Agincourt 600

1. Agincourt 600 Lesson 6: How should we remember Agincourt?

2. What on earth is George Osborne on about? The victory at Agincourt showed a strong leader defeating… ‘an ill-judged alliance between the champion of a united Europe and a renegade force of Scottish nationalists’.

3. You’re wrong Mr Osborne! The victory at Agincourt showed a strong leader defeating… ‘an ill-judged alliance between the champion of a united Europe and a renegade force of Scottish nationalists’.

4. You’re wrong Mr Osborne! The victory at Agincourt showed a strong leader defeating… ‘an ill-judged alliance between the champion of a united Europe and a renegade force of Scottish nationalists’.

5. You’re wrong Mr Osborne! There were no Scots at Agincourt – Scotland did indeed send troops to France in the 1420s but there were none in 1415. The French did not symbolise a united Europe – in fact France was split between the Burgundian and Armagnac factions. Anne Curry – top-notch historian

6. How should we remember Agincourt? Especially when I, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, can’t get it right!

7. A word from our sponsors!

8. Task 1 Place the slides in the correct chronological order.

9. Task 2 Basic questions Who was involved in your slide’s commemoration?

10. Task 2 Basic questions What else was going on at the time?

11. Task 2 Basic questions Why do you think something happened at the time of your slide?

12. Task 3 Further investigation: ‘Remembering Agincourt’

13. Task 3 Further investigation: ‘Remembering Agincourt’

14. Task 4 Venn diagram

15. Task 4 Venn diagram

16. Task 4 Venn diagram Pupil Explanation: We have placed this slide in War and Religion. The war in France was still going on in 1416 so Henry will be hoping that God was still on his side so he could continue to be victorious. That is why he was praying.

17. Conclusion Peer-assessment

18. Conclusion Peer-assessment

19. Conclusion Peer-assessment

20. Agincourt has become a battle for all time and all people. Anne Curry – top-notch historian

21. Do you agree? Agincourt has become a battle for all time and all people. Anne Curry – top-notch historian

22. 25 October 1416 Private reflection by Henry himself in his private chapel. ‘…there came round in due course the feast of St Crispin and Crispinian on which feast the year before God had shown his clemency to England in her resistance to the rebellious people of France at Agincourt.’ (From GestaHenriciQuinti) Henry praised God with the hymn Te Deum laudamus in his chapel. The archbishop of Canterbury also ordered that collections in churches made on 25 October should be split between St Crispin & Crispinian and a favourite Lancastrian martyr, St John of Beverley.

23. 1450–1500 Agincourt largely forgotten as most of England’s possessions in France had been retaken by the French.

24. 1514 The First English Life of Henry V written in 1514 for presentation to Henry VIII aimed to encourage the king in his war with France.

25. 1538–39 Henry VIII was urged by Richard Morrison (his propagandist) to start annual triumphs against the pope. This was based on the fact that in Calais there were celebrations for the battle. ‘For the victory that God gave to your most valiant predecessor, King Henry V, with so little a number of his countrymen against so great a multitude of the Frenchmen at your noble town of Calais and others over there yearly make a solemn triumph, going in procession, lauding God, shooting guns, with the noise and melody of trumpets and other instruments, to the great rejoicing of your subjects who are aged, the comfort of those who are able, the encouraging of young children.’

26. 1599 The first performance of Shakespeare’s Henry V was possibly prompted by fears of a French invasion. It also coincided with the earl of Essex’s campaigns in Ireland and compares him to a triumphant Henry V.

27. 1704 Thomas Goodwin publishes the first serious study of Henry V. This was during the War of Spanish Succession (a war to decide the balance of power in Europe).

28. 1740s Shakespeare’s Henry V enjoys a revival as the English were once again at war with France in the War of Austrian Succession (another war over the balance of power in Europe as well as squabbles over trade between some of the belligerent countries).

