0:00:21 > 0:00:24MUSIC: "The Agincourt Carol"
0:00:32 > 0:00:37In October 1415, starving and riddled with disease,
0:00:37 > 0:00:43an English army beat a French force that outnumbered it by five to one.
0:00:43 > 0:00:47This epic victory has flashes of storybook heroism,
0:00:47 > 0:00:51and a darker side of horror and butchery.
0:00:51 > 0:00:56Today, you can still follow in King Henry V's footsteps
0:00:56 > 0:01:00on the road that leads to Agincourt.
0:01:00 > 0:01:05It's never been easier for an Englishman to get to France,
0:01:05 > 0:01:11but when Henry V took his army here 600 years ago, it took two days to make the crossing.
0:01:11 > 0:01:17He believed that he was rightfully King of France. On 11th August 1415,
0:01:17 > 0:01:22he sailed from Southampton for this little port of Harfleur.
0:01:22 > 0:01:24He hoped to use it as a base -
0:01:24 > 0:01:28perhaps to overrun Normandy or threaten Paris -
0:01:28 > 0:01:31and expected to take it easily.
0:01:31 > 0:01:34BATTLE CRIES
0:01:39 > 0:01:47Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; Or close the wall up with our English dead!
0:01:48 > 0:01:54If you can only recite one line from Shakespeare's Henry V, that'll be it.
0:01:54 > 0:01:59Harfleur was a walled town - held by determined garrison.
0:01:59 > 0:02:04Although Henry's primitive cannon knocked about the forts and houses,
0:02:04 > 0:02:07the siege went on for over a month.
0:02:07 > 0:02:12The centre of Harfleur is a tangle of medieval alleys,
0:02:12 > 0:02:16scattered with restaurants and superb fresh food shops.
0:02:16 > 0:02:21But if the English had been hoping for a gastronomic crusade,
0:02:21 > 0:02:24they were in for a nasty surprise.
0:02:24 > 0:02:29Their supplies ran low so they tried some unsuccessful location catering.
0:02:29 > 0:02:34True to being Englishmen abroad, Henry's men laid into local seafood.
0:02:34 > 0:02:39It came, then, from marshes which were, in effect, the town's sewers.
0:02:39 > 0:02:44Dysentery broke out in the cramped and filthy siege lines.
0:02:44 > 0:02:502,000 of Henry's men died. Others became so ill they were shipped home.
0:02:54 > 0:02:57But the French were in worse trouble.
0:02:57 > 0:03:02The garrison knew if Henry took the town by force, they'd be annihilated.
0:03:02 > 0:03:06But if they surrendered, they might escape with their lives.
0:03:06 > 0:03:12With no relief in sight by September, the gates were opened to the English.
0:03:22 > 0:03:30Many townspeople had sheltered in the 11th-century church of St Martin to escape the English siege cannon.
0:03:34 > 0:03:39On the 23rd September, Henry walked barefoot here,
0:03:39 > 0:03:43to give thanks for a victory which cost him a quarter of his men.
0:03:43 > 0:03:48These losses meant he had to rethink his campaign.
0:03:48 > 0:03:53His advisors recommended that he should garrison Harfleur and go home.
0:03:53 > 0:03:58But Henry, ever convinced of the rightness of his cause,
0:03:58 > 0:04:03decided to march straight through French territory to Calais.
0:04:03 > 0:04:08Although only 28, Henry was already an experienced soldier.
0:04:08 > 0:04:13He'd fought successfully against his father's English and Welsh opponents.
0:04:13 > 0:04:18He now hoped to mount a lightning raid through France,
0:04:18 > 0:04:23travelling fast with the force of 900 men-at-arms and 5,000 archers.
0:04:23 > 0:04:29They'd live off the land, or more to the point, off its French inhabitants,
0:04:29 > 0:04:34who can't have welcomed the bedraggled, diseased Englishmen
0:04:34 > 0:04:38whose hunger grew with every mile.
0:04:44 > 0:04:49By car, you can cover Henry's route from Harfleur to Calais in a day...
0:04:49 > 0:04:52more comfortably in two.
