Keegan, John. Take on the burden and expense of caring for them? They shadowed Henry's army while calling a semonce des nobles,[30] calling on local nobles to join the army. ", "Miracle in the Mud: The Hundred Years' War's Battle of Agincourt", The Agincourt Battlefield Archaeology Project, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Battle_of_Agincourt&oldid=1137126379, 6,000 killed (most of whom were of the French nobility), Hansen, Mogens Herman (Copenhagen Polis Centre), This page was last edited on 2 February 2023, at 23:13. Nonetheless, so many readers have forwarded it to us accompanied by an "Is this true?" 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. The Battle of Agincourt (/dnkr(t)/ AJ-in-kor(t);[a] French: Azincourt [azku]) was an English victory in the Hundred Years' War. 33-35).
PDF THE ENGLISH VS FRENCH - Carolina Traditional Archers The Battle of Agincourt - The European Middle Ages [43], The French were organized into two main groups (or battles), a vanguard up front and a main battle behind, both composed principally of men-at-arms fighting on foot and flanked by more of the same in each wing. He told his men that he would rather die in the coming battle than be captured and ransomed. A widely shared image on social media purportedly explains the historic origins of the middle finger, considered an offensive gesture in Western culture. Soon after the victory at Agincourt, a number of popular folk songs were created about the battle, the most famous being the "Agincourt Carol", produced in the first half of the 15th century. Despite the numerical disadvantage, the battle ended in an overwhelming victory for the English. [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. As John Keegan wrote in his history of warfare: "To meet a similarly equipped opponent was the occasion for which the armoured soldier trained perhaps every day of his life from the onset of manhood. Wikipedia. . Although the victory had been militarily decisive, its impact was complex. [69] (The use of stakes was an innovation for the English: during the Battle of Crcy, for example, the archers had been instead protected by pits and other obstacles. It may be difficult to pinpoint exactly when the middle finger gesture originated, but some historians trace its roots to ancient Rome. 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. This article was. French knights, charging uphill, were unseated from their horses, either because their mounts were injured on the stakes or because they dismounted to uproot the obstacles, and were overpowered. 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. I thought the French threatened to cut off the primary finger of the English longbowmen (the middle finger was neeed the most to pull the bowstring). Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. As the story goes, the French were fighting with the English and had a diabolical (and greatly advertised) plan of cutting off the middle fingers of any captured English archers so they could never taunt the French with arrows plucked in their . Im even more suspicious of the alleged transformation of p to f. The French, who were overwhelmingly favored to win the battle, Continue Reading 41 2 7 Alexander L Why not simply kill them outright in the first place? [93] Entire noble families were wiped out in the male line, and in some regions an entire generation of landed nobility was annihilated. Thus, when the victorious English waved their middle fingers at the defeated French, they said, "See, we can still pluck yew! 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. Details the English victory over the French at the Battle of Agincourt. After the initial wave, the French would have had to fight over and on the bodies of those who had fallen before them. 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. The Gesta Henrici places this after the English had overcome the onslaught of the French men-at-arms and the weary English troops were eyeing the French rearguard ("in incomparable number and still fresh"). 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". Contents. Very quickly after the battle, the fragile truce between the Armagnac and Burgundian factions broke down. (Its taking longer than we thought.)
When did the middle finger become offensive? - BBC News [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. 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. The English Gesta Henrici described three great heaps of the slain around the three main English standards. [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. King Charles VI of France did not command the French army as he suffered from psychotic illnesses and associated mental incapacity. Dear Cecil: Can you confirm the following? Last, but certainly not least, wouldn't these insolent archers have been bragging about plucking a bow's string, and not the wood of the bow itself? (Storyline based on the play by William Shakespeare "The Cronicle History of King Henry the Fift with His Batt.
[21] On 19 April 1415, Henry again asked the Great Council to sanction war with France, and this time they agreed. The next day the French initiated negotiations as a delaying tactic, but Henry ordered his army to advance and to start a battle that, given the state of his army, he would have preferred to avoid, or to fight defensively: that was how Crcy and the other famous longbow victories had been won. 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.
French history myths: The 'two fingers' insult comes from the Battle of 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]. Some notable examples are listed below. [22], Henry's army landed in northern France on 13 August 1415, carried by a vast fleet. Bloomsbury Publishing. The Battle of Agincourt was another famous battle where longbowmen had a particularly important . 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 symbol of rocking out is formed by tucking the middle and index finger and holding them in place with the thumb. Omissions? 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. David Mikkelson Published Sep 29, 1999. 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. He considered a knight in the best-quality steel armour invulnerable to an arrow on the breastplate or top of the helmet, but vulnerable to shots hitting the limbs, particularly at close range. The puzzler was: What was this body part? The middle finger gesture does not derive from the mutilation of English archers at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. Shakespeare's version of the battle of Agincourt has been turned into several minor and two major films. It was often reported to comprise 1,500 ships, but was probably far smaller. ), 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? 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. 33-35). They were successful for a time, forcing Henry to move south, away from Calais, to find a ford. A BBCNews Magazinereportsimilarlytracesthe gesture back toAncient Greek philosophers ( here ). The battle occurred on Friday, 25 October 1415 ( Saint Crispin's Day ), near modern-day Azincourt, in northern France. Loades, M. (2013). The campaign season was coming to an end, and the English army had suffered many casualties through disease.
