[34] It is likely that the English adopted their usual battle line of longbowmen on either flank, with men-at-arms and knights in the centre. There is a modern museum in Agincourt village dedicated to the battle. 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. 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). Recent heavy rain made the battle field very muddy, proving very tiring to walk through in full plate armour. Thus, when the victorious English waved their middle fingers at the defeated French, they said, "See, we can still pluck yew! Juliet Barker quotes a contemporary account by a monk from St. Denis who reports how the wounded and panicking horses galloped through the advancing infantry, scattering them and trampling them down in their headlong flight from the battlefield. [93] In all, around 6,000 of their fighting men lay dead on the ground. Agincourt. The French hoped to raise 9,000 troops, but the army was not ready in time to relieve Harfleur. Although an audience vote was "too close to call", Henry was unanimously found guilty by the court on the basis of "evolving standards of civil society".[136][137][138]. By 24 October, both armies faced each other for battle, but the French declined, hoping for the arrival of more troops. It established the legitimacy of the Lancastrian monarchy and the future campaigns of Henry to pursue his "rights and privileges" in France. 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. Kill them outright and violate the medieval moral code of civilized warfare? October 25, 1415. 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. The French were commanded by Constable Charles d'Albret and various prominent French noblemen of the Armagnac party. Since 'pluck yew' is rather difficult to say (like "pleasant mother pheasant plucker", which is who you had to go to for the feathers used on the arrows), the difficult consonant cluster at the beginning has gradually changed to a labiodental fricative 'f', and thus the words often used in conjunction with the one-finger-salute are mistakenly thought to have something to do with an intimate encounter. The pl sound, the story goes, gradually changed into an f, giving the gesture its present meaning. Wikipedia. Military textbooks of the time stated: "Everywhere and on all occasions that foot soldiers march against their enemy face to face, those who march lose and those who remain standing still and holding firm win. It supposedly describes the origin of the middle-finger hand gesture and, by implication, the insult "fuck you". The Most Famous, Bloodiest Medieval Battle - AGINCOURT - Full - YouTube [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. He told his men that he would rather die in the coming battle than be captured and ransomed. [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. [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. When 5,000 British Archers Defeated Over 30,000 French Knights Barker states that some knights, encumbered by their armour, actually drowned in their helmets.[64]. [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. because when a spectator started to hiss, he called the attention of the whole audience to him with an obscene movement of his middle finger. Morris also claims that the mad emperor Caligula, as an insult, would extend his middle finger for supplicants to kiss. [27], During the siege, the French had raised an army which assembled around Rouen. [5] [b] Henry V 's victory at Agincourt, against a numerically superior French army. The version that I tell explains the specific British custom of elevating two fingers as a rude gesture. 10+ True Battle Agincourt Facts That Will Make You Look Stupid [106] This lack of unity in France allowed Henry eighteen months to prepare militarily and politically for a renewed campaign. What Is the History of the Middle Finger? | Snopes.com A Dictionary of Superstitions.Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992 ISBN 0-19-282916-5 (p. 454). [Adam attaches the following memo, which has been floating around the Internet for some time.] [108] While not necessarily agreeing with the exact numbers Curry uses, Bertrand Schnerb, a professor of medieval history at the University of Lille, states the French probably had 12,00015,000 troops. 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. There was no monetary reward to be obtained by capturing them, nor was there any glory to be won by defeating them in battle. John Keegan argues that the longbows' main influence on the battle at this point was injuries to horses: armoured only on the head, many horses would have become dangerously out of control when struck in the back or flank from the high-elevation, long-range shots used as the charge started. 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. Keegan, John. The Battle of Agincourt forms a key part of Shakespeare's Henry V. Photo by Nick Ansell / POOL / AFP) Myth: During the Hundred Years War, the French cut off the first and second fingers of any. The Battle of Agincourt is one of England's most celebrated victories and was one of the most important English triumphs in the Hundred Years' War, along with the Battle of Crcy (1346) and Battle of Poitiers (1356). 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 . 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. 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. Although the victory had been militarily decisive, its impact was complex. [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. The Battle of Agincourt (720p) Watch on 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. Course Hero uses AI to attempt to automatically extract content from documents to surface to you and others so you can study better, e.g., in search results, to enrich docs, and more. Medieval warriors didn't take prisoners because by doing so they were observing a moral code that dictated opponents who had laid down their arms and ceased fighting must be treated humanely, but because they knew high-ranking captives were valuable property that could be ransomed for money. Turning to our vast classical library, we quickly turn up three references. The next line of French knights that poured in found themselves so tightly packed (the field narrowed at the English end) that they were unable to use their weapons effectively, and the tide of the battle began to turn toward the English. 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. Henry threatened to hang whoever did not obey his orders. David Mikkelson Published Sep 29, 1999. [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]. 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. At issue was the question of the legitimate succession to the French crown as well as the ownership of several French territories. Poitiers 1356: The capture of a king (Vol. 