0:04:52 > 0:04:58But it took his army three days to reach Arques, 60 miles from Harfleur.
0:05:01 > 0:05:07There are traces of the woods that would have cloaked the land then.
0:05:07 > 0:05:11But much of the country is rolling, open farmland.
0:05:11 > 0:05:16The great castle at Arques is now a hulking ruin,
0:05:16 > 0:05:19high on a bluff overlooking the town.
0:05:19 > 0:05:21When Henry came on October 16th 1415,
0:05:21 > 0:05:24the gates were barred.
0:05:33 > 0:05:38Henry at once sent an envoy to the gates and demanded food.
0:05:38 > 0:05:43But the governor's resolve was less solid than the walls of his keep.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46He knew what had gone on at Harfleur,
0:05:46 > 0:05:50and that the French army would probably not relieve him.
0:05:57 > 0:06:01The town below the castle was at Henry's mercy,
0:06:01 > 0:06:07so the English marched on, loaded with bread and wine from Arques.
0:06:07 > 0:06:14Add non-combatants to men-at-arms and archers, and there are about 10,000 men in Henry's army.
0:06:14 > 0:06:21That made it larger than most English towns of the day. That was a lot of mouths to feed.
0:06:21 > 0:06:26The men expected two pounds of bread and half a pound of meat every day.
0:06:26 > 0:06:31The army was a huge maggot, eating its way across the countryside.
0:06:34 > 0:06:39Drink was the enemy of discipline, and armies had a strong taste for it.
0:06:39 > 0:06:47Later in the campaign, a commander told Henry his men were simply filling their bottles with wine.
0:06:47 > 0:06:55Henry snapped back that they made bottles of their bellies and were very drunk. But who can blame them?
0:06:55 > 0:07:02Miles from home, stranded in a foreign country, marching in the rain, outnumbered five to one.
0:07:02 > 0:07:09It's small wonder that many saw all this as more of a dangerous pub crawl than a crusade.
0:07:17 > 0:07:20This was Henry's real problem.
0:07:20 > 0:07:26The River Somme lay between him and his objective, Calais.
0:07:26 > 0:07:31He had hoped to cross it here, by the ford at Blanchetaque.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34But upon arrival on the 13th October,
0:07:34 > 0:07:39he found the ford blocked with stakes and the far bank garrisoned.
0:07:39 > 0:07:44Indeed, the French held all the bridges and fords along the Somme.
0:07:44 > 0:07:48Henry had to find a place to cross,
0:07:48 > 0:07:53and the spirits of his army must have sunk lower by the minute.
0:07:53 > 0:07:58Heavy rains turned the swampy Somme Valley into a cloying morass.
0:07:58 > 0:08:05Many of Henry's soldiers suffered from dysentery so badly that they had cut away their breeches.
0:08:05 > 0:08:11On the other side, was a powerful French army, growing by the day.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15During their long march,
0:08:15 > 0:08:20Henry issued an order that must have added to the burden of despair.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23Henry's archers were heavily laden,
0:08:23 > 0:08:29but he told each to cut a six-foot stake and to sharpen it at both ends.
0:08:29 > 0:08:35It was a burden that none could have welcomed, but later their lives were to depend upon it.
0:08:40 > 0:08:48The road goes through water meadow and woodland, along the Somme Valley, to Henry's next destination.
0:08:55 > 0:09:00Henry arrived here at Boves, near Amiens, on the 16th October.
0:09:00 > 0:09:05It was now clear that his plan of campaign had gone wrong.
0:09:05 > 0:09:10The army couldn't cross the Somme and it was fast running out of food.
0:09:10 > 0:09:14Henry blackmailed the garrison here into giving him bread
0:09:14 > 0:09:19by threatening to burn the town if they didn't supply it.
0:09:19 > 0:09:21But there was too little to go round.
0:09:21 > 0:09:26Soon, the men had to forage in the fields for nuts and vegetables -
0:09:26 > 0:09:29bad news for an army of carnivores.
0:09:32 > 0:09:39The Somme remained an impassable barrier, even for Henry's lightly equipped force.
0:09:39 > 0:09:44Every crossing was guarded. Every ford was held.
