On this day in 1415, English king Hank the Five found hisself a really nice bit of freshly-ploughed, just-rained-on field strategically-located between the dense undergrowth of Tramecourt wood on the right; and the forest of Agincourt on the left, and proceeded to insult the flower of French chivalric knighthood.
Depending upon whom you read, the French outnumbered the English by anywhere from 3-1 to 6-1 … but a significant number of the English forces were the famed — and feared — English longbowmen.
The French had somewhere in the neighborhood of 4,000 crossbowmen available, but — by God! — this was knightly work! So the crossbow boys got ordered to stay in the rear with the gear.
I’m guessing that after having their horses killed under them by English clothyard shafts, then stomping through three hundred yards of knee-deep mud wearing 60 pounds of ‘clank, clank, I’matank’ and dodging terrified war horses — the French knights and men-at-arms were probably regretting that decision.
Well, they regretted it right up until the English men-at-arms and lightly-armoured archers got around to kebabing their shishes.
It also gave an English playwright the opportunity to write the mother of all inspirational speeches (in iambic pentameter, no less):
Happy Sts Crispin and Crispinian’s Day.
LawDog
Apparently the Froggish Gubmint is whining that the horrible English were not playing fair at Againcourt and want a re-do with a guaranteed Froggish win refereed by the UN.
In other news, Sara Palin announced that some time in the near future she’d like to take her family on a trip to France. The French armed forces have already made arangements to surrender.
Gerry N.
Yep looks like they want a recount
Its Not Fair
via
Mr FM
…stomping through three hundred yards of knee-deep mud wearing 60 pounds of ‘clank, clank, I’matank’…
You forgot “uphill all the way.”
Word: Sadic.
A couple of points:
1. There ARE French soldiers in Afghanistan, and doing a good job killing bad guys from what I hear.
2. That speech really is iambic pentameter. But I have a hard time parsing it that way.
3. Branaugh did a spectacular job. It gave me chills the first time I heard it. I was ready to go sharpen my battle axe and cleave some french heads.
BCFD36
on another note..one of the reasons that the English give their version of a rude gesture with 2 fingers..is precisely because English archers that were captured, would have their string pulling fingers cut off before they were killed. this was an insult directed by English archers towards their enemies… “I can kill you with THESE”..
intensely funny!!! and a great insult!
As usual, LawDog, another Very Good Post ™.
I get a weekly dose of “Hell yes!” or “Bwahahahahahahahaha” from the LawDog Files.
So does my wife, who giggles and titters and the best of your posts.
Ken Branagh was also very good in “Much Ado About Nothing”. One of the best “modern” shakesperean bards I’ve seen.