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. 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 French, who were overwhelmingly favored to win the battle, Continue Reading 41 2 7 Alexander L The impact of thousands of arrows, combined with the slog in heavy armour through the mud, the heat and difficulty breathing in plate armour with the visor down,[83] and the crush of their numbers, meant the French men-at-arms could "scarcely lift their weapons" when they finally engaged the English line. A labiodental fricative was no less "difficult" for Middle English speakers to pronounce than the aspirated bilabial stop/voiceless lateral combination of 'pl' that the fricative supposedly changed into, nor are there any other examples of such a pronunciation shift occurring in English. Contents. Idiom Origins - Middle finger - History of Middle finger ), 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? Why is the missionary position called that? Before the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, the French, anticipating victory over the English, proposed to cut off the middle finger of all captured soldiers. At least one scholar puts the French army at no more than 12,000, indicating that the English were outnumbered 2 to 1. 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? [76] Modern historians are divided on how effective the longbows would have been against plate armour of the time. They shadowed Henry's army while calling a semonce des nobles,[30] calling on local nobles to join the army. The Battle of Agincourt is well documented by at least seven contemporary accounts, three from eyewitnesses. The Battle of Agincourt originated in 1328. [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". [22], Henry's army landed in northern France on 13 August 1415, carried by a vast fleet. Originally representing the erect phallus, the gesture conveyssimultaneously a sexual threat to the person to whom it is directed andapotropaicmeans of warding off unwanted elements of the more-than-human. ( here ). [88] In some accounts the attack happened towards the end of the battle, and led the English to think they were being attacked from the rear. 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). When the English won the battle the soldiers waved their middle fingers at the French in defiance, thus flipping the bird was born It took place on 25 October 1415 (Saint Crispin's Day) near Azincourt, in northern France. [139] The museum lists the names of combatants of both sides who died in the battle. The Battle of Agincourt In March 2010, a mock trial of Henry V for the crimes associated with the slaughter of the prisoners was held in Washington, D.C., drawing from both the historical record and Shakespeare's play. 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. [72], The French cavalry, despite being disorganised and not at full numbers, charged towards the longbowmen. The Battle of Agincourt was another famous battle where longbowmen had a particularly important . Wikipedia. [87] Whether this was part of a deliberate French plan or an act of local brigandage is unclear from the sources. Thepostalleges that the Frenchhad planned to cut offthe middle fingers ofall captured English soldiers,to inhibit them fromdrawingtheir longbowsin futurebattles. 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. The historian Suetonius, writing about Augustus Caesar, says the emperor expelled [the entertainer] Pylades . . Battle of Agincourt, (October 25, 1415), decisive battle in the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453) that resulted in the victory of the English over the French. [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. 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. And although the precise etymology of the English word fuck is still a matter of debate, it is linguistically nonsensical to maintain that that word entered the language because the "difficult consonant cluster at the beginning" of the phase 'pluck yew' has "gradually changed to a labiodental fricative 'f.'" 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. 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. 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. And for a variety of reasons, it made no military sense whatsoever for the French to capture English archers, then mutilate them by cutting off their fingers. The terrain favoured Henrys army and disadvantaged its opponent, as it reduced the numerical advantage of the French army by narrowing the front. 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. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. 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. 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. It was a disastrous attempt. The English numbered roughly 5,000 knights, men-at-arms, and archers. Loades, M. (2013). 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. Take on the burden and expense of caring for them? [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. It forms the backdrop to events in William Shakespeare's play Henry V, written in 1599. Legendinc.com Giving the Finger History 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. Agincourt came on the back of half a century of military failure and gave the English a success that repeated victories such as Crcy and Poitiers. 78-116). Since pluck yew is rather difficult to say, like pheasant mother plucker, which is who you had to go to for the feathers used on the arrows for the longbow, the difficult consonant cluster at the beginning has gradually changed to a labiodental fricative f, and thus the words often used in conjunction with the one-finger salute are mistakenly thought to have something to do with an intimate encounter. It may be in the narrow strip of open land formed between the woods of Tramecourt and Azincourt (close to the modern village of Azincourt). 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. 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. .). A Dictionary of Superstitions. Made just prior to the invasion of Normandy, Olivier's rendition gives the battle what Sarah Hatchuel has termed an "exhilarating and heroic" tone, with an artificial, cinematic look to the battle scenes. [51] Albret, Boucicaut and almost all the leading noblemen were assigned stations in the vanguard. After the initial wave, the French would have had to fight over and on the bodies of those who had fallen before them. The point is, the middle-finger/phallus equation goes back way before the Titanic, the Battle of Agincourt, or probably even that time Sextillus cut off Pylades with his chariot. Julia Martinez was an Editorial Intern at Encyclopaedia Britannica. 