The English eyewitness account comes from the anonymous author of the Gesta Henrici Quinti, believed to have been written by a chaplain in the King's household who would have been in the baggage train at the battle. Jones, P. N. (1992). The battle probably lasted no longer than three hours and was perhaps as short as half an hour, according to some estimates. The Battle of Agincourt was dramatised by William Shakespeare in Henry V featuring the battle in which Henry inspired his much-outnumbered English forces to fight the French through a St Crispin's Day Speech, saying "the fewer men, the greater share of honour". 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. T he battle of Agincourt, whose 600th anniversary falls on St Crispin's Day, 25 October, is still tabloid gold, Gotcha! Despite the numerical disadvantage, the battle ended in an overwhelming victory for the English. 33-35). Before the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, the French, anticipating victory over the English, proposed to cut off the middle finger of all captured soldiers. This famous weapon was made of the native English yew tree, and so the act of drawing the longbow was known as "plucking yew". The ransoming of prisoners was the only way for medieval soldiers to make a quick fortune, and so they seized every available opportunity to capture opponents who could be exchanged for handsome prices. Fixed formatting. The French, who were overwhelmingly favored to win the battle, Continue Reading 41 2 7 Alexander L Osprey Publishing. The effect of the victory on national morale was powerful. He contrasts the modern, English king and his army with the medieval, chivalric, older model of the French. With Toby Merrell, Ian Brooker, Philip Rosch, Brian Blessed. [114][115] Curry and Mortimer questioned the reliability of the Gesta, as there have been doubts as to how much it was written as propaganda for Henry V. Both note that the Gesta vastly overestimates the number of French in the battle; its proportions of English archers to men-at-arms at the battle are also different from those of the English army before the siege of Harfleur. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). News of the contrivance circulated within Europe and was described in a book of tactics written in 1411 by. Axtell, Roger E. Gestures: The Dos and Taboos of Body Language Around the World.New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1991 ISBN 0-471-53672-5 (pp. One final observation: any time some appeal begins with heres something that intelligent people will find edifying you should be suspicious. As the English were collecting prisoners, a band of French peasants led by local noblemen began plundering Henrys baggage behind the lines. In 1999, Snopesdebunked more of the historical aspects of the claim, as well as thecomponent explaininghow the phrase pluck yew graduallychanged form to begin with an f( here ). [18] A recent re-appraisal of Henry's strategy of the Agincourt campaign incorporates these three accounts and argues that war was seen as a legal due process for solving the disagreement over claims to the French throne. It forms the backdrop to events in William Shakespeare's play Henry V, written in 1599. Shakespeare's portrayal of the casualty loss is ahistorical in that the French are stated to have lost 10,000 and the English 'less than' thirty men, prompting Henry's remark, "O God, thy arm was here". This would prevent maneuvers that might overwhelm the English ranks. It established the legitimacy of the Lancastrian monarchy and the future campaigns of Henry to pursue his "rights and privileges" in France. [68], Henry's men were already very weary from hunger, illness and retreat. [116] One particular cause of confusion may have been the number of servants on both sides, or whether they should at all be counted as combatants. (Its taking longer than we thought.) A Dictionary of Superstitions. [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.
False claim: "Middle finger" gesture derives from English soldiers at After the victory, Henry continued his march to Calais and arrived back in England in November to an outpouring of nationalistic sentiment. On 25 October 1415, an army of English raiders under Henry V faced the French outside an obscure village on the road to Calais.
