Agincourt Analysis

The novel Agincourt, written by Bernard Cornwell, follows an archer as he joins King Henry V’s army and grows in the ranks as the army fight the French in the Battle of Agincourt along with some of the smaller battles that lead up to it. Set in Medieval Europe, this novel covers just three years from 1413 to 1415. Nicholas Hook, the protagonist of the story, is a skilled archer from the English city of London. He becomes an outlaw when he hits a priest after the voice of God commands him to save a heretic girl from her death. To achieve this, Hook slaps the priest that is trying to rape her, but she is unfortunately still raped and then killed. Seeing as he is an outlaw in London, Hook flees to the city of Soissons where he becomes part of

After the siege of Harfleur, Hook along with the English army advances onwards. Thier goal is to continue on to the city of Calais, but the French troops prevent them from reaching their destination. The English forces had tried to evade the French by attempting to move secretly or travel across areas where they thought that no French men-at-arms or archers were, however the French are always one step ahead of them. Just before the English reach Calais, the French stop them near the French village of Agincourt, the site of the battle by the same name, and this area was not the ideal place to have such a major battle. “It was extraordinarily hard to walk through the deep plough because the clay soil had turned to a vicious reddish mud that clung to his boots” (Cornwell 345). This depiction of the battleground of the Battle of Agincourt is very similar to the actual site. Historically, the Battle of Agincourt took place on a narrow plowland bordered by trees on either side, just like in the novel. Another aspect of the actual area where the battle was fought that is similar to the novel is the condition of the ground. In both cases, the plow had become extremely muddy due to heavy rain, a feature that was very important to England’s victory in this battle (Strayer). This historically accurate battleground posed as a great advantage for the defending force in both the novel and the actual battle, which happened to be the English in both cases. As the French advanced towards the English, they were faced with many disadvantages. One of these disadvantages was that the flanks of the English army were protected by the thick woods that bordered the battleground. Another disadvantage was the ground. Seeing as it was very muddy and sticky, traversing the terrain required lots of energy from the French because of the heavy armor that most of the men-at-arms wore. The