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! The Battle of Agincourt - The European Middle Ages On the morning of 25 October, the French were still waiting for additional troops to arrive. 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". Some historians trace its origins to ancient Rome. This would prevent maneuvers that might overwhelm the English ranks. [116] Rogers, on the other hand, finds the number 5,000 plausible, giving several analogous historical events to support his case,[112] and Barker considers that the fragmentary pay records which Curry relies on actually support the lower estimates. Nicolle, D. (2004). Henry V's victory in the mud of Picardy remains the . The . These numbers are based on the Gesta Henrici Quinti and the chronicle of Jean Le Fvre, the only two eyewitness accounts on the English camp. [59], The field of battle was arguably the most significant factor in deciding the outcome. [25] The siege took longer than expected. . 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. After a difficult siege, the English forces found themselves assaulted by a massive French force. [21] On 19 April 1415, Henry again asked the Great Council to sanction war with France, and this time they agreed. Humble English archers defeated the armoured elite of French chivalry, enshrining both the longbow and the battle in English national legend. Without the middle finger it would be impossible to draw the renowned English longbow and therefore be incapable of fighting in the future. The number is supported by many other contemporary accounts. But frankly, I suspect that the French would have done a lot worse to any captured English archers than chopping off their fingers. Early in the morning on October 25 (the feast day of St. Crispin), 1415, Henry positioned his army for battle on a recently plowed field bounded by woods. 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. [70]), The tightness of the terrain also seems to have restricted the planned deployment of the French forces. [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. The History of the Middle Finger & "Fuck You" - Blogger The military aspects of this account are similarly specious. However, the lack of archaeological evidence at this traditional site has led to suggestions it was fought to the west of Azincourt. [101] The bailiffs of nine major northern towns were killed, often along with their sons, relatives and supporters. As the English were collecting prisoners, a band of French peasants led by local noblemen began plundering Henrys baggage behind the lines. [89] A slaughter of the French prisoners ensued. The Face of Battle. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. King Charles VI of France did not command the French army as he suffered from psychotic illnesses and associated mental incapacity. On February 1, 1328, King Charles IV of France died without an heir. Eventually the archers abandoned their longbows and began fighting hand-to-hand with swords and axes alongside the men-at-arms. 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. - [84] The exhausted French men-at-arms were unable to get up after being knocked to the ground by the English. (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.) What it is supposed to represent I have no idea. Henry managed to subjugate Normandy in 1419, a victory that was followed by the Treaty of Troyes in 1420, which betrothed Henry to King Charles VIs daughter Catherine and named him heir to the French crown. [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. [77][78][79][80] Rogers suggested that the longbow could penetrate a wrought iron breastplate at short range and penetrate the thinner armour on the limbs even at 220 yards (200m). [54] To disperse the enemy archers, a cavalry force of 8001,200 picked men-at-arms,[55] led by Clignet de Brban and Louis de Bosredon, was distributed evenly between both flanks of the vanguard (standing slightly forward, like horns). [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. [121] Mortimer notes the presence of noncombatant pages only, indicating that they would ride the spare horses during the battle and be mistakenly thought of as combatants by the English.[122]. 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. [37], Henry made a speech emphasising the justness of his cause, and reminding his army of previous great defeats the kings of England had inflicted on the French. [17] Two of the most frequently cited accounts come from Burgundian sources, one from Jean Le Fvre de Saint-Remy who was present at the battle, and the other from Enguerrand de Monstrelet. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Theodore Beck also suggests that among Henry's army was "the king's physician and a little band of surgeons". The legend that the "two-fingered salute" stems from the Battle of Agincourt is apocryphal Although scholars and historians continue to debate its origins, according to legend it was first. He contrasts the modern, English king and his army with the medieval, chivalric, older model of the French. [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". David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994. This famous weapon was made of the native English yew tree, and so the act of drawing the longbow was known as "plucking yew". This claim is false. [34][d] The French apparently had no clear plan for deploying the rest of the army. [34] The rearguard, leaderless, would serve as a "dumping ground" for the surplus troops. 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 During this battle, the medieval archers started ahead of the army and commenced the action. 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 decorative use of the image of Priapusmatched the Roman use ofimages of male genitalia for warding off evil. The Hundred Years War was a discontinuous conflict between England and France that spanned two centuries. [93] Entire noble families were wiped out in the male line, and in some regions an entire generation of landed nobility was annihilated. Why is showing the middle finger offensive? When, how, and - Quora Very quickly after the battle, the fragile truce between the Armagnac and Burgundian factions broke down. [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. [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. According to most chroniclers, Henry's fear was that the prisoners (who, in an unusual turn of events, actually outnumbered their captors) would realise their advantage in numbers, rearm themselves with the weapons strewn about the field and overwhelm the exhausted English forces.