0:09:44 > 0:09:51There were fords across the Somme here at Bethencourt and at nearby Voyennes.
0:09:51 > 0:09:58The causeways were broken but on the 19th October, the English repaired them using timber from nearby houses.
0:09:58 > 0:10:06And by nightfall, Henry's army was across the last major natural obstacle between it and Calais.
0:10:11 > 0:10:16Yet there was another even greater obstacle on Henry's route home.
0:10:16 > 0:10:22Calais was 100 miles away and the French outnumbered them five to one.
0:10:22 > 0:10:25At first, Henry could avoid them
0:10:25 > 0:10:30but a few miles from the tiny village of Agincourt,
0:10:30 > 0:10:33his route was finally blocked.
0:10:46 > 0:10:51Agincourt's not a battle the French commemorate with great enthusiasm.
0:10:51 > 0:10:56It's the kind of thing that can sour an entente cordiale
0:10:56 > 0:10:58if mentioned at the wrong time.
0:10:58 > 0:11:03In the village there's a tiny, but well-intentioned, museum.
0:11:03 > 0:11:07Here, glamorous myths are perpetuated.
0:11:07 > 0:11:12For instance, at Agincourt the English fought largely on foot.
0:11:12 > 0:11:16And so, for that matter, did the French.
0:11:18 > 0:11:22Men-at-arms on both sides wore full armour.
0:11:22 > 0:11:27To give us some idea of how it looked, Ian Pyecroft is here to help.
0:11:27 > 0:11:32I've started with long riding boots and a quilted arming jacket.
0:11:32 > 0:11:34Where do we go from here?
0:11:34 > 0:11:40- We'll put on your cuisse and poleyn leg protection.- I'm in your hands.
0:11:44 > 0:11:49You must have full flexibility in this.
0:11:49 > 0:11:54The surprising thing so far, is that this doesn't feel at all bad.
0:11:54 > 0:12:01The mail shirt is composed of about 20,000 riveted iron rings. Arms through the holes.
0:12:01 > 0:12:07- Looking good!- Looking good, feeling fit. It weighs about 15lbs.
0:12:07 > 0:12:10Your father's polished breastplate.
0:12:10 > 0:12:15- What's a grand guard? - It protects the inside of the elbow.
0:12:15 > 0:12:19- It's the same as the...?- Side wings.
0:12:19 > 0:12:23The shield was becoming obsolete by this time.
0:12:23 > 0:12:30- This piece of articulated iron does the same job as your ancestor's shield.- The articulation works.
0:12:30 > 0:12:33A linen coif.
0:12:38 > 0:12:45Try this on. A basinet with a mail aventail, or a mail collar, already attached.
0:12:45 > 0:12:50I'll bring the mail collar out to protect all the joints.
0:12:50 > 0:12:52Cover up all the gaps.
0:12:52 > 0:12:59Here we've got some fine, Gothic-style gauntlets, as made in Germany.
0:12:59 > 0:13:03Wonderfully lightweight, but heavily fluted.
0:13:03 > 0:13:07The little ridges and flutes make them strong.
0:13:07 > 0:13:13- This could give a deft blow to an unprotected face. - Yes, they've spiked knuckles.
0:13:13 > 0:13:20I'll bring the hound-skull visor down - hound-skull because it has a semblance of a dog's skull shape.
0:13:20 > 0:13:25I'll give you an example of how blows would glance off the armour.
0:13:25 > 0:13:30Can we make the blows as glancing as possible, please?
0:13:30 > 0:13:35Here we've a small, blunted for safety reasons...a small sword.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39CLANGING
0:13:47 > 0:13:52- That was surprisingly unpainful. Well-padded.- This is the idea.
0:13:52 > 0:13:57You've got a good shape for a late-14th-century knight.
0:13:57 > 0:14:01The only problem is you can't strike back,
0:14:01 > 0:14:05unless you peck them to death with your visor.
0:14:05 > 0:14:10- So if we lift the visor so you can breathe more easily.- That's better!
0:14:10 > 0:14:13I think it's time you had a weapon.
