0:00:47 > 0:00:51Of all the weapons in the whole history of warfare,
0:00:51 > 0:00:58none in its time was so hated, feared and despised by its enemies
0:00:58 > 0:01:02as the English longbow.
0:01:06 > 0:01:09The English longbow was the decisive weapon of the Middle Ages.
0:01:09 > 0:01:15Nothing could rival it for range, accuracy and devastating power.
0:01:24 > 0:01:28The immense power of this thing was REALLY surprising.
0:01:28 > 0:01:33There were cases where longbows would literally shoot through trees.
0:01:33 > 0:01:38They were capable of penetrating the thickest plate armour at short range,
0:01:38 > 0:01:41and mail almost all the time.
0:01:41 > 0:01:45There was nothing quaint about the English longbow.
0:01:45 > 0:01:50In the hands of a trained archer, it was a killing-machine.
0:01:50 > 0:01:53The English archer,
0:01:53 > 0:01:55with a good bow in his hand,
0:01:55 > 0:02:01could kill a French man-at-arms at a hundred yards or more, every time.
0:02:01 > 0:02:04That's how good this thing is.
0:02:04 > 0:02:09In a muddy French field in 1415, the longbow won its greatest victory.
0:02:09 > 0:02:17Here at Agincourt, 5,000 English archers defeated a French army five times its size,
0:02:17 > 0:02:19and an English myth was born.
0:02:19 > 0:02:23But we in it shall be remembered - we few...
0:02:23 > 0:02:25..we happy few...
0:02:25 > 0:02:29..we band of brothers.
0:02:29 > 0:02:33But behind the rhetoric lies the reality,
0:02:33 > 0:02:39a ruthless and bloody battle won by a lethal weapon, the longbow.
0:02:55 > 0:02:58The longbow was made from the simplest of materials.
0:02:58 > 0:03:05Its unique characteristics come from nothing more complex than the wood of a yew-tree.
0:03:05 > 0:03:08The English longbow,
0:03:08 > 0:03:13at its best, was made from Continental yew.
0:03:13 > 0:03:20It was one piece, a self-stave of yew, of the best quality possible.
0:03:20 > 0:03:25It comprised of the heartwood of the yew
0:03:25 > 0:03:28and the sapwood of the yew.
0:03:28 > 0:03:32Yew sapwood is an excellent resistor of tension,
0:03:32 > 0:03:36while the heartwood resists compression.
0:03:36 > 0:03:40One piece of wood is a natural spring.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43Well, this is...
0:03:43 > 0:03:51a bow stave, before work's started. It's a 7-foot stave of yew wood.
0:03:51 > 0:03:55There's the pale, creamy sapwood
0:03:55 > 0:04:03on the back, away from the archer, the outside of the bend, and the brown heartwood inside.
0:04:07 > 0:04:13The transformation of wood into finished weapon is a precise art developed over centuries.
0:04:13 > 0:04:18The stave is honed, for power and suppleness. When the bow's finished,
0:04:18 > 0:04:23it is tested for strength and balance on a device called a tiller.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26The wood has come alive.
0:04:26 > 0:04:30The whole thing describes a perfect arc of a circle.
0:04:33 > 0:04:38So this thing had both flexibility and great power.
0:04:38 > 0:04:44That's really why it was so lethal...
0:04:44 > 0:04:48not because of length but what it was made of.
0:04:48 > 0:04:53Although the bowmaker's art survived through the ages,
0:04:53 > 0:04:58no-one really knew how powerful the medieval bow was until 1982.
0:04:58 > 0:05:04Divers on the wreck of the Tudor warship Mary Rose made a discovery.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07138 longbows, perfectly preserved.
0:05:07 > 0:05:13For the first time, historians held the real thing. It astonished them.
0:05:13 > 0:05:19The power, or draw-weight, of a real longbow was nearly twice what anyone thought.
0:05:19 > 0:05:25You have to have bows within the strength range of these.
0:05:25 > 0:05:32The strength, the draw-weight, is measured by what you hold apart at the length of the arrow.
0:05:32 > 0:05:36That is what the weight of the bow IS.
