New research claims Battle of Agincourt may have been an even contest

However the idea that the English were so heavily out numbered has been called into doubt by a group of French and English historians, who have been painstakingly studying an array of historical archives including military pay records, muster rolls, ships’ logs, published rosters of the wounded and dead, wartime tax levies and other surviving documents

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They believe the English could have only been outnumbered at the most by a ratio of 2-1 and depending on how the numbers are calculated, it may well have been closer to an even contest according to Professor Anne Curry of the University of Southampton who is leading the study.

The new research is being hotly debated and has received a mixture of praise and strong criticism from other historians.  Professor Clifford J Rogers of the United States Military Academy accepts the general accuracy of contemporary chronicles that state the English had around 1,000 men-at-arm in heavy armour and around 5,000 lightly armoured men wielding longbows.  The French, Rogers argues, had around 10,000 men-at-arms each with a valet who could also fight along with 4,000 men with crossbows and other fighters, taking their force in excess of 24,000 men.

At Professor Roger’s estimation, the English were outnumbered around 4-1 although the French crossbowmen were out-classed by their rivals who could fire their arrows more frequently and over a longer distance.  He claims that the archival records are too incomplete to be able to challenge this traditional view of events of the Battle of Agincourt.

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However some French historians are starting to express the view that it is unlikely that the French army would have been able to muster a force that size.  The country was itself on the verge of civil war and the population was severely depleted by the plague; the debate continues and is unlikely to be resolved any time soon.

Professor Curry estimates that Henry had at least 8,680 men with him and can even put names to many of them.  She has compiled an online database that consists of around a quarter-million names of soldiers from the One Hundred Years War and says whatever the actual numbers of Henry’s army at Agincourt, the phrase ‘Band of Brothers’ is an accurate one as many of the men served on multiple campaigns together.

“You see tremendous continuity with people who knew and trusted each other,” Ms. Curry said.

Source: The New York Times