0:14:13 > 0:14:19This one...weighs about three and a half pounds.
0:14:19 > 0:14:23It could be used in one or two hands.
0:14:23 > 0:14:25Razor-sharp.
0:14:25 > 0:14:28You can thrust with it.
0:14:28 > 0:14:34A good blow from above your head could cut a man virtually in half.
0:14:34 > 0:14:40- It is actually... - We have excavations from a battle in Denmark,
0:14:40 > 0:14:44showing skeletons which have been separated...
0:14:44 > 0:14:47from the shoulder to the groin.
0:14:47 > 0:14:53This is a poleaxe or a war hammer - a two-handed, vicious weapon,
0:14:53 > 0:14:55designed for cracking plate armour,
0:14:55 > 0:15:00penetrating mail, punching through helmets.
0:15:00 > 0:15:05- You can see the damage it could do. - Yes, I can thrust with this part...
0:15:05 > 0:15:12- It's swung over the head... - I can pierce mail with that. - That'll puncture any known armour.
0:15:12 > 0:15:15This is a very satisfactory weapon.
0:15:15 > 0:15:20I can imagine myself wading into somebody with that.
0:15:20 > 0:15:25It fills you with a desire to give a swipe at whatever's within distance.
0:15:36 > 0:15:39Well, the armour fits quite well
0:15:39 > 0:15:43and was quite comfortable when I started.
0:15:43 > 0:15:46But after a few hundred yards,
0:15:46 > 0:15:51I'm really conscious of the weight of it all
0:15:51 > 0:15:55and the abrasion on the whole of my body.
0:15:55 > 0:15:59I can't see really very much without...
0:15:59 > 0:16:02turning my head from side to side.
0:16:02 > 0:16:05And I can't hear anything.
0:16:05 > 0:16:09I certainly couldn't hear any orders that were shouted.
0:16:14 > 0:16:17This mud is a real problem.
0:16:17 > 0:16:23It's hard to keep my footing and if I fell over, I couldn't get back up.
0:16:23 > 0:16:30If the snout of my basinet got jammed into the mud, as it easily might, I'd probably drown.
0:16:30 > 0:16:35I can see what a dreadful experience this must have been for the French,
0:16:35 > 0:16:38even before they got hit by arrows.
0:16:38 > 0:16:43Despite their finest efforts at metal haute couture,
0:16:43 > 0:16:47the French were vulnerable to the English longbow.
0:16:47 > 0:16:51The longbow legend IS Agincourt.
0:16:51 > 0:16:58'Stephen Burke is so captivated by that legend, that he has visited the battlefield over 100 times.'
0:16:58 > 0:17:03This is the famous longbow. How is it actually made? Is it carved?
0:17:03 > 0:17:09It's carved normally, so you'd need a six-foot piece of straight timber.
0:17:09 > 0:17:14It's like a D-shape. The rounded shape is the belly.
0:17:14 > 0:17:18The flat bit is the back. It faces away from you.
0:17:18 > 0:17:25- Tell me about the bow string. - It's made from different materials including hemp or linen.
0:17:25 > 0:17:28Hemp is the same family as cannabis.
0:17:28 > 0:17:35- But it would need looking after. - Yes. They would have dozens of spare strings for each archer,
0:17:35 > 0:17:39because fraying strings will snap easily.
0:17:39 > 0:17:42Do you need to be strong to use one?
0:17:42 > 0:17:46Yes. The Mary Rose evidence almost suggests that they were malformed.
0:17:46 > 0:17:54They were built like gorillas - six foot tall and their upper limbs were much bigger than the norm.
0:17:54 > 0:17:59- What are you firing from it? - Shooting!- I knew I'd get it!
0:17:59 > 0:18:02What we're actually shooting is...
0:18:02 > 0:18:06We've got a range here... of various arrowheads
0:18:06 > 0:18:11and they've been in the mud so they've picked up mud too.
0:18:11 > 0:18:16- But that would be quite a sensible thing to do.- To pick them up quickly.
0:18:16 > 0:18:22And it's biological warfare because the mud then would've had all sorts of ingredients.