0:05:39 > 0:05:46These bows range from a bit less than 100lbs at the weakest, of which there aren't many,
0:05:46 > 0:05:50right up to the very top at 170-180lbs here...
0:05:50 > 0:05:56which a lot of people say can't be drawn. But they CAN.
0:06:02 > 0:06:07These enormous draw-weights had one purpose,
0:06:07 > 0:06:11to penetrate the armour of the medieval knight.
0:06:13 > 0:06:16From the early 14th century,
0:06:16 > 0:06:23armour developed rapidly. Chain mail had given way to plate armour,
0:06:23 > 0:06:27which, by the time of Agincourt, covered virtually all of the body.
0:06:27 > 0:06:32A well-dressed knight at Agincourt, one of the gentry class,
0:06:32 > 0:06:38would've worn plate armour covering his legs, arms...a solid breastplate.
0:06:38 > 0:06:43His head would be covered by a large helmet, a "basinet",
0:06:43 > 0:06:47to deflect the blows of swords AND arrows.
0:06:47 > 0:06:53Descriptions from Agincourt say arrows pierced the visors of the French helmets,
0:06:53 > 0:07:00and the sides, which were less heavily armoured. It has formidable penetrative power.
0:07:00 > 0:07:04The longbow may have been simple in concept,
0:07:04 > 0:07:08but it demanded strength and years of rigorous training
0:07:08 > 0:07:11to use effectively.
0:07:11 > 0:07:17You'd have to start from a very young age to learn to shoot the larger bows,
0:07:17 > 0:07:20and progress and progress.
0:07:20 > 0:07:24Also, you'd have to practise on a daily basis
0:07:24 > 0:07:27to be really good with a longbow.
0:07:27 > 0:07:33The prowess of the English archer was feared throughout Europe. It was no accident.
0:07:33 > 0:07:37For over a century before Agincourt,
0:07:37 > 0:07:42English kings made practice compulsory for men of fighting age.
0:07:42 > 0:07:44There were rigorous rules...
0:07:44 > 0:07:50to make eligible young men practise the bow for war.
0:07:50 > 0:07:57Near most large churches in any decent-sized village, there were "butts"
0:07:57 > 0:08:03where they were obliged to shoot AT LEAST weekly, probably every night.
0:08:03 > 0:08:07Sunday practice was so rigorously applied
0:08:07 > 0:08:12that it made illegal other sports,
0:08:12 > 0:08:16such as "cambuck", whatever that may be, volleyball,
0:08:16 > 0:08:21football! The great national game, the national disease, was forbidden.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24All these other games were stopped,
0:08:24 > 0:08:29and you were fined for being found at them! So you'd practise the bow.
0:08:29 > 0:08:37The result was a corps of highly trained civilian fighters, largely of the middle or "yeoman" class.
0:08:37 > 0:08:45Neither aristocratic knight nor lowly peasant, they were a new presence on the battlefield.
0:08:45 > 0:08:52Most would've been young men. Pages who served at battles were 12-14.
0:08:52 > 0:08:56Some archers would've been no older than 16-17,
0:08:56 > 0:08:59perhaps ranging to the mid 20s.
0:08:59 > 0:09:04Most would've been unmarried. Some would've been farmers, husbandmen,
0:09:04 > 0:09:08labourers, perhaps yeomen in the classic "rich peasant" sense.
0:09:08 > 0:09:16Others would've been townsmen with crafts. We KNOW some were butchers, tailors, carpenters and bakers.
0:09:16 > 0:09:21Because these yeomen represented a very distinctive social class,
0:09:21 > 0:09:26the precursors of what might even be called the middle class,
0:09:26 > 0:09:29they were not to be taken lightly.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32And they knew it.
0:09:32 > 0:09:37Cocksure and insolent, they have left us with an enduring legacy.
0:09:37 > 0:09:39The English have a strange gesture
0:09:39 > 0:09:42that dates back to Agincourt,
0:09:42 > 0:09:47where they stick two fingers up in the air, as a gesture of defiance.
0:09:47 > 0:09:52If the French caught an English archer,
0:09:52 > 0:09:55they'd cut the two fingers off
0:09:55 > 0:09:58on both the right and left hand,
0:09:58 > 0:10:03thus stopping him from drawing the longbow again.
