Dan Jones (0:01)

Hello, my happy historical campers. Last time I left you on a cliffhanger, so I'll keep this quick. We're about to pick up the second part of the sensational Battle of Agincourt and find out how England reacted to the result. If you want a place where you can work through all your feels, please come and hang out with my royal favourites over on Patreon. If you join our inner circle today, you'll get ad free listening every episode a week early, bonus video episodes, plus a space where you can chat with other listeners, swap book recommendations, pet pics and travel tips, post questions for me and my producers and enter competitions to win prizes like copies of my latest books, Lionhearts and Henry V. But we also have a weekly discussion topic this week. I want to know what you think of the way Henry V treated the Agincourt prisoners. Butchery or pragmatism? Head to patreon.com forward/thisishistory to have your say. Okay, that's enough of me. Here's oh well, me. Enjoy the show.

Jonathan Van Ness (1:10)

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Joel Dommet (2:13)

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Dan Jones (2:47)

The French prisoners bump along the road from Eltham to London. Paraded like circus animals, they're miserably depressed. Ahead, they can see the suburbs of London. And as England's capital drifts into view, they realise a party awaits their arrival. Ecstatic crowds pack the city streets. Some Londoners have clambered onto the rooftops, others have squeezed onto longboat bridge. Boats full of gleeful revellers bob everywhere in the River Thames. The whole city is in the mood for a sing song and a party. The closer the prisoners get, the more they realize how much all this means to the English. It's November 1415 and these revelers are out in the streets to celebrate the homecoming of of Henry V, Lancastrian King of England and would be conqueror of France. The last time they saw Henry was in the summer when he set off on a mission to try and capture our Fleur, a coastal town in Normandy. Now, four months later, he's come back with way more than that. Our Fleur has fallen and a great battle has been won. The French have been humiliated. A few Weeks ago on October 25, Henry and a small army, mostly archers, destroyed the cream of the French nobility at the Battle of Agincourt. Thousands of Frenchmen died. The English lost barely a few hundred. The prisoners include two of the commanders of that battle, the legendary knight Boucicault, and the French king's young nephew, Charles, Duke of Orleans. They're both destined for long spells in prison awaiting ransom. But as they enter London and see delirious English men and women partying all around them, they count themselves lucky. Agincourt was a bloodbath. Even putting aside the dark death toll in the fighting, there was a horrendous moment where almost every man who'd been taken prisoner on the field was executed. Murdered, you might say on the spot. Only a handful escaped that fate. They've been kept alive to tell the tale. The tale of Henry V, Inspirational general, brilliant military tactician and hyper focused monomaniac who's coming for the French crown and will settle for nothing but total victory. Four months ago, the French regarded Henry as a bit of a joke. Now he's the stuff of nightmares. Henry V is a stone cold killer. And the scary thing is, he's only just getting started. I'm Dan Jones and from Sony Music Entertainment. This is history Season 8 of A Dynasty to Die For Episode 8 the Triumph Many years ago, I went down to a rather bleak spot in southern England to try my hand at the physical fitness assessment for the Royal Marines. I wasn't actually trying to join the Marines, which is just as well for the UK's national security, but I was writing about the elite military mindset and this was one of the most notorious selection processes outside the Special Forces. Needless to say, the day was exceptionally hard. Cold, wet, muddy and physically gruelling. The fitness test was designed to break everyone who took it, then to see who kept going once they'd been broken. The toughest bit was at the end of a long and painful run over the countryside, when the would be recruits got to what they thought was the finish line. Totally shattered and having given everything they were told, they actually had another mile to run. It was a harsh trick, but it was designed to select for a certain relentless mindset. I think about that feeling when I think about the Battle of Agincourt Last episode. We left Henry's small army, his little blessed many standing spent on the battlefield with French prisoners among them. They'd just fought themselves to a standstill and won a great victory, or so they thought. Then things started to go sideways. On the horizon, someone spots French banners. Is it reinforcements arriving? Is it French survivors regrouped and coming back? Is it a bit of both? As commander, Henry has split seconds to decide what he thinks is happening and what to do. Can he possibly rally his knackered men to run that unexpected last mile? Potentially fight a whole new battle? Maybe. But not all of them will have it in them. Even if they do have it in them, how are they going to reassemble for Agincourt Park d'? Oeu with so many French prisoners among them, Henry makes a