This is History: A Dynasty to Die For

Season 8, Episode 7 – "The Battle of Agincourt"

Date: October 28, 2025
Host: Dan Jones

Episode Overview

This episode delves into the iconic Battle of Agincourt (1415), exploring the drama, strategy, and chaos that defined one of England’s greatest military victories under Henry V. Dan Jones charts the events leading up to the battle, the motivations behind Henry’s bold campaign in France, the near-miraculous triumph over overwhelming odds, and the qualities – both brilliant and reckless – that made Henry V a legendary warrior-king. Jones also contextualizes Agincourt within the broader Plantagenet dynasty, reflecting on the fate of empires shaped by a single, fateful day.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Road to Agincourt: Reckless Ambition and Desperation

[03:31 – 10:25]

• Henry V’s Gamble: The episode opens with a vivid description of English archers preparing defensive stakes—a crucial, if desperate, move during a perilous retreat across northern France.
• A March Gone Wrong: Henry ignores advisors' calls to return home after taking Harfleur, choosing instead to march from Harfleur to Calais with a depleted, ill army.
• Blocked and Hunted: The English face significant obstacles, including impassable rivers (like the Somme, now heavily defended by the French), and are forced on exhausting detours.
• Henry’s Defiant Spirit: Declining safe retreat, Henry opts to challenge the French, sending them word of his route and daring them to fight:

  "If the French really want to do this, they can meet him there, armed, willing and ready to die." (11:30)

2. The Night Before: Confidence Versus Courage

[16:08 – 18:40]

• Contrasting Camps: The English spend the eve of battle in tense silence, Henry making them sleep in armor and forbidding noise, under threat of mutilation. The French, twice in number and sure of victory, celebrate openly.
• Henry’s Leadership: Even in dire circumstances, Henry maintains morale and exudes confidence that becomes legendary:

  "'I would not have one single man more than I do, for these I have here with me are God's people.'" (18:28)
  Jones likens this Henry’s attitude to “genius or madness.”

3. Battle Tactics: Stakes, Longbows, and Mud

[16:08 – 21:16]

• Field Set-Up: Henry positions his forces tactically, using woods for cover and stakes to neutralize French cavalry. His archers take central roles, echoing previous legendary English victories like Crecy (listeners are directed to earlier episodes for context).
• Morale and Motivation: Henry’s battle speeches are discussed, some recorded as rousing yet succinct:

  “Fellas, let’s go.” (20:55)

  • Jones acknowledges the influence of Shakespeare but reconstructs the likely grittier reality: practical, urgent, and unsentimental encouragement.

4. The Chaos of Combat

[21:43 – 28:00]

• Battle Accounts: Drawing from contemporary chroniclers, Jones paints the carnage—mud, blood, English arrows raining down, and French cavalry doomed by their own density and the terrain.
• Leadership in the Fray: Unusually, Henry V fights among his men:

  "He fights in the melee with the rest of his men as arrows fly back and forth and men slash and swipe and stab." (24:30)

• Personal Danger: An elite group of French knights gets close enough to strike Henry’s helmet, knocking off a flouron from his crown.

  “They get so close that one of them swings an axe and hits his helmet, knocking off one of the fluorons on his crown that he’s had built into it. That’s as close as they can get to Henry.” (24:40)

• Notable Losses: Key English nobles are killed or wounded (Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester; Duke of York; Earl of Suffolk), underscoring the real cost of victory.

5. The French Collapse

[26:00 – 28:00]

• French Disarray: Leadership fails as the French continue charging futilely, causing a fatal bottleneck.

  "Even though the French know it’s a terrible idea to charge English positions flanked by longbowmen, they do it anyway... sowing chaos in their own lines." (26:06)

• English Triumph: As French casualties soar and surviving nobles are taken captive for ransom, the English sense victory.

6. The Cliffhanger: Henry’s Darkest Hour

[28:00 – End]

• Twist: Suddenly, new French banners appear—reinforcements or regrouping survivors threaten a reversal of fortunes just as the exhausted English are claiming victory.
• Critical Decision: Henry must make a horrifying, split-second choice—a leadership test foreshadowed as critical to his reign, but the episode ends on a cliffhanger to be resolved next week.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the context of Agincourt:

  "Agincourt was an insane and reckless battle which should probably never have been fought. And all sides had everything to lose." (09:15)

• On Henry's leadership:

  "'I would not have one single man more than I do, for these I have here with me are God's people.'" (18:28)

• On Henry’s pre-battle speech:

  "Fellas, let's go." (20:55)

• On the battle’s horror:

  “The air thunders with dreadful crashes. Clouds, rain, missiles, earth absorbs blood. Breath flies from bodies. Half dead bodies roll in their own blood. The surface of the earth is covered with the corpses of the dead.” (21:50) – contemporary chronicler cited by Dan Jones

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Timestamp | |------------------------------------------------------|------------| | English Army Prepares Defensive Stakes | 03:31 | | The March from Harfleur; Obstacles and Roadblocks | 06:00 | | Facing the French at the Somme | 09:00 | | Henry Dares the French to Battle | 11:30 | | The Night Before Agincourt: Morale on Both Sides | 16:08 | | Henry's Famous Speech ("Fellas, let's go") | 20:55 | | Detailed Battle Narration, Chaos In the Ranks | 21:43 | | Henry in Direct Combat; Near-Death Experience | 24:30 | | The Collapse of French Command, English Victory | 26:00 | | Final Twist: New French Forces Arrive, Cliffhanger | 28:00 |

Tone and Style

Dan Jones blends scholarly insight with modern, wry wit, reimagining medieval history in sharp, energetic language. He mixes grim battlefield details with pop culture analogies ("brains spread... like ripe avocado on a slice of hipster’s rye toast"), and strips myth from reality while making the stakes feel urgent and relatable.

Final Thoughts

This episode offers a riveting, critical look at Henry V's most famous triumph, demystifying the glories of Agincourt without diminishing its drama. Dan Jones centers the story not just on numbers or weaponry, but on the charisma, recklessness, and cunning that define both Henry and the Plantagenet saga. With a cliffhanger ending, listeners are left eager for the moral and historical reckoning still to come.

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