History And War

Three years after fighting at Cocherel, Du Guesclin was again taken prisoner at Najera (1367) after fighting gallantly as the ally of the Castilians against the army of the Black Prince. Here again English and French fought on foot, and the novel feature of the battle was the encounter of the Spanish genetours or light horsemen with the English men-at arms and archers. The arrows of the latter soon drove the genetours of’ the field, for their horses were unarmored, and they could not get near enough to throw their javelins.

Du Guesclin was made constable in 1370. He made it a rule to avoid pitched battles with the English, but in a few years of harassing warfare he expelled them from nearly all the French territory which they had gained. The lesson was soon forgotten, and at Agincourt (1415) another constable gave Henry V. the opportunity to outdo Poitiers. Henry was marching north to Calais with an army reduced to less than 10,000 men. The constable, D’Albret, had declined opportunities of attacking him, but took up a position barring his road with an army six times as numerous. Between the woods of Agincourt and Tramecourt there was half a mile of ploughed land through which the road ran, and the French army was posted a little to the north, closing the mouth of this defile.

St. Remy says : ” They had sufficient archers and crossbowmen, but they were unable to use their bows from the narrowness of the place, which did not afford room for more than the men-at-arms.” There were three corps, one behind another, in very deep formation ; and, as usual, each of the French knights claimed to be in front. All were on foot with the exception of the rearguard, and of two bodies of about 600 horsemen in front of each wing, who were to ride down the English archers.

Henry took care not to play his opponent’s game by trying to force a passage. He drew up his army about a mile to the south, in front of Maisoncelle. He had only about a thousand men-at-arms, and narrow as the field was, he was obliged to place his van and rearguard in line with his main body, leaving himself no reserve, and having nowhere more than four ranks. In the intervals between the corps he placed masses of archers; but just before the battle began, their marshal, by the king’s order, led the archers forward, and posted them in advance of the line in two wings {au froncq devant en deux ellcs)} Some days before the king had told them to provide themselves with stout stakes, six feet long, and these they planted at a slope in front of them as chevaux de frise?

For some hours of St. Crispin’s day (October 15) the two armies faced one another without moving, each waiting for the other to attack. At length, finding it was necessary to sting the French into action, Henry made his men advance slowly ” in fine order,” giving a great shout as they halted from time to time, until the archers came within extreme bow-shot of the enemy. As soon as the mounted men who were in front of the wings of the French army began to feel the English arrows, they charged; but the ground was sodden, and under the rain of arrows few of them were able to reach the stakes, which the archers had refixed. Most of them found their horses unmanageable, and rode back upon their own vanguard, which was toiling after them, and in which they caused much confusion. It pressed on, but not with an even front: “either from fear of the arrows, … or that they might more speedily penetrate our ranks to the banners, they divided themselves into three troops, charging our lines in the three places where the banners were.” ‘