ForumGarden

Did some research on the English longbow last weekend. Read up on The Battle of Agincourt which was a major English victory against a numerically superior French army on Friday, 25 October 1415.

Henry V led his troops into a battle which was notable for the use of the English longbow which the king used in very large numbers, with English and Welsh archers forming most of his army. He had about five thousand archers, each carrying twelve arrows, so that sixty thousand of these deadly missiles rained down upon the French.

After this battle the French swore that they would cut of the bow drawing fingers of any archer they captured. This led to the English archers holding up two fingers every time they saw a Frenchman. From this came the still used today “two finger salute.”

I've never seen a two finger salute before. I think that must say something about my charming personality.

Perhaps you can add to that another reason archers were sometimes widely despised. They also carried daggers. They were meant to follow the regular infantry and finish off the enemy wounded.

Didn't the archers have the high ground at Agincourt also?

Scrat;1371619 wrote: Perhaps you can add to that another reason archers were sometimes widely despised. They also carried daggers. They were meant to follow the regular infantry and finish off the enemy wounded.

Didn't the archers have the high ground at Agincourt also?


They were the regular infantry of the day at this point most of the emnglish army consisted or archers, there were professional mercenary armies (that is paid rather than feudal just levies) on all sides. The french had genoese crossbowmen with them. They also were despised because the notion that an ordinary soldier could kill a knight in armour was somewhat frowned upon. The church tried to ban crossbows for the same reason - didn't seem right a peasant could kill a nobleman.

They faced men that were in armour they carried daggers so they could get through the weak points in a suit of armour or the eye holes in the helmet, they also carried warhammers and axes. Each carried a sharpened stake that they stuck in front of them to keep cavalry at bay. Think of it as having a long range weapon and then having ones designed for close quarters fighting thay had to be able to take on cavalry at close quarters, although at this pount an english longbow could penetrate the plate armour of the day. A sword is actually little use against an armoured knight better a concussion weapon like a hammer and a long spikey bit to get through the gaps in the armour, they're also cheaper to make. The hundred years war was a fairly brutal period in european history after the battle Henry ordered the slaughter of all the french prisoners for fear they re-arm themselves and tackle the English again. Surprisingly the french chroniclers don't seem to have found this shocking in the least.