Amid the host of historical documents to be seen at the Public Records Office in London are the original Muster Rolls of King Henry V's army who fought at Agincourt on 25th October 1415, which was claimed by no less than Sir Winston Churchill to be, "...the most heroic of all England's land battles." In Westminster Abbey is displayed Henry's helmet, lacking a golden fleuron shorn off by the axe wielded by Brunelet de Masinguehen, Ganion de Bournonville, or one of the sixteen French knights pledged to kill the King who, contrary to medieval custom, insisted on being the only knight to wear the royal surcoat bearing the leopards of England and the Fleur-de-lys of France.
To most of us, Agincourt is Laurence Olivier in shining armor declaiming Shakespeare's stirring speeches in a poetic interpretation of the triumph of the cornered English soldier over arrogant French knights. In fact, it is the almost incredible story of a small army of 6,000 sick and weary Englishmen under an inspiring leader who marched 260 miles in 17 days and then defeated 25,000 French - inflicting 10,000 casualties for the loss of less than 100. Today the field of Agincourt, laying about 70 miles south of Calais, is probably less changed than any other major battlefield of history, and if the King could return he would readily recognize the place where on a musty autumn morning 580 years ago he immortalized himself in 180 minutes of fierce fighting. It is possible to pace across the placid farmland at the narrowest point between the parallel woods of Agincourt and Tramecourt in the knowledge that, at 500 paces, you are standing on the very spot where the King fought that day.
The House of Lords is still graced by the titles of the nobility who were there and whose names were clarioned by Shakespeare: "Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter, Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester." The names of the common soldiers can be read in Roll No.E.101/46/3 - that of the company of Sir Richard de Kyghley from Inskip in Lancashire who was killed. E.101/47/20 lists men led by old Sir Thomas Erpingham who, on the King's orders, sent the army forward into battle by throwing his baton high in the air and crying, "Nesroque!" which literally means "knee's stretch!" On E.101/44/29 is the Sheriff of Lancashire's force of 50 archers. There were 5,000 of them - strong muscular men, faces tanned and dried by the weather, grizzled and lean or young men with fresh English faces and hair curling out from under close-fitting steel huffkins. All could draw their six-foot longbows to loose 12 arrows in a single minute, being lightly esteemed if they missed their target at 250 paces.
Resembling their serried ranks at Agincourt, the names parade in columns - Allan, Alanson, Barber, Baxter, Benson, Bolton, Bradshaw, Brigge, Dickinson, Gardener, Glover, Harper, Hesketh, Holland, Howson, Hunt, Lawe, Lynche, Milner, Parker, Pemberton, Robinson, Sharpe, Taillour, Thomas, Thornton, Tyldesley, Tomson, Wyght, and Wood - all good English names now borne by descendants scattered throughout the world. Among the contemporarily spelt names is one - Thurstannolde Standyssh - could this be the ancestor of Miles Standish who sailed in the Mayflower and was captain of the Plymouth colonists?
In 1415 the Black Death had reduced the population of England to about six million, which makes it quite possible for anyone of English-speaking descent whose name is on those muster rolls to have had an ancestor among that "...band of brothers ... the happy few..." who fought with King Henry upon Saint Crispin's Day!
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© Copyright 2004 Hal Thinglum
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