0:10:06 > 0:10:14It was to these men, and a smaller number of aristocratic knights or men-at-arms, that Henry V turned,
0:10:14 > 0:10:17as he prepared to fight the French.
0:10:17 > 0:10:21Having inherited his throne from a usurper-king,
0:10:21 > 0:10:26Henry needed a war abroad to consolidate power at home.
0:10:26 > 0:10:30When Henry became king in 1413, he was only 26.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33He wanted to prove HIMSELF in war,
0:10:33 > 0:10:38but I think, also, he wanted to improve the lot of his dynasty.
0:10:38 > 0:10:43He wanted to prove himself against the ancient enemy, the French.
0:10:43 > 0:10:49Henry and his army set sail from Southampton on August 11th, 1415.
0:10:49 > 0:10:53His force consisted of 8,000 archers and 2,000 knights.
0:10:53 > 0:10:58As on D-Day over 500 years later, they made for the Normandy coast.
0:10:58 > 0:11:01FANFARES
0:11:06 > 0:11:10The plan was to take Harfleur, then head for Paris.
0:11:10 > 0:11:13Things went wrong from the start.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16Harfleur held out longer than expected.
0:11:16 > 0:11:19The English began to die of disease.
0:11:19 > 0:11:22At the siege many men took ill.
0:11:22 > 0:11:26They got dysentery, they'd problems with the water supply...
0:11:26 > 0:11:33It's said in the sources that they ate fruit from the trees which gave them diarrhoea.
0:11:33 > 0:11:38It seems that bodies were left to rot, which was seen to cause disease.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41Harfleur finally fell in September,
0:11:41 > 0:11:45too late for Henry to advance on Paris.
0:11:45 > 0:11:47But he refused to retreat.
0:11:47 > 0:11:54Against advice, he decided to taunt the French by marching to Calais, 250 miles north.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57This was a show of bravado.
0:12:03 > 0:12:08But when he reached the River Somme, his plan ran into trouble.
0:12:08 > 0:12:12A French army was lying in wait on the northern bank.
0:12:12 > 0:12:15If the English were to reach Calais,
0:12:15 > 0:12:17they'd have to out-flank the enemy.
0:12:17 > 0:12:22The English army felt its way along the southern bank of the river,
0:12:22 > 0:12:24looking for a safe crossing.
0:12:24 > 0:12:28The French shadowed them on the other side.
0:12:28 > 0:12:33The English were soon out of food. The situation was desperate.
0:12:33 > 0:12:41After seven days of being stalked, the English stole a day's march on the French and crossed the Somme.
0:12:41 > 0:12:44The French were in pursuit.
0:12:44 > 0:12:49Scenting an easy kill, their army was growing day by day.
0:12:49 > 0:12:53On October 21st, after nine days' chase,
0:12:53 > 0:12:58the French overhauled the English, cutting across their path.
0:12:58 > 0:13:04With five times more French than English, the tracks told a grim tale,
0:13:04 > 0:13:06as an English eye-witness recorded.
0:13:06 > 0:13:13"We found the roads remarkably churned up by the French army, as it had crossed, thousands strong.
0:13:13 > 0:13:20"We, fearing battle imminent, raised hearts and eyes to heaven crying out our inmost thoughts,
0:13:20 > 0:13:26"that God would pity us and turn us away from the violence of the French."
0:13:26 > 0:13:31Three days later, the French blocked the road to Calais.
0:13:31 > 0:13:35Battle was now inevitable.
0:13:35 > 0:13:40That evening, the two armies bedded down with only a field between them.
0:13:40 > 0:13:42It would soon be known as Agincourt,
0:13:42 > 0:13:46the greatest test for the English longbow.
0:13:46 > 0:13:52DR STRICKLAND: By dawn, the English must've felt their position to be desperate.
0:13:52 > 0:13:57They were hugely outnumbered, by as much as five to one.
0:13:57 > 0:14:04Their path to safety at Calais had been barred by a major French army, and they were near starvation.
