battle of agincourt middle finger

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battle of agincourt middle finger

Apparently Henry believed his fleeing army would perform better on the defensive, but had to halt the retreat and somehow engage the French Before the battle of Agincourt in 1415, the French proposed cutting the middle finger off of captured English soldiers rendering them incapable of shooting longbows. 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. It was a disastrous attempt. French chroniclers agree that when the mounted charge did come, it did not contain as many men as it should have; Gilles le Bouvier states that some had wandered off to warm themselves and others were walking or feeding their horses. 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. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. . Opie, Iona and Moira Tatem. [90] In his study of the battle John Keegan argued that the main aim was not to actually kill the French knights but rather to terrorise them into submission and quell any possibility they might resume the fight, which would probably have caused the uncommitted French reserve forces to join the fray, as well. The battle remains an important symbol in popular culture. with chivalry. [92], The French had suffered a catastrophic defeat. The campaign season was coming to an end, and the English army had suffered many casualties through disease. Keegan, John. Opie, Iona and Moira Tatem. [31] This entailed abandoning his chosen position and pulling out, advancing, and then re-installing the long sharpened wooden stakes pointed outwards toward the enemy, which helped protect the longbowmen from cavalry charges. By 24 October, both armies faced each other for battle, but the French declined, hoping for the arrival of more troops. Battle of Agincourt, (October 25, 1415)Battle resulting in the decisive victory of the English over the French in the Hundred Years' War. In the other reference Martial writes that a certain party points a finger, an indecent one, at some other people. [88], Regardless of when the baggage assault happened, at some point after the initial English victory, Henry became alarmed that the French were regrouping for another attack. The deep, soft mud particularly favoured the English force because, once knocked to the ground, the heavily armoured French knights had a hard time getting back up to fight in the mle. There had even been a suggestion that the English would run away rather than give battle when they saw that they would be fighting so many French princes. The Agincourt Carol, dating from around this time and possibly written for Henrys reception in London, is a rousing celebration of the might of the English. [93] In all, around 6,000 of their fighting men lay dead on the ground. Moreover, with this outcome Henry V strengthened his position in his own kingdom; it legitimized his claim to the crown, which had been under threat after his accession. Inthe book,Corbeillpoints to Priapus, a minor deityhedatesto 400 BC, whichlater alsoappears in Rome as the guardian of gardens,according to the Oxford Encyclopedia of Greece and Rome( here ). [8] These included the Duke of York, the young Earl of Suffolk and the Welsh esquire Dafydd ("Davy") Gam. 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. [34][d] The French apparently had no clear plan for deploying the rest of the army. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. When the French rejected Henrys substantial territorial demands, he arrived in Normandy in August 1415 with a force of about 12,000 men and laid siege to the city of Harfleur. The main part of the speech begins "This day is called the feast of . Although the French initially pushed the English back, they became so closely packed that they were described as having trouble using their weapons properly. Despite the numerical disadvantage, the battle ended in an overwhelming victory for the English. Omissions? This was an innovative technique that the English had not used in the Battles of Crcy and Poitiers. David Mikkelson Published Sep 29, 1999. Without the middle finger it would be impossible to draw the renowned English longbow and therefore [soldiers would] be incapable of fighting in the future. 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. Course Hero uses AI to attempt to automatically extract content from documents to surface to you and others so you can study better, e.g., in search results, to enrich docs, and more. Early in the morning on October 25 (the feast day of St. Crispin), 1415, Henry positioned his army for battle on a recently plowed field bounded by woods. All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. [19], Henry V invaded France following the failure of negotiations with the French. French knights, charging uphill, were unseated from their horses, either because their mounts were injured on the stakes or because they dismounted to uproot the obstacles, and were overpowered. [96] Of the great royal office holders, France lost its constable (Albret), an admiral (the lord of Dampierre), the Master of Crossbowmen (David de Rambures, dead along with three sons), Master of the Royal Household (Guichard Dauphin) and prvt of the marshals. The basic premise that the origins of the one-finger gesture and its association with the profane word "fuck" were an outgrowth of the 1415 battle between French and English forces at Agincourt is simple enough to debunk. There is no evidence that, when captured in any scenario,archers had their finger cut off by the enemy( bit.ly/3dP2PhP ). 