How French Remember -- or Don't -- Agincourt

The battle of Agincourt, whose 600th anniversary falls on St Crispin’s Day, 25 October, is still tabloid gold, Gotcha! with chivalry. Henry V’s victory in the mud of Picardy remains the classic English away win and a victory snatched from the jaws of defeat. Agincourt is also a battle with a modern afterlife, whose story still provokes mixed reactions, especially among the French.
Celebrated immediately in popular song, its place in history is supported by several contemporary accounts, in French and English. Shakespeare had all the sources he needed to help conjure up “the vasty fields of France”.
The fighting took place on a strip of muddy ground sandwiched between two woods, decisive terrain. After the debilitating siege of Harfleur, immortalised in “Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more …”, this was an engagement Henry V did not really want. His Welsh and English army was sick, starving and exhausted. Outnumbered on foreign soil, he faced an opponent who was fresh and ready for the fray. No wonder the king heard mass three times on the eve of battle.
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