0:14:04 > 0:14:07They prayed before the battle.
0:14:07 > 0:14:11Each archer took in his mouth some earth - "dust to dust".
0:14:11 > 0:14:15I imagine many thought they wouldn't see the next day.
0:14:15 > 0:14:20As dawn broke, the English took up position on the battlefield.
0:14:20 > 0:14:251,000 men-at-arms were drawn up in three groups,
0:14:25 > 0:14:27with Henry at the centre.
0:14:27 > 0:14:32The 5,000 archers were in two flanking groups.
0:14:32 > 0:14:36Some may have been alongside the men-at-arms.
0:14:36 > 0:14:41They strengthened their position with a simple but effective defence.
0:14:41 > 0:14:47The king told the archers to cut six-foot stakes to hammer in the ground.
0:14:47 > 0:14:50The archers would fire from behind these.
0:14:50 > 0:14:57They acted as a defence, making it hard for the French horses to get near the archers.
0:14:57 > 0:15:02The French were in three colossal groups.
0:15:02 > 0:15:07The 1st battalion alone is thought to have had 18,000 knights on foot.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10On the wings were the cavalry.
0:15:10 > 0:15:13So confident were they of victory
0:15:13 > 0:15:18that the French pushed their own archers far back to the rear.
0:15:18 > 0:15:21They played no part in the battle.
0:15:21 > 0:15:28I'm approximately where the French army took position
0:15:28 > 0:15:32on the day of the Battle of Agincourt.
0:15:32 > 0:15:38The French captains understood perfectly the danger of longbow
0:15:38 > 0:15:40and of English archers.
0:15:40 > 0:15:46So...they had a plan to fight against the English army,
0:15:46 > 0:15:49and this plan was...
0:15:49 > 0:15:55to attack the wings and the flanks of this English army.
0:15:55 > 0:16:02It's a mistake to see the French as militarily inept. They weren't.
0:16:02 > 0:16:09They KNEW the power of the English longbow. Their tactical thinking is in the Somme Plan.
0:16:09 > 0:16:14This was a plan for battle, drawn up prior to the Battle of Agincourt.
0:16:14 > 0:16:19The Somme Plan, only recently rediscovered,
0:16:19 > 0:16:25proves that the French DID have a strategy to defeat the longbow.
0:16:25 > 0:16:32A twin-pronged cavalry charge, sweeping wide on both flanks, would encircle and crush the archers.
0:16:32 > 0:16:35But the knights needed room to manoeuvre.
0:16:35 > 0:16:40But on THIS battlefield there was a great problem.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43This battlefield is very narrow.
0:16:43 > 0:16:50It is...600 metres, maybe 700 metres wide.
0:16:50 > 0:16:55It's too narrow to have great tactical possibilities.
0:16:55 > 0:17:00The Somme Plan also depended on a manageable number of knights.
0:17:00 > 0:17:05But the French army was so swollen, there were too many on the field.
0:17:05 > 0:17:08Far from guaranteeing victory,
0:17:08 > 0:17:12their numerical superiority worked against the French.
0:17:12 > 0:17:17If the plan had been followed by the vanguard, the French advance force -
0:17:17 > 0:17:24only 6,000 men, but more flexible than the huge number that take part in the battle -
0:17:24 > 0:17:27the French might well have won.
0:17:27 > 0:17:30That tall clump of trees...
0:17:30 > 0:17:34marks the very centre of the battlefield.
0:17:34 > 0:17:39How do we know? Upwards of 6,000 French were buried there,
0:17:39 > 0:17:45after the battle, in three trenches. From this position,
0:17:45 > 0:17:50seeing that the French were doing nothing but furling their banners
0:17:50 > 0:17:54and sitting down to breakfast, where you see...
0:17:54 > 0:17:59that thin line of trees further behind the big clump...
0:17:59 > 0:18:06So Henry V had his army move slowly forward in three separate moves,
0:18:06 > 0:18:10so as to keep alignment, to keep discipline,
0:18:10 > 0:18:15until they were perhaps 200 yards short of that clump of trees,
0:18:15 > 0:18:20where, at extreme range, the English archers opened up
0:18:20 > 0:18:23and started the Battle of Agincourt.