29. 1757 During the Seven Years War (involving most of Europe as well as the New World with Great Britain against France) the Battle of Agincourt was now being commemorated annually. This ‘commemoration’ was pushed along because of the growing conflict between Britain and France. Some commentators saw a falling away of the spirit of Agincourt. The London Evening Post said: ‘corruption had chased away all the glorious spirit of this nation,’ but others disagreed. They saw the same ‘radical fortitude’still abundant.

30. 1760 King George III’s accession to the throne of Britain was on 25 October. This helped keep the day of the battle prominent in people’s minds.

31. 1789–1815 During the revolutionary wars with France, Agincourt was used to emphasise continuing French degeneracy and British resilience. The Times in 1794 published a letter to the ‘People of England’ and began, ‘Countrymen, remember Agincourt!’

32. 1805 (Nelson’s triumph at Trafalgar) Robert Ker Porter’s 100-foot long painting of Agincourt was displayed in the Lyceum and people were charged one shilling to see it.

33. 1815 Following the victory at Waterloo, Sir Thomas Ackland remarked: ‘we saw renewed the splendid days of Cressy and Agincourt.’

34. 1827 History of the Battle of Agincourt Harris Nicolas published the first serious study of the battle and dedicated it to the Prince Regent, ‘under whose auspices the splendour even of that victory has been rivalled, if not eclipsed’.

35. 1816 Waterloo service medals were presented to surviving soldiers on the Agincourt battlefield. John Gordon Smith (a Scottish surgeon) compared Waterloo and Agincourt: ‘the scarcely less glorious triumph of Harry the Fifth of England’.

36. 1853 Dickens’ A Child’s History of England Dickens contrasts the English ‘good stout archers’ who were not gentlemen with the ‘proud and wicked French nobility who dragged their country to destruction’. This is seen as an early demonstration of British democratic supremacy, something to be proud of as well as a key part of the collective past.

37. 1854 Crimean War The French and British fought on the same side. The Cheshire Observer commented about the Battle of Inkerman (a battle fought in thick fog and subsequent communication issues that led to the nickname, ‘the Soldier’s battle’): ‘…for the first in rank to the last, was a prodigy of valour scarcely inferior to the miracle of Agincourt’.

38. 1850 A fund was established in Preston so that the working man could visit the Great Exhibition the following year. The Preston Guardian felt the working man should be proud of his country’s achievements in both industry and warfare and commented: ‘the simple share of the laurel wreath gained by proving ourselves to be the first nation of the world for industry, skill, talent and ingenuity, than if the triple coronet of Agincourt, Trafalgar and Waterloo encircled his brow alone.’

39. 1866 Thomas Cook launches the first battlefield tours to Agincourt and Crécy for: ‘any gentlemen who feel a real interest in inspecting the scenes of British prowess and in fighting over again the great battles recorded in English history.’

40. 1910 Army pageant Agincourt was included in the pageant at Fulham Palace and this saw, possibly, the first re-enactment of the battle.

41. 1915 During WWI, and with the French and British on the same side, French officers stationed just to the east of the battlefield (Agincourt) invited British officers to… ‘…join them on the scene of the battle and to commemorate the day in unison’.

42. 1944 During WWII a film of Shakespeare’s Henry V was made starring the greatest actor of the time, Laurence Olivier. The idea behind this was to: ‘…rouse the minds and hearts of a demoralised British people’. (from Richard Inverne (Autumn 2015), ‘Henry V in the cinema’ in The Historian, 127 Agincourt Special Edition, London: The Historical Association [free edition].)

43. 2015 July saw a re-enactment of the battle, on the battlefield, with ‘soldiers’ coming from all over the world to participate.

44. 29 October 2015 Commemoration service at Westminster Abbey. This included a rendition of the ‘Band of Brothers’ speech from Shakespeare’s Henry V and placing Henry’s sword on his tomb in Westminster Abbey. Sam Marks as Henry V

45. Now draw two Venn diagrams …and place the numbers of the statements in the circle you think they should go in.