battle of agincourt middle finger

Maybe it means five and was a symbol of support for Henry V? And although the precise etymology of the English word fuck is still a matter of debate, it is linguistically nonsensical to maintain that that word entered the language because the "difficult consonant cluster at the beginning" of the phase 'pluck yew' has "gradually changed to a labiodental fricative 'f.'" While the precise number of casualties is unknown, it is estimated that English losses amounted to about 400 and French losses to about 6,000, many of whom were noblemen. Common estimates place the English army at about 6,000, while the French army probably consisted of 20,000 to 30,000 men. 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. 1995 - 2023 by Snopes Media Group Inc. Since the French had many more men-at-arms than the English, they would accordingly be accompanied by a far greater number of servants. [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. [20] He initially called a Great Council in the spring of 1414 to discuss going to war with France, but the lords insisted that he should negotiate further and moderate his claims. The city capitulated within six weeks, but the siege was costly. Fixed formatting. Didn't it originate at Agincourt? The English were not in an ideal condition to fight a battle. When the English won the battle the soldiers waved their middle fingers at the French in defiance, thus flipping the bird was born (Its taking longer than we thought.) King Henry V of England led his troops into battle and participated in hand-to-hand fighting. 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. 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. 1.3M views 4 months ago Medieval Battles - In chronological order The year 1415 was the first occasion since 1359 that an English king had invaded France in person. [130] Critic David Margolies describes how it "oozes honour, military glory, love of country and self-sacrifice", and forms one of the first instances of English literature linking solidarity and comradeship to success in battle. Legendinc.com Giving the Finger History With 4,800 men-at-arms in the vanguard, 3,000 in the main battle, and 1,200 in the infantry wings. Barker, following the Gesta Henrici, believed to have been written by an English chaplain who was actually in the baggage train, concluded that the attack happened at the start of the battle. The point is, the middle-finger/phallus equation goes back way before the Titanic, the Battle of Agincourt, or probably even that time Sextillus cut off Pylades with his chariot. What it is supposed to represent I have no idea. The town surrendered on 22 September, and the English army did not leave until 8 October. Mortimer also considers that the Gesta vastly inflates the English casualties 5,000 at Harfleur, and that "despite the trials of the march, Henry had lost very few men to illness or death; and we have independent testimony that no more than 160 had been captured on the way". Historians disagree less about the French numbers. 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. Opie, Iona and Moira Tatem. Update [June 20, 2022]: Updated SEO/social. [32] In 2019, the historian Michael Livingston also made the case for a site west of Azincourt, based on a review of sources and early maps. Upon hearing that his youngest brother Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester had been wounded in the groin, Henry took his household guard and stood over his brother, in the front rank of the fighting, until Humphrey could be dragged to safety. (Storyline based on the play by William Shakespeare "The Cronicle History of King Henry the Fift with His Batt. He told his men that he would rather die in the coming battle than be captured and ransomed. After the initial wave, the French would have had to fight over and on the bodies of those who had fallen before them. [86], The only French success was an attack on the lightly protected English baggage train, with Ysembart d'Azincourt (leading a small number of men-at-arms and varlets plus about 600 peasants) seizing some of Henry's personal treasures, including a crown. When 5,000 British Archers Defeated Over 30,000 French Knights because when a spectator started to hiss, he called the attention of the whole audience to him with an obscene movement of his middle finger. Morris also claims that the mad emperor Caligula, as an insult, would extend his middle finger for supplicants to kiss. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. Two are from the epigrammatist Martial: Laugh loudly, Sextillus, when someone calls you a queen and put your middle finger out., (The verse continues: But you are no sodomite nor fornicator either, Sextillus, nor is Vetustinas hot mouth your fancy. Martial, and Roman poets in general, could be pretty out there, subject-matter-wise. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. The body part which the French proposed to cut off of the English after defeating them was, of course, the middle finger, without which it is impossible to draw the renowned English longbow. They were successful for a time, forcing Henry to move south, away from Calais, to find a ford. Apparently Henry believed his fleeing army would perform better on the defensive, but had to halt the retreat and somehow engage the French At issue was the question of the legitimate succession to the French crown as well as the ownership of several French territories. 030223 - Musings From Leroy He considered a knight in the best-quality steel armour invulnerable to an arrow on the breastplate or top of the helmet, but vulnerable to shots hitting the limbs, particularly at close range. 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. [44] There was a special, elite cavalry force whose purpose was to break the formation of the English archers and thus clear the way for the infantry to advance. 78-116). Omissions? [104] Henry returned a conquering hero, seen as blessed by God in the eyes of his subjects and European powers outside France. 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. The origins of the sign aren't confirmed, but popular folklore suggests that its original meaning, packed with insult and ridicule, first appeared in the 20th century in the battle of Agincourt. [121] Mortimer notes the presence of noncombatant pages only, indicating that they would ride the spare horses during the battle and be mistakenly thought of as combatants by the English.[122]. 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. According to research, heres the true story: 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. with chivalry. The English army, led by King Henry V, famously achieved victory in spite of the numerical superiority of its opponent. The "middle finger" gesture does not derive from the mutilation of English archers at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. The Face of Battle. The French monk of St. Denis describes the French troops as "marching through the middle of the mud where they sank up to their knees. 