0:18:22 > 0:18:29We've nocks carved in the wood, but strengthened with a piece of horn.
0:18:29 > 0:18:31- That's actually horn?- Yes.
0:18:31 > 0:18:35The feathers were glued on with a fish glue,
0:18:35 > 0:18:39and tied or strengthened by the cord here.
0:18:39 > 0:18:44The shafts are ash and at the other end we have the arrowheads.
0:18:44 > 0:18:49This long bodkin one here, designed to go through plate and mail.
0:18:49 > 0:18:53We've got a bullet point here,
0:18:53 > 0:18:58and we've got some armour-piercing ones of different designs.
0:18:58 > 0:19:03In films, we see arrows being pulled out of wounds. Possible or not?
0:19:03 > 0:19:08- You can't do a John Wayne with them, no.- Well, let's see you in action.
0:19:11 > 0:19:16OK...this is just going to be a general distance...shoot.
0:19:29 > 0:19:32That looks pretty good, I must say.
0:19:33 > 0:19:36What's it actually gone into?
0:19:36 > 0:19:40What it's gone into is a layer of mail here,
0:19:40 > 0:19:43and underneath, 22 layers of fabric.
0:19:43 > 0:19:49So our long, bodkin-headed arrows have gone in through the mail,
0:19:49 > 0:19:55into the fabric, and if we turn it over, you'll see the head has gone right the way through.
0:19:55 > 0:19:58It went in one side, out the other?
0:19:58 > 0:20:06Right through 22 layers of fabric - that's the doeskin on the back - and the second layer of mail.
0:20:06 > 0:20:12What's chastening is the idea that when I was in armour today, that covered my stomach.
0:20:12 > 0:20:18So archers were unpopular! What did the French do if they caught them?
0:20:18 > 0:20:22There were two options. One was to hang them.
0:20:22 > 0:20:27The second was to disable them so they couldn't shoot again.
0:20:27 > 0:20:34So they'd chop off the fingers they used to shoot the bow - that is, these two fingers here.
0:20:34 > 0:20:39That possibly gives us the origin of the old V-sign like this.
0:20:39 > 0:20:46Before the battle the archers would prove they could shoot their bows, taunting the French by doing this.
0:20:46 > 0:20:51If the two-fingered salute was intended as a morale boost,
0:20:51 > 0:20:56the English certainly needed it on the eve of battle.
0:21:00 > 0:21:03It was a ghastly night.
0:21:03 > 0:21:07Henry's men were tired, wet and hungry.
0:21:07 > 0:21:13There was only room enough in the hovels for the king and some nobles.
0:21:13 > 0:21:18The men-at-arms and archers spent the night huddled up under hedges.
0:21:18 > 0:21:22Henry ordered his army to keep silent.
0:21:22 > 0:21:26There was a low murmur as soldiers confessed to chaplains.
0:21:26 > 0:21:32If the queues for chaplains were too long, they confessed to friends.
0:21:32 > 0:21:38Our spirits are lowest in the small hours, and even Henry's morale wavered that night.
0:21:38 > 0:21:45He released prisoners and sent word that he would return Harfleur and pay compensation
0:21:45 > 0:21:50if the French would give him free passage to Calais.
0:21:50 > 0:21:55When Sir Walter Hungerford offered another 10,000 archers
0:21:55 > 0:21:59the king snapped back that all they had were God's people
0:21:59 > 0:22:04and no harm could become a man who trusted the Almighty as he did.
0:22:09 > 0:22:14Well, for once the weather's got it about right,
0:22:14 > 0:22:19as it was an awful morning on the 25th October 1415,
0:22:19 > 0:22:23when Henry's army formed up here, parallel with this road.
0:22:23 > 0:22:26We can't be sure what it looked like
0:22:26 > 0:22:32but there were probably armoured men-at-arms dismounted in the middle,
0:22:32 > 0:22:37and the much more lightly clad archers on either flank.
0:22:37 > 0:22:41Henry rode out on a grey pony and addressed his troops.
0:22:41 > 0:22:46Then, he dismounted, took position in the centre of his army,
0:22:46 > 0:22:48and waited for the French to attack.