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. Shakespeare's version of the battle of Agincourt has been turned into several minor and two major films. It is also because of the pheasant feathers on the arrows that the gesture is known as giving the bird. And yew all thought yew knew everything! Osprey Publishing. Originally representing the erect phallus, the gesture conveyssimultaneously a sexual threat to the person to whom it is directed andapotropaicmeans of warding off unwanted elements of the more-than-human. ( here ). In the ensuing negotiations Henry said that he would give up his claim to the French throne if the French would pay the 1.6million crowns outstanding from the ransom of John II (who had been captured at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356), and concede English ownership of the lands of Anjou, Brittany, Flanders, Normandy, and Touraine, as well as Aquitaine. He told his men that he would rather die in the coming battle than be captured and ransomed. The Face of Battle.New York: Penguin Books, 1978 ISBN 0-140-04897-9 (pp. In such a "press" of thousands of men, Rogers suggested that many could have suffocated in their armour, as was described by several sources, and which was also known to have happened in other battles. Wikipedia. . Nicolle, D. (2004). The French knights were unable to outflank the longbowmen (because of the encroaching woodland) and unable to charge through the array of sharpened stakes that protected the archers. Henry V's victory in the mud of Picardy remains the . [c], The English made their confessions before the battle, as was customary. While numerous English sources give the English casualties in double figures,[8] record evidence identifies at least 112 Englishmen killed in the fighting,[103] while Monstrelet reported 600 English dead. 78-116). Its origins can be traced back to 1066 . With 4,800 men-at-arms in the vanguard, 3,000 in the main battle, and 1,200 in the infantry wings. [citation needed], Immediately after the battle, Henry summoned the heralds of the two armies who had watched the battle together with principal French herald Montjoie, and they settled on the name of the battle as Azincourt, after the nearest fortified place. [97] According to the heralds, 3,069 knights and squires were killed,[e] while at least 2,600 more corpses were found without coats of arms to identify them. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. The Burgundians seized on the opportunity and within 10 days of the battle had mustered their armies and marched on Paris. The Battle of Agincourt originated in 1328. One popular "origin story" for the middle finger has to do with the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. Without the middle finger it would be impossible to draw the renowned English longbow and therefore they would be incapable of fighting in the future. An account purporting to offer the historical origins of the obscene middle-finger extended hand gesture (varously known as "flipping the bird," "flipping someone off," or the "one-finger salute") is silly, and so obviously a joke that shouldn't need any debunking. The French, who were overwhelmingly favored to win the battle, Continue Reading 41 2 7 Alexander L The . By most contemporary accounts, the French army was also significantly larger than the English, though the exact degree of their numerical superiority is disputed. . The Battle of Agincourt took place during the the Hundred Years' War, a conflict which, despite its name, was neither one single war nor did it last one hundred years. 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. Since pluck yew is rather difficult to say, like pheasant mother plucker, which is who you had to go to for the feathers used on the arrows for the longbow, the difficult consonant cluster at the beginning has gradually changed to a labiodental fricative f, and thus the words often used in conjunction with the one-finger salute are mistakenly thought to have something to do with an intimate encounter. King Henry V at the Battle of Agincourt, 1415 by Sir John Gilbert, Atkinson Art Gallery, Southport, Lancashire. Historians disagree less about the French numbers. Details the English victory over the French at the Battle of Agincourt. The Burgundian sources have him concluding the speech by telling his men that the French had boasted that they would cut off two fingers from the right hand of every archer, so that he could never draw a longbow again. Your opponent is not going to pay you (or pay you much) for the return of mutilated soldiers, so now what do you do with them? This famous weapon was made of the native English yew tree, and the act of drawing the longbow was known as "plucking the yew." Winston Churchhill can be seen using the V