The Battle of Agincourt 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. 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 ). The army was divided into three groups, with the right wing led by Edward, Duke of York, the centre led by the king himself, and the left wing under the old and experienced Baron Thomas Camoys. It continued as a series of battles, sieges, and disputes throughout the 14th century, with both the French and the English variously taking advantage. And I aint kidding yew. The English account in the Gesta Henrici says: "For when some of them, killed when battle was first joined, fall at the front, so great was the undisciplined violence and pressure of the mass of men behind them that the living fell on top of the dead, and others falling on top of the living were killed as well."[62]. 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. [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. [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 be incapable of fighting in the future. A Dictionary of Superstitions. The image makes the further claim that the English soldiers chanted pluck yew, ostensibly in reference to the drawing of the longbow. 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. Over the years some 'folk etymologies' have grown up around this symbolic gesture. They might also have deployed some archers in the centre of the line.
Pluck yew - onlysky.media [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. One of the most renowned. [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. T he battle of Agincourt, whose 600th anniversary falls on St Crispin's Day, 25 October, is still tabloid gold, Gotcha! 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. Probably each man-at-arms would be accompanied by a gros valet (or varlet), an armed servant, adding up to another 10,000 potential fighting men,[7] though some historians omit them from the number of combatants. The trial ranged widely over whether there was just cause for war and not simply the prisoner issue. The longbow. In 1999, Snopesdebunked more of the historical aspects of the claim, as well as thecomponent explaininghow the phrase pluck yew graduallychanged form to begin with an f( here ). Read more about our work to fact-check social media posts here . Agincourt, Henry V's famous victory over the French on 25 October 1415, is a fascinating battle not just because of what happened but also because of how its myth has developed ever since. A Dictionary of Superstitions.Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992 ISBN 0-19-282916-5 (p. 454). [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. The basic premise that the origins of the one-finger gesture and its association with the profane word "fuck" were an outgrowth of the 1415 battle between French and English forces at Agincourt is simple enough to debunk. The two armies spent the night of 24 October on open ground. The English numbered roughly 5,000 knights, men-at-arms, and archers. With 4,800 men-at-arms in the vanguard, 3,000 in the main battle, and 1,200 in the infantry wings.
Battle of Agincourt, 1415 (ALL PARTS) England vs France Hundred 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 Face of Battle. Although it could be intended as humorous, the image on social media is historically inaccurate. David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994. Turning to our vast classical library, we quickly turn up three references. Fighting ignorance since 1973. Clip from the 1944 movie "Henry V" (137 min). This famous English longbow was . The Burgundians seized on the opportunity and within 10 days of the battle had mustered their armies and marched on Paris. 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. [47] Although it had been planned for the archers and crossbowmen to be placed with the infantry wings, they were now regarded as unnecessary and placed behind them instead. 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). 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. [62] When that campaign took place, it was made easier by the damage done to the political and military structures of Normandy by the battle. In a book on the battle of Agincourt, Anne Curry, Professor Emeritus of Medieval History at the University of Southampton, addressed a similar claim prescribed to the V-sign, also considered an offensive gesture: No chronicle or sixteenth-centuryhistory says that English archers made any gesture to the French after the battle in order to show they still had their fingers. "[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.
Longbowmen and "The Finger" - (on 'TheBeckoning') Fixed formatting. The effect of the victory on national morale was powerful. Kill them outright and violate the medieval moral code of civilized warfare? By most contemporary accounts, the French army was also significantly larger than the English, though the exact degree of their numerical superiority is disputed. Contemporary accounts [ edit] [107], Most primary sources which describe the battle have English outnumbered by several times. 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. 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. The key word for describing the battle of Agincourt is mud . Contemporary accounts describe the triumphal pageantry with which the king was received in London on November 23, with elaborate displays and choirs attending his passage to St. Pauls Cathedral. 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.
