Defiance in the Hundred Years' War

Repeated deadly arrow-storms stopped the French in their tracks at the Battle of Agincourt

August 13, 1415 — An army led by King Henry V landed in northern France on this day as conflicts continued to rage in what became known as the Hundred Years' War between England and France.

Although the hostilities actually lasted for 116 years, it was a relatively minor affair compared to other major conflicts in history.

The Roman-Persian Wars, for example, were a series of battles fought between the Roman Empire and the Persian Empire spanning 681 years from 54 BCE to 628.

And the Mexican Indian Wars began with the conquest of the Aztec Empire in 1519, sparking a 414-year long conflict that did not end until 1933.

The Hundred Years' War war began in 1337 when King Edward III of England laid claim to the throne of France because his mother was the daughter of French King Philip IV.

It came to an end on July 17, 1453 when the French decided to stop firing their cannon on the vanquished English whose troops had been driven down to Castillon in southeastern France.

It meant that despite famous victories at Crecy, Poitiers and Agincourt, the English had lost the war – and their claim to the French throne.

Their victory at Agincourt was famously dramatised by William Shakespeare in his play, Henry V. At the end of the battle, when he asks about casualties, Henry is given a paper from which he reads out loud:

“This note doth tell me of ten thousand French
That in the field lie slain.
Where is the number of our English dead?”

He is then given another paper from which he reads:

“Edward the Duke of York, the Earl of Suffolk,
Sir Richard Ketly, Davy Gam, esquire:
None else of name; and of all other men
But five and twenty.”

Some historians say these are ludicrous figures and perhaps go to prove the old adage that the history of conflict is written by the victors.

That said, numerous sources give the English casualties only in double figures. Other estimates range from 112 Englishmen killed in the fighting to 1,600 “men of all ranks” – according to Jean de Wavrin, a French knight.

Whatever the true figure, Agincourt became famous in military history because of the use of a formidable weapon – the longbow. The English were adept in the use of this deadly instrument of war which could fire 30-inch long (76cm) armour-piercing arrows.

The reputation of the men who fired them was such that it was reported the French would cut off the first two fingers of captured archers so that they could no longer shoot their arrows. In response, at the sight of a French soldier, the still-fighting English lifted their two fingers in defiance.

True or not, the two-finger signal is still used to this day signifying scorn and contempt.

Published: June 15, 2022
Updated: October 18, 2022