dismal choice. With the exception of a few very high ranking nobles, he orders all the French prisoners slaughtered on the spot. His troops recoil at the order, partly because it's bad form to kill people in cold blood, but mostly because these prisoners are walking paydays and in the form of ransoms. Alive, each one of them is a winning lottery ticket, or at least five numbers in the bonus ball. Dead, they're worth nothing. But Henry has given his order and he sends round a hit squad of executioners to do the job. If any of his own men are wavering, it's an order that many people still hold against Henry today. Was he justified or is he a monster? That's our discussion topic this week on Patreon head over to patreon.com thisishistory to join the debate. As it turns out, once Henry's bloodbath has happened, there is no second wave to the attack. The French think better of having another go. Does Henry feel bad? It's not clear that he does. In fact, he takes a very definite view about why he succeeded at Agincourt and the French ended up as dog meat. He explains his theory on the return journey to England to someone who could probably do without the lecture. That's young Charles, Duke of Orleans, the French king's nephew. Charles is only 21. He's just screwed up big time and he'd probably prefer to be left alone to lick his wounds. But here he is with Agincourt disappearing in the rear view mirror and Henry chirping in his ear. I believe in full certainty that God wanted to punish the French, says Henry, ignoring the fact that genuinely nobody asked. There has never been such a great deal Disarray your disorderly behaviour in excesses, sins and wicked vices as has reigned in France at present. Henry tells the Duke of Orleans that Henry has been sent to France as God's scourge. No matter how many men are dead, the French only have themselves to thank. How's that for victim blaming? If you'd like to hear how the French processed Agincourt, listen to episode four of A New Hope, from our last miniseries, the Glass King. Still, Henry is consistent, as we heard at the start of this episode. A few weeks after Agincourt, Henry returns to London with his prisoners at his back. He's greeted with a triumph worthy of a Roman general. London's streets are packed and every building is decorated in grand style. The mayor and all the grand poobahs of the city guilds come out to meet Henry on the road. Arrayed in their finest clothes and furs, they do plenty of bowing and scraping. Many of them invested huge sums in this campaign. They're elated to find they backed the right horse. Things get even more exotic when Henry crosses London Bridge. Models of two mythical giants, Gog and Magog, stand guard over the bridge. Just inside the city, there's a huge effigy of St George. Boys dressed as angels hang from windows singing religious hymns, and a banner describes London as the city of the King of Justice. At Cheapside, the road that runs through the middle of the city, there's a fountain, gushing wine and a mock castle with sexy maidens dancing round it, singing, Hail Henry V, King of England and of France. It's A hell of a party. So how does Henry react to all this? There are some kings, Richard II might have been one of them, who would have basked in all this adulation. Henry appreciates it, but he's also very particular about how he accepts it. While he's happy, his people are happy, he insists that it's not him they should be celebrating. Thanks are only due to God. For that reason, Henry doesn't show off his battle armour from Agincourt or his helmet dented where the Duke of Alencon smashed him in the head with a He forbids the singing of any jingoistic songs. He rides at the head of the parade, but there is no smiling and waving. Henry keeps a very solemn demeanour and spends most of his time inside London's biggest churches, praying, kissing relics and making offerings at religious shrines. So yes, there's a big knees up in London. But Henry is half aloof. He very much isn't staying up till 2am drinking espresso martinis with the Die Hards. In fact, as evening is settling on his triumphant parade, he goes to Westminster palace and gets an early night. Party pooper? Maybe, but that's because Henry is a long way from feeling like he's achieved anything. All he's proved so far is that God wants him to succeed now. Henry wants more. He wants it now. And he's already thinking of the steps he needs to take to make the next expedition to France even deadlier than this one. Now, you might think you're a lot further away from people in the Middle Ages, but the reality is, we're a lot closer than you think. Take Henry V, for example, England's greatest warrior king who also had to make hiring decisions. If only Henry had Indeed a jobs board that catapults your business into the hands of people you definitely want to work with. With Indeed. Sponsored Jobs Spend more time interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Less stress, less time, more results now. And listeners of this show will get a £100 sponsored job credit to help get your job the premium status it deserves@ Indeed.com dynasty just go to Indeed.com dynasty right now and support this is a dynasty to die for by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com dynasty terms and conditions apply. Hiring do it the Right Way with.