0:18:38 > 0:18:42ARROWS WHIRR AND HOOVES RUMBLE
0:18:42 > 0:18:49You could expect to engage the enemy...at up to 330 yards.
0:18:49 > 0:18:57It'd give ME a tremendous advantage. They couldn't get nowhere near me,
0:18:57 > 0:19:02and I'd be able to shoot more at them and kill more of them...
0:19:02 > 0:19:07until they came too close for comfort.
0:19:09 > 0:19:14The archers proved highly effective. Instead of encircling the English,
0:19:14 > 0:19:18the cavalry were funnelled towards the centre of the battlefield.
0:19:18 > 0:19:27As the armoured knights approached the killing-zone at high velocity,
0:19:27 > 0:19:32they found themselves in a lethal environment.
0:19:32 > 0:19:39Not only could their armour be penetrated by these long shafts,
0:19:39 > 0:19:45but their horses were being shot down with great rapidity,
0:19:45 > 0:19:48causing them to fly off their horses.
0:19:48 > 0:19:54The point is that the armoured knight needed to be at point-blank range
0:19:54 > 0:19:57to effect his casualties.
0:19:57 > 0:20:02But he was still literally hundreds of yards away from these yeomen.
0:20:02 > 0:20:05He was helpless in this environment.
0:20:05 > 0:20:11The cavalry charge of the French on either side came in very depleted form.
0:20:11 > 0:20:17By the time it got anywhere near our lines, it'd been shot to pieces.
0:20:17 > 0:20:21Hundreds...THOUSANDS of arrows hurling at them,
0:20:21 > 0:20:29"So thick that it darkened the sky, so heavy that it seemed like hail," said contemporary eyewitnesses.
0:20:29 > 0:20:36And the horses were turned back in complete disarray, wounded, out of control,
0:20:36 > 0:20:42into the front line of the then-advancing French central infantry.
0:20:42 > 0:20:48Some 18,000 seems to me the likely number of the first French battalion.
0:20:48 > 0:20:52This was the second phase of the battle.
0:20:52 > 0:20:58The French knights now advanced on foot through the muddy battlefield.
0:20:58 > 0:21:03The archers, having seen off the cavalry, had a new set of targets.
0:21:03 > 0:21:11We're in the centre of the battlefield, the French advancing
0:21:11 > 0:21:14across this ploughed field into an arrow-storm.
0:21:16 > 0:21:23The great clouds of arrows forced the French knights on foot to bunch inwards.
0:21:23 > 0:21:28An almost automatic response to a cloud of arrows is to shy away.
0:21:28 > 0:21:33And this constricted an already densely packed body of men on foot.
0:21:37 > 0:21:44All the time, they've riderless horses running amongst them, knocking them down.
0:21:44 > 0:21:49So they were stumbling, blinded... and panicking, I think, is likely.
0:21:49 > 0:21:53CLASHES AND SCREAMS
0:21:53 > 0:21:57HORSE SHRIEKS
0:21:57 > 0:22:01As the French got closer, to 100 or 60 yards,
0:22:01 > 0:22:08the English arrows with bodkin heads would pierce the thickest armour, the visors of their basinets.
0:22:08 > 0:22:14And the English could pinpoint weak points in the armour, at limb joints.
0:22:25 > 0:22:31This is the type of arrowhead used at Agincourt for armour penetration.
0:22:31 > 0:22:35Basically, what you've got are four cutting edges.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38And the arrowhead is waisted.
0:22:38 > 0:22:41So when it strikes the armour,
0:22:41 > 0:22:45it parts the metal, or shears the metal.
0:22:45 > 0:22:50And when it overcomes the thickest part of the metal,
0:22:50 > 0:22:56there's nothing to stop the rest of the arrow sliding right through.
0:22:56 > 0:23:03Medieval doctors knew only too well the devastation that longbow wounds could inflict on the human body.
0:23:03 > 0:23:10But modern forensic science gives us an even more accurate picture
0:23:10 > 0:23:13of its lethal power.