030223 - Musings From Leroy Medieval Archers (Everything you Need to Know) - The Finer Times French history myths: The 'two fingers' insult comes from the Battle of The Duke of Brabant (about 2,000 men),[65] the Duke of Anjou (about 600 men),[65] and the Duke of Brittany (6,000 men, according to Monstrelet),[66] were all marching to join the army. "Guardian newspaper:French correction: Henry V's Agincourt fleet was half as big, historian claims, 28 July 2015", "Living Dictionary of the French Language", "Limitations imposed by wearing armour on Medieval soldiers' locomotor performance", "High Court Rules for French at Agincourt", "High Court Justices, Legal Luminaries Debate Shakespeare's 'Henry V', "The Development of Battle Tactics in the Hundred Years War", "Historians Reassess Battle of Agincourt", The Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge, "Henry V's Greatest Victory is Besieged by Academia", The Little Grey Horse Henry V's Speech at Agincourt and the Battle Exhortation in Ancient Historiography, "The Battle of Agincourt: An Alternative location? [19], Henry V invaded France following the failure of negotiations with the French. It is unclear whether the delay occurred because the French were hoping the English would launch a frontal assault (and were surprised when the English instead started shooting from their new defensive position), or whether the French mounted knights instead did not react quickly enough to the English advance. 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). It may be in the narrow strip of open land formed between the woods of Tramecourt and Azincourt (close to the modern village of Azincourt). 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). Winston Churchhill can be seen using the V as a rallying call. 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. What does DO NOT HUMP mean on the side of railroad cars? There is a modern museum in Agincourt village dedicated to the battle. The "middle finger" gesture does not derive from the mutilation of English archers at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. This famous weapon was made of the native English yew tree, and the act of drawing the longbow was known as "plucking the yew." The puzzler was: What was this body part? His men-at-arms were stationed in the centre, flanked by wedges of archers who carried longbows that had an effective range of 250 yards (229 metres). [20] He initially called a Great Council in the spring of 1414 to discuss going to war with France, but the lords insisted that he should negotiate further and moderate his claims. [89] A slaughter of the French prisoners ensued. The battle repeated other English successes in the Hundred Years War, such as the Battle of Crcy (1346) and the Battle of Poitiers (1356), and made possible Englands subsequent conquest of Normandy and the Treaty of Troyes (1420), which named Henry V heir to the French crown. 42 Share 3.9K views 4 years ago There is an old story that allegedly gives the background of how we came to use the middle finger as an insult along with the alleged origin of the "F-word". This use of stakes could have been inspired by the Battle of Nicopolis of 1396, where forces of the Ottoman Empire used the tactic against French cavalry. It goes on to state thatafter an unexpected victory, the English soldiersmocked thedefeatedFrenchtroopsbywavingtheir middle fingers( here ). The Face of Battle.New York: Penguin Books, 1978 ISBN 0-140-04897-9 (pp. [84] The exhausted French men-at-arms were unable to get up after being knocked to the ground by the English. If the two-fingered salute comes from Agincourt, then at what point was it reduced to one finger in North America? [7] Barker, who believes the English were outnumbered by at least four to one,[120] says that the armed servants formed the rearguard in the battle. Adam Koford, Salt Lake City, Utah, Now for the facts. The town surrendered on 22 September, and the English army did not leave until 8 October. The idea being that you need two fingers to draw a bow, which makes more sense, and thus links up a national custom with a triumphant moment in national history! 1995 - 2023 by Snopes Media Group Inc. [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. Another verse begins: You love to be sodomized, Papylus . To meet and beat him was a triumph, the highest form which self-expression could take in the medieval nobleman's way of life." Some notable examples are listed below. They shadowed Henry's army while calling a semonce des nobles,[30] calling on local nobles to join the army. I suppose that the two-fingered salute could still come from medieval archery, even if it didnt come specifically from the Battle of Agincourt, although the example that Wikipedia links to (the fourteenth-century Luttrell Psalter) is ambiguous. This suggests that the French could have outnumbered the English 5 to 1. Clip from the 1944 movie "Henry V" (137 min). 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. 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. ), And even if killing prisoners of war did not violate the moral code of the times, what would be the purpose of taking archers captive, cutting off their fingers, and then executing them? The English finally crossed the Somme south of Pronne, at Bthencourt and Voyennes[28][29] and resumed marching north. A complete coat of plate was considered such good protection that shields were generally not used,[75] although the Burgundian contemporary sources distinguish between Frenchmen who used shields and those who did not, and Rogers has suggested that the front elements of the French force used axes and shields.
Idiom Origins - Middle finger - History of Middle finger It.
The traditional view of the years 131821 is one of domination by This head-lowered position restricted their breathing and their vision. 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. Recent heavy rain made the battle field very muddy, proving very tiring to walk through in full plate armour. There was no monetary reward to be obtained by capturing them, nor was there any glory to be won by defeating them in battle. [60][61], Accounts of the battle describe the French engaging the English men-at-arms before being rushed from the sides by the longbowmen as the mle developed. [25] The siege took longer than expected. The Battle of Agincourt is an iconic moment in English military history. The image makes the claim that the gesture derives from English soldiers at the Battle of Agincourt, France in 1415.