Battle of Agincourt

Another centerfold piece for Medieval Warfare Magazine.

One of the most well known and often studied, clashes of arms in the Medieval period, the Battle of Agincourt was an astounding and decisive victory for the English which led to their dominance and then occupation of a large portion of Northern and Western France during the early 15th century. The French in comparison lost most of its nobility in the battle, slaughtered instead of ransomed, despite outnumbering the English almost 5 to 1. The MVP of the battle was not the excellent longbow archers the English brought with them (though they played a significant part) but the weather which turned the field into a muddy quagmire that was to prove the undoing of the French.

Working on this piece I had the privilege of cooperating with medieval scholar, Tobias Capwell, who is an expert in the Hundred Years War and the Battle of Agincourt in particular. Early on both of us knew that we wanted to do something a bit different for this piece that will set it apart from the usual depiction of French heavy cavalry charging and/or English archers volley shooting into the air. We came up with the idea of depicting the moment the French forward infantry column clashed with the English line. You can see here the French knights riddled with arrows having passed through a hailstorm of them but managed to survive thanks to their excellent steel armor. Some were unlucky and fell to arrows that found their mark through weak spots in their armor or succumbed to the concussive barrage of the thousands of arrows falling on their heads. Those that survive the trudge through the arrow storm were left weakened against a fresh and prepared English defense but don't count on the French giving up so easily, they are a stubborn sort. They still gave the English a good wallop but eventually the fatigue and constant barrage of arrows got to them. By then they were easy pickings for the lightly armored archers as they descended on the french men at arms like a pack of hounds to an injured boar.

Despite knowing a fair deal about Agincourt I learned 2 things about this battle that I wasn't aware of before. First and somewhat surprising to me is that the English archers did not volley shoot their arrows into the air, instead they mostly shot at their own pace and at eye level. Second, was the distinct differences in the style of armor worn by both sides. I was under the impression that every noble and his retinue would wear the colors of their respective houses as was the norm at the time. Instead, the French during the battle were more flamboyant in their dress, wore more fabric, had their armor gilded and were generally decked out in various colors and heraldry that show off their wealth and status. In contrast the English were more uniform in appearance, mostly wore their armor bare(white or black) with minimal to no embellishments and any heraldry they bear must be the cross of St. George or at least contain it.

For those interested you can check out the magazine here. Its a very interesting magazine if you're in to medieval history. >> www.karwansaraypublishers.com/…