French throne. "[129], The play introduced the famous St Crispin's Day Speech, considered one of Shakespeare's most heroic speeches, which Henry delivers movingly to his soldiers just before the battle, urging his "band of brothers" to stand together in the forthcoming fight. Didn't it originate at Agincourt? In pursuit of his claim to the French throne, Henry V invaded Normandy with an army of 11,000 men in August 1415. Osprey Publishing. He contrasts the modern, English king and his army with the medieval, chivalric, older model of the French. This claim is false. 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). [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. . (Storyline based on the play by William Shakespeare "The Cronicle History of King Henry the Fift with His Batt. The English Gesta Henrici described three great heaps of the slain around the three main English standards. The puzzler was: What was this body part? - The longbow. [94][10][11] The list of casualties, one historian has noted, "read like a roll call of the military and political leaders of the past generation". [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]. "Guardian newspaper:French correction: Henry V's Agincourt fleet was half as big, historian claims, 28 July 2015", "Living Dictionary of the French Language", "Limitations imposed by wearing armour on Medieval soldiers' locomotor performance", "High Court Rules for French at Agincourt", "High Court Justices, Legal Luminaries Debate Shakespeare's 'Henry V', "The Development of Battle Tactics in the Hundred Years War", "Historians Reassess Battle of Agincourt", The Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge, "Henry V's Greatest Victory is Besieged by Academia", The Little Grey Horse Henry V's Speech at Agincourt and the Battle Exhortation in Ancient Historiography, "The Battle of Agincourt: An Alternative location? The key word for describing the battle of Agincourt is mud . When that campaign took place, it was made easier by the damage done to the political and military structures of Normandy by the battle. This famous weapon was made of the . [86], The only French success was an attack on the lightly protected English baggage train, with Ysembart d'Azincourt (leading a small number of men-at-arms and varlets plus about 600 peasants) seizing some of Henry's personal treasures, including a crown. The Battle of Agincourt (Pt 1) - YouTube But frankly, I suspect that the French would have done a lot worse to any captured English archers than chopping off their fingers. Rogers says each of the 10,000 men-at-arms would be accompanied by a gros valet (an armed, armoured and mounted military servant) and a noncombatant page, counts the former as fighting men, and concludes thus that the French in fact numbered 24,000. [110][111][112] Ian Mortimer endorsed Curry's methodology, though applied it more liberally, noting how she "minimises French numbers (by limiting her figures to those in the basic army and a few specific additional companies) and maximises English numbers (by assuming the numbers sent home from Harfleur were no greater than sick lists)", and concluded that "the most extreme imbalance which is credible" is 15,000 French against 8,0009,000 English. 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 . [23] Thomas Morstede, Henry V's royal surgeon,[24] had previously been contracted by the king to supply a team of surgeons and makers of surgical instruments to take part in the Agincourt campaign. She graduated from the University of Chicago in 2019 with bachelor's degrees in English Language and Literature and Medieval Studies. When did the middle finger become offensive? - BBC News Although the French initially pushed the English back, they became so closely packed that they were described as having trouble using their weapons properly. 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. When the archers ran out of arrows, they dropped their bows and, using hatchets, swords, and the mallets they had used to drive their stakes in, attacked the now disordered, fatigued and wounded French men-at-arms massed in front of them. It seems it was purely a decision of Henry, since the English knights found it contrary to chivalry, and contrary to their interests, to kill valuable hostages for whom it was commonplace to ask ransom. 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. [22], Henry's army landed in northern France on 13 August 1415, carried by a vast fleet. One popular "origin story" for the middle finger has to do with the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. The origins of the sign aren't confirmed, but popular folklore suggests that its original meaning, packed with insult and ridicule, first appeared in the 20th century in the battle of Agincourt. The French monk of St. Denis describes the French troops as "marching through the middle of the mud where they sank up to their knees. The middle finger gesture does not derive from the mutilation of English archers at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. The Roman gesturemadeby extending the third finger from a closed fist, thus made the same threat, by forming a similarly phallic shape. 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". As the mle developed, the French second line also joined the attack, but they too were swallowed up, with the narrow terrain meaning the extra numbers could not be used effectively. The Hundred Years War was a discontinuous conflict between England and France that spanned two centuries. 1.3M views 4 months ago Medieval Battles - In chronological order The year 1415 was the first occasion since 1359 that an English king had invaded France in person. Send questions to Cecil via cecil@straightdope.com. [130] Critic David Margolies describes how it "oozes honour, military glory, love of country and self-sacrifice", and forms one of the first instances of English literature linking solidarity and comradeship to success in battle. Although the victory had been militarily decisive, its impact was complex. A complete coat of plate was considered such good protection that shields were generally not used,[75] although the Burgundian contemporary sources distinguish between Frenchmen who used shields and those who did not, and Rogers has suggested that the front elements of the French force used axes and shields. False claim: "Middle finger" gesture derives from English soldiers at The fighting lasted about three hours, but eventually the leaders of the second line were killed or captured, as those of the first line had been. Apparently Henry believed his fleeing army would perform better on the defensive, but had to halt the retreat and somehow engage the French [25] The siege took longer than expected. The History of the Middle Finger & "Fuck You" - Blogger They were blocking Henry's retreat, and were perfectly happy to wait for as long as it took.