0:23:13 > 0:23:18If we imagine that this block is the shoulder,
0:23:18 > 0:23:26and it's struck by an object at 200 feet per second, weighing about 70g,
0:23:26 > 0:23:31once it's penetrated the armour it'll EASILY break through skin, into the tissue.
0:23:31 > 0:23:36In the shoulder are major blood vessels and major nerves.
0:23:36 > 0:23:43An arrow will cut through like a knife through butter. If it hits the bones, it'll smash those completely.
0:23:43 > 0:23:46That'll render the person immobile.
0:23:46 > 0:23:50It'll certainly immobilise the arm.
0:23:50 > 0:23:54Also, because of the force striking the shoulder,
0:23:54 > 0:23:59it'll spin them around and throw them to the ground at the same point.
0:23:59 > 0:24:04So probably the person will be instantaneously excluded from battle
0:24:04 > 0:24:08by pain, by shock, by simply being thrown down.
0:24:11 > 0:24:18Once the French and English men-at-arms are in contact, the archers' role changes.
0:24:18 > 0:24:25They throw down their bows, take short, heavy swords, "falchions", great chopping blades,
0:24:25 > 0:24:30and mauls - the lead-tipped mallets for driving stakes -
0:24:30 > 0:24:36and mix it with the French men-at-arms who are bewildered or exhausted.
0:24:36 > 0:24:41They are knocked down and held for ransom by the lightly armed English.
0:24:41 > 0:24:46For aristocratic French knights, a close encounter with this new breed
0:24:46 > 0:24:50was a horrifying and humiliating experience.
0:24:50 > 0:24:56They did not approve of being shot at by people they saw as peasants.
0:24:56 > 0:24:59THAT wasn't their idea of warfare.
0:24:59 > 0:25:03It was gentleman against gentleman, honour against honour.
0:25:03 > 0:25:08In that chivalric code, you COULD yield to a noble opponent,
0:25:08 > 0:25:15but yielding to people from the soil, yeomen from the counties of England and Wales,
0:25:15 > 0:25:17was more than they could encompass.
0:25:17 > 0:25:22When the last French knights were forced to yield,
0:25:22 > 0:25:29the battle was effectively over. But the English archers had more killing to do.
0:25:29 > 0:25:36Afraid the French would now mount another charge, Henry ordered that the French prisoners be killed.
0:25:36 > 0:25:43Men-at-arms hesitated, reluctant to break this last code of chivalry. The archers had no such inhibitions.
0:25:43 > 0:25:49Henry can't find many men-at-arms who are prepared do it.
0:25:49 > 0:25:53He has to appoint a squire and archers to start the slaughter.
0:25:56 > 0:26:03At Agincourt, the English archers gave the French an unforgettable lesson in a new kind of war.
0:26:13 > 0:26:18From the French point of view, the battle was a disaster.
0:26:18 > 0:26:23It showed them to be vulnerable to common, ordinary men carrying bows.
0:26:23 > 0:26:26It does undermine the idea that to fight,
0:26:26 > 0:26:31you needed to be a chivalrous, well-equipped knight.
0:26:31 > 0:26:37Prior to this, the knight had been relatively invulnerable on the battlefield.
0:26:37 > 0:26:41The longbow changed all this,
0:26:41 > 0:26:46because it put the knight definitely at risk.
0:26:55 > 0:27:01It was the beginning of the end, in many ways, for the aristocracy.
0:27:08 > 0:27:11The longbow revolutionised warfare.
0:27:11 > 0:27:16You no longer had to fight your enemy man-to-man.
0:27:16 > 0:27:20Killing could now take place at a distance.
0:27:20 > 0:27:24THIS was the longbow's decisive triumph.
0:27:29 > 0:27:34But at Agincourt, unnoticed at the time, a new weapon played its part.
0:27:34 > 0:27:40On that day, one of the English soldiers died...
0:27:40 > 0:27:44killed by a gun.
0:27:44 > 0:27:51That lonely gun which killed that single soldier was, at that very point,
0:27:51 > 0:27:56much like...a kind of a new species crawling across the battlefield,
0:27:56 > 0:27:59ready to one day inherit the world.
0:28:08 > 0:28:11Subtitles by BBC