as a rallying call. The latter, each titled Henry V, star Laurence Olivier in 1944 and Kenneth Branagh in 1989. Fighting ignorance since 1973. [34] The rearguard, leaderless, would serve as a "dumping ground" for the surplus troops. In pursuit of his claim to the French throne, Henry V invaded Normandy with an army of 11,000 men in August 1415. The Battle of Agincourt forms a key part of Shakespeare's Henry V. Photo by Nick Ansell / POOL / AFP) Myth: During the Hundred Years War, the French cut off the first and second fingers of any. Axtell, Roger E. Gestures: The Do's and Taboos of Body Language Around the World. The battle probably lasted no longer than three hours and was perhaps as short as half an hour, according to some estimates. It seems clear, however, that the English were at a decided numerical disadvantage. But lets not quibble. Battles were observed and chronicled by heralds who were present at the scene and recorded what they saw, judged who won, and fixed names for the battles. [69] (The use of stakes was an innovation for the English: during the Battle of Crcy, for example, the archers had been instead protected by pits and other obstacles. The metallography and relative effectiveness of arrowheads and armor during the Middle Ages. 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 . 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). The Gesta Henrici places this after the English had overcome the onslaught of the French men-at-arms and the weary English troops were eyeing the French rearguard ("in incomparable number and still fresh"). .). But frankly, I suspect that the French would have done a lot worse to any captured English archers than chopping off their fingers. The French could not cope with the thousands of lightly armoured longbowmen assailants (who were much less hindered by the mud and weight of their armour) combined with the English men-at-arms. The town surrendered on 22 September, and the English army did not leave until 8 October. [127], Shakespeare's play presented Henry as leading a truly English force into battle, playing on the importance of the link between the monarch and the common soldiers in the fight. [76] Modern historians are divided on how effective the longbows would have been against plate armour of the time. Common estimates place the English army at about 6,000, while the French army probably consisted of 20,000 to 30,000 men. This famous English longbow was . Why not simply kill them outright in the first place? [87] Whether this was part of a deliberate French plan or an act of local brigandage is unclear from the sources. Although it could be intended as humorous, the image on social media is historically inaccurate. [62] A BBCNews Magazinereportsimilarlytracesthe gesture back toAncient Greek philosophers ( here ). 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). 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! In the words of Juliet Barker, the battle "cut a great swath through the natural leaders of French society in Artois, Ponthieu, Normandy, Picardy. The pl sound, the story goes, gradually changed into an f, giving the gesture its present meaning. [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. Since 'pluck yew' is rather difficult to say (like "pleasant mother pheasant plucker", which is who you had to go to for the feathers used on the arrows), the difficult consonant cluster at the beginning has gradually changed to a labiodental fricative 'f', and thus the words often used in conjunction with the one-finger-salute are mistakenly thought to have something to do with an intimate encounter. Medieval warriors didn't take prisoners because by doing so they were observing a moral code that dictated opponents who had laid down their arms and ceased fighting must be treated humanely, but because they knew high-ranking captives were valuable property that could be ransomed for money. Increasingly, they had to walk around or over fallen comrades. Many folkloric or etymological myths have sprung up about its origin, especially the widely quoted one about the interplay between the French and English soldiery at the battle of Agincourt 1415, where the French threatened to amputate the middle fingers of the English archers to prevent them from drawing their bows, which of course is absolute The English army, led by King Henry V, famously achieved victory in spite of the numerical superiority of its opponent. 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. [21] On 19 April 1415, Henry again asked the Great Council to sanction war with France, and this time they agreed. At issue was the question of the legitimate succession to the French crown as well as the ownership of several French territories. [23] Thomas Morstede, Henry V's royal surgeon,[24] had previously been contracted by the king to supply a team of surgeons and makers of surgical instruments to take part in the Agincourt campaign. 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 ). Nonetheless, so many readers have forwarded it to us accompanied by an "Is this true?" 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).

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