0:22:48 > 0:22:53Inconveniently, they didn't. They stayed up at their end of the field.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56Eventually, Henry ordered,
0:22:56 > 0:23:02"Advance banners in the name of Jesus, Mary and St George!"
0:23:02 > 0:23:05The whole line then knelt down...
0:23:06 > 0:23:08..kissed the earth -
0:23:08 > 0:23:13which most soldiers probably expected would soon cover them -
0:23:13 > 0:23:18then, stepped out across the plough towards the French.
0:23:21 > 0:23:28It was a long, slow, plodding march with plenty of halts to keep the lines straight.
0:23:28 > 0:23:33It was so bad that archers threw away their shoes,
0:23:33 > 0:23:37marching barefoot to keep their footing.
0:23:37 > 0:23:41A longbow shot from the French, the line halted.
0:23:41 > 0:23:43The archers drove in their stakes,
0:23:43 > 0:23:48and turned to Sir Thomas Erpingham, a veteran in command of the archers.
0:23:48 > 0:23:51He threw his baton high into the air,
0:23:51 > 0:23:58and the first arrow to be fired that day flew off into the French line.
0:24:05 > 0:24:10The French had mounted detachments on both ends of their line.
0:24:10 > 0:24:17They hoped to attack the English flanks and rear but these woods stopped them.
0:24:17 > 0:24:24They came head-on into the archers and into as many as 80,000 arrows in a minute.
0:24:24 > 0:24:29It was a hopeless venture but the French knights were very brave.
0:24:29 > 0:24:31Their leader ran right onto a stake.
0:24:31 > 0:24:36He was thrown off his horse, onto the ground, where an archer
0:24:36 > 0:24:39knifed him as he lay helpless.
0:24:39 > 0:24:41Then, the French problems began.
0:24:41 > 0:24:45The surviving horses were maddened by arrows,
0:24:45 > 0:24:50and galloped full-tilt into the mass of dismounted men-at-arms,
0:24:50 > 0:24:55causing chaos and throwing the first French line into a confusion
0:24:55 > 0:24:58from which it never recovered.
0:24:58 > 0:25:04The first great block of French men-at-arms, about 8,000 strong,
0:25:04 > 0:25:07came on into a blizzard of arrows.
0:25:07 > 0:25:09They were tightly packed.
0:25:09 > 0:25:14Knights who weren't hit fell over those who were.
0:25:27 > 0:25:31The French collided with Henry's line about here.
0:25:31 > 0:25:36What happened then is best summed up as bloody murder.
0:25:36 > 0:25:41Men hacked and stabbed at each other as long as their strength lasted.
0:25:41 > 0:25:46At this point, the archers joined in, bounding in from the flanks,
0:25:46 > 0:25:50to ply sword and dagger with deadly effect.
0:25:50 > 0:25:56The first block of French men-at-arms was driven back onto the second.
0:25:56 > 0:26:01It was more like a Hillsborough-type disaster than a battle,
0:26:01 > 0:26:04with knights being crushed to death.
0:26:59 > 0:27:04The carnage on the battlefield wasn't the end of the slaughter.
0:27:04 > 0:27:09Hundreds of French prisoners were taken during the battle.
0:27:09 > 0:27:16Late in the afternoon, a few French knights and peasants attacked Henry's baggage train.
0:27:16 > 0:27:22Fearing the prisoners might revolt in the confusion, Henry ordered their execution.
0:27:22 > 0:27:27200 archers butchered many captives using knife and axe.
0:27:27 > 0:27:31Later, the wounded had their throats cut.
0:27:31 > 0:27:36No-one knows how many Frenchmen died, but there were at least 6,000.
0:27:36 > 0:27:43Most of them were stripped of armour and valuables and buried in huge grave pits.
0:27:48 > 0:27:51Henry had won a stunning victory
0:27:51 > 0:27:56that further strengthened his claim to the throne of France.
0:27:56 > 0:28:01The French king, Charles VI, agreed he should succeed him when he died.
0:28:01 > 0:28:06But Henry died first - six weeks before Charles.
0:28:06 > 0:28:10His victory never quite delivered what he wanted.