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It was an early start for the soldiers of
both armies on the morning of 25 October, with the men assembling
for battle soon after daybreak (around 6:40 AM on that day). Time
was set aside for observing religious practice prior to the
battle, with Henry said to have heard three masses whilst still
in armour according to the Burgundian chroniclers Waurin and Le
Févre.
The English were drawn up into three
divisions known as battles, with the vanguard commanded by
Edward, duke of York, placed on the right, the mainguard by the
king himself in the centre, and the rearguard by Thomas, Lord
Camoys on the left. Whereas the French host consisted of a large
battle placed in the vanguard, with one or more battles placed
behind them, together with their archers and crossbowmen placed
in the rear.
Both armies stood on the defensive for some
time. Awareness that delays would favour the French who were
still waiting for further reinforcements prompted Henry to order
an advance by his soldiers into a new position in order to stir
the French into attack. The signal to move was initiated by the
raising of banners, trumpets and the war cry to ‘advance
banners’.
The French commanders were well aware of
the damage that could be inflicted by massed longbow fire. For
this reason they intended to knock the English archers on the
flanks out of the way through a cavalry charge. The English,
however, had devised a method to counter this measure through the
making of wooden stakes that could be driven into the ground to
form a barrier impassable to horses. As a result, the French
cavalry were driven off with heavy losses.
The bulk of the French army consisted of
heavily armed and armoured men-at-arms on foot who now advanced
across the battlefield. They had a significant numerical
advantage over the English men-at-arms, which meant that they
would have been confident of victory in hand-to-hand combat.
However the failure of the cavalry charge meant that the English
archers were still in position and could rain down volleys of
arrows into their packed ranks. The sheer volume of arrows meant
that they would have suffered disruption, injuries and even death
during the advance, with the survivors hemmed in by those around
them. They were driven so close to each other that they could not
even raise their weapon arms. The heavy rain the night before
also meant that the ground was muddy and difficult to walk in,
which would have sapped their energy and made them vulnerable to
falling over and being trampled by their comrades. Heaps of men
are noted in many accounts.
This helped to negate their numerical
advantage when they finally reached the waiting English
men-at-arms, who were able to inflict heavy casualties on them in
the hand-to-hand fighting. The fighting further turned against
the French when the English archers, having exhausted their
supplies of arrows, took up a variety of melee weapons and jumped
into the heaps. This resulted in the defeat of the French
vanguard, with many of the soldiers killed or taken prisoner and
the rest forced to withdraw. A separate attack on the English
baggage train resulted in some of Henry’s jewels being
stolen.
The remaining French fled the field, and
Henry ordered his men to search the heaps for prisoners. These
prisoners were gathered together. At some later point – we
can’t be sure how long this was before the first battle –
the French threatened a new attack. This was possibly the arrival
of the duke of Brabant. This prompted Henry to order the
execution of all but the most high profile prisoners.
The battle had been a devastating result
for the French who had suffered heavy casualties during the
battle and killing of the prisoners, with the deaths of many high
ranking noblemen, such as the dukes of Brabant and Bar, the
constable of France, and the constable Charles d’Albret.
The total number of dead is difficult to know but may have been
as high as 2,000. Many prisoners were also taken by the English:
at least 320 are now known from the ransom records.
English casualties by contrast were much
lower, with the most high profile fatality being Edward, duke of
York, who was killed along with ninety men of his retinue, almost
a quarter of the total.
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