What is Mudra, ancient times to modern classic and controversial giving someone the middle finger It lasted longer than Henry had anticipated, and his numbers were significantly diminished as a result of casualties, desertions, and disease. The Face of Battle.New York: Penguin Books, 1978 ISBN 0-140-04897-9 (pp. This would prevent maneuvers that might overwhelm the English ranks. Updates? 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. While the precise number of casualties is unknown, it is estimated that English losses amounted to about 400 and French losses to about 6,000, many of whom were noblemen. 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. The ransoming of prisoners was the only way for medieval soldiers to make a quick fortune, and so they seized every available opportunity to capture opponents who could be exchanged for handsome prices. 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. Common estimates place the English army at about 6,000, while the French army probably consisted of 20,000 to 30,000 men. The English army, led by King Henry V, famously achieved victory in spite of the numerical superiority of its opponent. 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. This claim is false. The archers were commanded by Sir Thomas Erpingham, another elderly veteran. The decorative use of the image of Priapusmatched the Roman use ofimages of male genitalia for warding off evil. So they were already overcome with fatigue even before they advanced against the enemy". 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. They were blocking Henry's retreat, and were perfectly happy to wait for as long as it took. [123] Other ballads followed, including "King Henry Fifth's Conquest of France", raising the popular prominence of particular events mentioned only in passing by the original chroniclers, such as the gift of tennis balls before the campaign. Bowman were not valuable prisoners, though: they stood outside the chivalric system and were considered the social inferiors of men-at-arms. 1995 - 2023 by Snopes Media Group Inc. Battles were observed and chronicled by heralds who were present at the scene and recorded what they saw, judged who won, and fixed names for the battles. [82], The surviving French men-at-arms reached the front of the English line and pushed it back, with the longbowmen on the flanks continuing to shoot at point-blank range. The one-finger salute, or at any rate sexual gestures involving the middle finger, are thousands of years old. It did not lead to further English conquests immediately as Henry's priority was to return to England, which he did on 16 November, to be received in triumph in London on the 23rd. [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].
Medieval Archers (Everything you Need to Know) - The Finer Times 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. [124], The most famous cultural depiction of the battle today is in Act IV of William Shakespeare's Henry V, written in 1599.
Battle of Agincourt and the origin of Fu#K | Origin story of middle In the ensuing negotiations Henry said that he would give up his claim to the French throne if the French would pay the 1.6million crowns outstanding from the ransom of John II (who had been captured at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356), and concede English ownership of the lands of Anjou, Brittany, Flanders, Normandy, and Touraine, as well as Aquitaine. Participating as judges were Justices Samuel Alito and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. [101] The bailiffs of nine major northern towns were killed, often along with their sons, relatives and supporters. It sounds rather fishy to me. 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.
The Most Famous, Bloodiest Medieval Battle - AGINCOURT - Full - YouTube 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. Although the French initially pushed the English back, they became so closely packed that they were described as having trouble using their weapons properly. 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. The insulting gesture of extending one's middle finger (referred to as digitus impudicus in Latin) originated long before the Battle of Agincourt. 138). 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.'" It seems clear, however, that the English were at a decided numerical disadvantage. 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. One popular "origin story" for the middle finger has to do with the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. 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. She graduated from the University of Chicago in 2019 with bachelor's degrees in English Language and Literature and Medieval Studies.
Saint Crispin's Day - Wikipedia 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. The French nobility, weakened by the defeat and divided among themselves, were unable to meet new attacks with effective resistance. [84] The exhausted French men-at-arms were unable to get up after being knocked to the ground by the English. The king received an axe blow to the head, which knocked off a piece of the crown that formed part of his helmet. The terrain favoured Henrys army and disadvantaged its opponent, as it reduced the numerical advantage of the French army by narrowing the front. with chivalry. 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 Roman gesturemadeby extending the third finger from a closed fist, thus made the same threat, by forming a similarly phallic shape. The original usage of this mudra can be traced back as far as the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. [139] The museum lists the names of combatants of both sides who died in the battle. This famous weapon was made of the native English yew tree, and so the act of drawing the longbow was known as "plucking yew". [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. By 1415, negotiations had ground to a halt, with the English claiming that the French had mocked their claims and ridiculed Henry himself. At least one scholar puts the French army at no more than 12,000, indicating that the English were outnumbered 2 to 1.
Idiom Origins - Middle finger - History of Middle finger 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. The Battle of Agincourt was immortalized by William Shakespeare in his play Henry V. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. [49], The French vanguard and main battle numbered respectively 4,800 and 3,000 men-at-arms. Barker states that some knights, encumbered by their armour, actually drowned in their helmets.[64]. The English men-at-arms in plate and mail were placed shoulder to shoulder four deep. What does DO NOT HUMP mean on the side of railroad cars?
10+ True Battle Agincourt Facts That Will Make You Look Stupid Theodore Beck also suggests that among Henry's army was "the king's physician and a little band of surgeons". 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. The Hundred Years' War. 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". The battle repeated other English successes in the Hundred Years War, such as the Battle of Crcy (1346) and the Battle of Poitiers (1356), and made possible Englands subsequent conquest of Normandy and the Treaty of Troyes (1420), which named Henry V heir to the French crown.