Saint Crispin's Day - Wikipedia [105] Other benefits to the English were longer term. Legend says that the British archers were so formidable that the ones captured by the French had their index and middle fingers cut off so that they . Battle of Agincourt - Wikipedia [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". Subject: Truth About the Finger In the film Titanic the character Rose is shown giving the finger to Jack, another character. This symbol of rocking out is formed by tucking the middle and index finger and holding them in place with the thumb. 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. 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. Agincourt was a battle like no other but how do the French remember "[67] On top of this, the French were expecting thousands of men to join them if they waited. The terrain favoured Henrys army and disadvantaged its opponent, as it reduced the numerical advantage of the French army by narrowing the front. 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. Opie, Iona and Moira Tatem. 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). And where does the distinction between one and two fingers come from? Agincourt. Battle of Agincourt, (October 25, 1415)Battle resulting in the decisive victory of the English over the French in the Hundred Years' War. 1995 - 2023 by Snopes Media Group Inc. Two are from the epigrammatist Martial: Laugh loudly, Sextillus, when someone calls you a queen and put your middle finger out., (The verse continues: But you are no sodomite nor fornicator either, Sextillus, nor is Vetustinas hot mouth your fancy. Martial, and Roman poets in general, could be pretty out there, subject-matter-wise. Although it could be intended as humorous, the image on social media is historically inaccurate. with chivalry. It lasted longer than Henry had anticipated, and his numbers were significantly diminished as a result of casualties, desertions, and disease. 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. I admit that I bring this story up when I talk about the Hundred Years War only to debunk it. Why is showing the middle finger offensive? When, how, and - Quora 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. 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. [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. Sumption, thus, concludes that the French had 14,000 men, basing himself on the monk of St. Denis;[119] Mortimer gives 14 or 15 thousand fighting men. The battle remains an important symbol in popular culture. The latter, each titled Henry V, star Laurence Olivier in 1944 and Kenneth Branagh in 1989. Another verse begins: You love to be sodomized, Papylus . [92], The French had suffered a catastrophic defeat. 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 . The number is supported by many other contemporary accounts. 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. [citation needed], In any event, Henry ordered the slaughter of what were perhaps several thousand French prisoners, sparing only the highest ranked (presumably those most likely to fetch a large ransom under the chivalric system of warfare). This famous weapon was made of the . After the initial wave, the French would have had to fight over and on the bodies of those who had fallen before them. The struggle began in 1337 when King Edward III of England claimed the title King of France over Philip VI and invaded Flanders. Agincourt and the Middle Finger | First Floor Tarpley T he battle of Agincourt, whose 600th anniversary falls on St Crispin's Day, 25 October, is still tabloid gold, Gotcha! In the song Hotel California, what does colitas mean? The version that I tell explains the specific British custom of elevating two fingers as a rude gesture. Very quickly after the battle, the fragile truce between the Armagnac and Burgundian factions broke down. [46] Many lords and gentlemen demanded and got places in the front lines, where they would have a higher chance to acquire glory and valuable ransoms; this resulted in the bulk of the men-at-arms being massed in the front lines and the other troops, for which there was no remaining space, to be placed behind. Upon hearing that his youngest brother Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester had been wounded in the groin, Henry took his household guard and stood over his brother, in the front rank of the fighting, until Humphrey could be dragged to safety. The king received an axe blow to the head, which knocked off a piece of the crown that formed part of his helmet. What Is the History of the Middle Finger? | Snopes.com 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. [106] This lack of unity in France allowed Henry eighteen months to prepare militarily and politically for a renewed campaign. In the Battle of Agincourt, the French threatened the English Soldiers that they would cut off their fingers and when they failed the Englishmen mocked them by showing their fingers. Without the middle finger it would be impossible for the English soldiers to draw the renowned English longbow and therefore incapable of fighting in the future. The decorative use of the image of Priapusmatched the Roman use ofimages of male genitalia for warding off evil. 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. 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). 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. 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 French monk of St. Denis describes the French troops as "marching through the middle of the mud where they sank up to their knees. The image makes the further claim that the English soldiers chanted pluck yew, ostensibly in reference to the drawing of the longbow. Read more about our work to fact-check social media posts here . Humble English archers defeated the armoured elite of French chivalry, enshrining both the longbow and the battle in English national legend. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. Soon after the battle started, it had thousands of English and French soldiers and horses running through it. The effect of the victory on national morale was powerful. [81] In any case, to protect themselves as much as possible from the arrows, the French had to lower their visors and bend their helmeted heads to avoid being shot in the face, as the eye- and air-holes in their helmets were among the weakest points in the armour. The archers were commanded by Sir Thomas Erpingham, another elderly veteran. [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". 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). 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. "[102], Estimates of the number of prisoners vary between 700 and 2,200, amongst them the dukes of Orlans and Bourbon, the counts of Eu, Vendme, Richemont (brother of the Duke of Brittany and stepbrother of Henry V) and Harcourt, and marshal Jean Le Maingre.[12]. After the victory, Henry continued his march to Calais and arrived back in England in November to an outpouring of nationalistic sentiment. Although the French initially pushed the English back, they became so closely packed that they were described as having trouble using their weapons properly. 138). [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. The English numbered roughly 5,000 knights, men-at-arms, and archers. [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. Bloomsbury Publishing. [68], Henry's men were already very weary from hunger, illness and retreat. [93] In all, around 6,000 of their fighting men lay dead on the ground. After several decades of relative peace, the English had resumed the war in 1415 amid the failure of negotiations with the French. Legendinc.com Giving the Finger History A Short History of "Flipping the Bird" - OddFeed 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. [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]. The military aspects of this account are similarly specious. The French had originally drawn up a battle plan that had archers and crossbowmen in front of their men-at-arms, with a cavalry force at the rear specifically designed to "fall upon the archers, and use their force to break them,"[71] but in the event, the French archers and crossbowmen were deployed behind and to the sides of the men-at-arms (where they seem to have played almost no part, except possibly for an initial volley of arrows at the start of the battle). [44] There was a special, elite cavalry force whose purpose was to break the formation of the English archers and thus clear the way for the infantry to advance. For three hours after sunrise there was no fighting. [c], The English made their confessions before the battle, as was customary. 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 men-at-arms in plate and mail were placed shoulder to shoulder four deep. The main part of the speech begins "This day is called the feast of . (Its taking longer than we thought.) . David Mikkelson Published Sep 29, 1999. [107], Most primary sources which describe the battle have English outnumbered by several times. 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). 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. Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. 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. The Face of Battle.New York: Penguin Books, 1978 ISBN 0-140-04897-9 (pp. At issue was the question of the legitimate succession to the French crown as well as the ownership of several French territories. Henry threatened to hang whoever did not obey his orders. Update [June 20, 2022]: Updated SEO/social. Battle of Agincourt - HISTORY Keegan, John. . Jones, P. N. (1992). Tudor re-invention, leading to the quintessential Shakespearean portrayal of "we happy few", has been the most influential, but every century has made its own accretions.
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