Agincourt, 25 October 1415• Hundred Years War• Henry V• Longbow• Joan of Arc• “Infantry Revolution”• Constantinople
The 100 Years War1337 to 1453
• Edward III, King of England, Duke of Aquitane• His cousin was Philip VI, King of France (thus Lord over
Aquitane)– He demanded that Edward swear allegiance
• Edward refused and plotted to place Robert, Duke of Suffolk, on the French throne
• Edward’s mother, Isabella, sided with Philip• Edward banished her to France and had her lover killed• England had fewer knights, less military experience, and
would have to fight in France
English Military Reforms
• Pay by taxation -- no plunder– English there to kill not
capture• Introduction of longbow
– Could fire five arrows before a knight could close the gap
– Requires skilled archers
Success of the System
• Crécy, 1346– English bowmen killed
1,542 French knights and lost just 200
• Poitiers, 1356– English killed 2,500
knights, lost 1,000• Led to a truce from
1396 to 1413
Henry V, who assumed the English crown in 1413
The Road to Agincourt
• Henry lost 3,000 of his 12,000 men to disease– He had just 900
knights• French found him near
Amiens and converged with 30,000 men
1,000 yards
Aftermath
• French lost 6,000 knights in a single afternoon
• English losses less than 150
• Henry ordered French prisoners killed
• We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile, This day shall gentle his condition: And gentlemen in England now a-bed Shall think themselves accursed they were not here, And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.
Impacts
• French revival under Joan of Arc
• French use of culverins, infantry
• End of mounted knight
Constantinople, 1453
• Most powerful forts in the world
• Had never been taken by force
• Ottoman Turks used 70 guns, including 12 “superbombards”
• With these guns, Ottomans took the city in less than 2 months