It happened on a Friday. Most people don’t think about the day of the week when they ask when was the Battle of Agincourt, but for the exhausted, muddy men standing in a narrow field in northern France, that Friday—October 25, 1415—felt like the end of the world. It was Saint Crispin’s Day. If you’re a Shakespeare fan, you know the speech. If you’re a history buff, you know the slaughter.
Henry V was only 28. He was hungry, his army was literally dying of dysentery, and he was trying to get to Calais so he could go home. He didn’t want a fight. Not then. But the French had other plans, and they blocked his path with a force that looked, by all accounts, like a moving forest of steel.
Setting the Date: October 25, 1415
Timing is everything in war. If Henry had reached the coast two days earlier, Agincourt wouldn't exist in our history books. The English army had been marching for over two weeks, covering roughly 260 miles. They were spent. When we look at when was the Battle of Agincourt, we have to look at the autumn of 1415 as a season of desperation.
The campaign actually started back in August when the English landed at Chef-de-Caux. They spent a month hitting the port of Harfleur. By the time Harfleur fell on September 22, Henry’s army was a ghost of its former self. Disease—specifically "the bloody flux" or dysentery—had killed more men than French swords had.
Henry had a choice. He could go home by sea, or he could march to Calais as a show of bravado. He chose the march. It was a gamble that almost cost him his crown. By late October, the French Constable, Charles d'Albret, and the Marshal, Jean Le Maingre (known as Boucicaut), had finally pinned the English down near the woods of Agincourt and Tramecourt.
Why Saint Crispin's Day Matters
In the medieval calendar, feast days were the primary way people kept track of time. October 25th was dedicated to the twin brothers Crispin and Crispinian, the patron saints of shoemakers. It’s a bit ironic, honestly. Thousands of men were about to be trampled into the mud by boots made by the very craftsmen the day was meant to honor.
The Morning of the Battle
The sun rose around 7:00 AM. It was cold. It had rained all night, turning the freshly plowed land between the two woods into a literal swamp. Imagine trying to walk through a construction site after a week of thunderstorms while wearing 60 pounds of plate armor. That’s what the French were looking at.
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For three hours, nothing happened. The two sides just stared at each other. Henry, realizing the French weren't going to charge his defensive position, did something incredibly risky. He ordered his men to "unroot"—to pull up the sharpened stakes they’d driven into the ground to stop cavalry—and move closer.
This was the moment. If the French had charged while the English were moving their stakes, the war would have ended that morning. But they didn't. They watched. They waited.
The Longbow: A 15th-Century Machine Gun
When we talk about when was the Battle of Agincourt, we’re really talking about the peak of the English longbow. Once Henry got within 250 yards, he gave the order. Baneeres avaunt! (Banners forward).
The sky went dark.
Contemporary chroniclers like Jean de Waurin, who was actually there on the French side, described the sound as a terrifying hiss. The English archers could let off ten arrows a minute. With 5,000 archers, that’s 50,000 arrows hitting a cramped, narrow corridor every sixty seconds.
The French cavalry tried to charge. It was a disaster. The mud was so deep that the horses couldn't gain speed. Arrows didn't always pierce the heavy plate armor of the knights, but they hit the horses. Panicked, wounded animals bolted back into their own advancing infantry.
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The Crush
This is the part most movies get wrong. The French didn't just die from arrows. They died from physics. Because the field narrowed between the two forests, the French columns were squeezed together. As the front ranks were hit and fell, the people behind kept pushing forward.
People literally suffocated standing up. They were packed so tightly they couldn't even raise their arms to swing their swords.
Misconceptions About the Numbers
You’ll hear wild numbers. Some Victorian historians claimed there were 100,000 Frenchmen against 6,000 English. That’s nonsense. Modern experts like Anne Curry, who has done extensive work with the Medieval Soldier database, suggest the gap was much smaller.
- The English: Roughly 6,000 to 9,000 men (mostly archers).
- The French: Somewhere between 12,000 and 25,000.
Still a massive disadvantage for Henry, but not the 10-to-1 miracle often portrayed in plays. The French lost because of terrible leadership and even worse terrain management, not just because they were outnumbered.
The Controversial Command
The battle lasted about three hours. Toward the end, something happened that still stains Henry’s reputation. A small group of French locals attacked the English baggage train. Henry, fearing he was being surrounded and that the thousands of French prisoners he’d taken might grab weapons and rise up, ordered the prisoners killed.
His own knights refused. It wasn't because they were "noble"—it was because you couldn't get a ransom for a dead prisoner. So, Henry had to use his archers to carry out the execution. It was a brutal, pragmatic, and horrifying end to the day.
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What Happened After October 25th?
Henry didn't stay in France to conquer more territory right away. He got to Calais on October 29th and sailed for England in November. He was greeted as a conquering hero, a king chosen by God.
The political fallout was massive. The French nobility was gutted. The Constable of France was dead. The Dukes of Alençon, Brabant, and Bar were dead. The Duke of Orléans was captured and would spend the next 25 years in England writing poetry.
Why 1415 Still Echoes
We care about when was the Battle of Agincourt because it changed the trajectory of Western Europe. It led to the Treaty of Troyes in 1420, where Henry was recognized as the heir to the French throne. He married Catherine of Valois. If he hadn't died of dysentery (again, the mud and the water were the real enemies) just two years later, we might have seen a unified Anglo-French kingdom.
Think about that. The map of the world would look completely different if a 35-year-old king hadn't gotten sick.
Real-World Insights for History Enthusiasts
If you're looking to truly understand the context of 1415, don't just rely on Shakespeare. He was writing propaganda for the Tudor dynasty 180 years after the fact. He needed Henry to look like a flawless hero.
The reality was a gritty, terrifying, and very muddy ordeal.
Next Steps for Your Research:
- Check the Primary Sources: Look up the Gesta Henrici Quinti, written by an anonymous chaplain who was actually in the English baggage train during the battle. His descriptions of the fear and the noise are chilling.
- Visit the Site: The battlefield in Azincourt (the modern French spelling) is still there. It’s a quiet, inland area. Standing between the woods of Agincourt and Tramecourt, you can see exactly how narrow the "funnel" was. It makes the French tactical errors much easier to visualize.
- Analyze the Armor: If you're ever in London, go to the Tower of London. Look at the weight and articulation of the 15th-century plate. Then imagine trying to run through knee-deep clay in it. It changes your perspective on the "weakness" of the French knights.
- Listen to the Music: The Agincourt Carol ("Deo Gracias Anglia") was written shortly after the battle. It gives you a sense of how the English public processed the victory—less as a military triumph and more as a divine miracle.
The Battle of Agincourt wasn't just a date on a calendar. It was a moment where the entire social order of the Middle Ages—where the armored knight was the king of the battlefield—began to crumble under a hail of "gray goose wing" arrows. It happened on October 25, 1415, and the world has been talking about it ever since.