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. 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"). [74], The plate armour of the French men-at-arms allowed them to close the 1,000 yards or so to the English lines while being under what the French monk of Saint Denis described as "a terrifying hail of arrow shot". 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. Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. The historian Suetonius, writing about Augustus Caesar, says the emperor expelled [the entertainer] Pylades . England had been fraught with political discord since Henry IV of the house of Lancaster (father of Henry V) had usurped the throne from Richard II in 1399. It was a disastrous attempt. . Recent heavy rain made the battle field very muddy, proving very tiring to walk through in full plate armour. Corrections? This was an innovative technique that the English had not used in the Battles of Crcy and Poitiers. The ransoming of prisoners was the only way for medieval soldiers to make a quick fortune, and so they seized every available opportunity to capture opponents who could be exchanged for handsome prices. [34][d] The French apparently had no clear plan for deploying the rest of the army. Some historians trace its origins to ancient Rome. This suggests that the French could have outnumbered the English 5 to 1. [27], During the siege, the French had raised an army which assembled around Rouen. The Battle of Agincourt originated in 1328. A truce had been formally declared in 1396 that was meant to last 28 years, sealed by the marriage of the French king Charles VIs daughter to King Richard II of England. [109] Juliet Barker, Jonathan Sumption and Clifford J. Rogers criticized Curry's reliance on administrative records, arguing that they are incomplete and that several of the available primary sources already offer a credible assessment of the numbers involved. [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. Shakespeare's version of the battle of Agincourt has been turned into several minor and two major films. In his 2007 film adaptation, director Peter Babakitis uses digital effects to exaggerate realist features during the battle scenes, producing a more avant-garde interpretation of the fighting at Agincourt. The brunt of the battle had fallen on the Armagnacs and it was they who suffered the majority of senior casualties and carried the blame for the defeat. [25] The siege took longer than expected. Departing from Harfleur on October 8, Henry marched northward toward the English-held port of Calais, where he would disembark for England, with a force of 1,000 knights and men-at-arms and 5,000 archers. What does DO NOT HUMP mean on the side of railroad cars? [124], The most famous cultural depiction of the battle today is in Act IV of William Shakespeare's Henry V, written in 1599. 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. Despite the lack of motion pictures and television way back in the 15th century, the details of medieval battles such as the one at Agincourt in 1415 did not go unrecorded. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. The Battle of Agincourt - The European Middle Ages (Even if archers whose middle fingers had been amputated could no longer effectively use their bows, they were still capable of wielding mallets, battleaxes, swords, lances, daggers, maces, and other weapons, as archers typically did when the opponents closed ranks with them and the fighting became hand-to-hand.). Before the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, the French, anticipating victory over the English, proposed to cut off the middle finger of all captured soldiers. Jones, P. N. (1992). 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? [77][78][79][80] Rogers suggested that the longbow could penetrate a wrought iron breastplate at short range and penetrate the thinner armour on the limbs even at 220 yards (200m). And I aint kidding yew. 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. It supposedly describes the origin of the middle-finger hand gesture and, by implication, the insult "fuck you". [76] Modern historians are divided on how effective the longbows would have been against plate armour of the time. A Dictionary of Superstitions.Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992 ISBN 0-19-282916-5 (p. 454). The situation in England, coupled with the fact that France was weakened by its own political crisisthe insanity of Charles VI had resulted in a fight for power among the nobilitymade it an ideal moment for Henry to press his claims. Why do some people have that one extra-long fingernail on the pinkie finger. However, the lack of archaeological evidence at this traditional site has led to suggestions it was fought to the west of Azincourt. The delay allowed a large French force, led by the constable Charles dAlbret and the marshal Jean II le Meingre (called Boucicaut), to intercept him near the village of Agincourt on October 24. The metallography and relative effectiveness of arrowheads and armor during the Middle Ages. 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 ). [53] A further 600 dismounted men-at-arms stood in each wing, with the left under the Count of Vendme and the right under the Count of Richemont. [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. Contents. The campaign season was coming to an end, and the English army had suffered many casualties through disease. All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. If the one-fingered salute comes from Agincourt, as the graphic suggests, then at what point did it get transformed into two fingers in England? Thus, when the victorious English waved their middle fingers at the defeated French, they said, "See, we can still pluck yew! [31], The precise location of the battle is not known. French history myths: The 'two fingers' insult comes from the Battle of The insulting gesture of extending one's middle finger (referred to as digitus impudicus in Latin) originated long before the Battle of Agincourt. At least one scholar puts the French army at no more than 12,000, indicating that the English were outnumbered 2 to 1. The French, who were overwhelmingly favored to win the battle, Continue Reading 41 2 7 Alexander L Poitiers 1356: The capture of a king (Vol. Battle of Agincourt. Rogers says each of the 10,000 men-at-arms would be accompanied by a gros valet (an armed, armoured and mounted military servant) and a noncombatant page, counts the former as fighting men, and concludes thus that the French in fact numbered 24,000.

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