It goes on to state thatafter an unexpected victory, the English soldiersmocked thedefeatedFrenchtroopsbywavingtheir middle fingers( here ). [69] (The use of stakes was an innovation for the English: during the Battle of Crcy, for example, the archers had been instead protected by pits and other obstacles. [44] There was a special, elite cavalry force whose purpose was to break the formation of the English archers and thus clear the way for the infantry to advance. Fighting ignorance since 1973. In the other reference Martial writes that a certain party points a finger, an indecent one, at some other people. The Battle of Agincourt took place on October 25, 1415. This famous weapon was made of the native English yew tree, and the act of drawing the longbow was known as "plucking the yew." It. The body part which the French proposed to cut off of the English after defeating them was, of course, the middle finger, without which it is impossible to draw the renowned English longbow. query that we are duty bound to provide a bit of historical and linguistic information demonstrating why this anecdote couldn't possibly be accurate: The 'Car Talk' show (on NPR) with Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers have a feature called the 'Puzzler', and their most recent 'Puzzler' was about the Battle of Agincourt. Turning to our vast classical library, we quickly turn up three references. His men-at-arms were stationed in the centre, flanked by wedges of archers who carried longbows that had an effective range of 250 yards (229 metres). Image source They were blocking Henry's retreat, and were perfectly happy to wait for as long as it took. Henry would marry Catherine, Charles VI's young daughter, and receive a dowry of 2million crowns. After several decades of relative peace, the English had resumed the war in 1415 amid the failure of negotiations with the French. It may be difficult to pinpoint exactly when the middle finger gesture originated, but some historians trace its roots to ancient Rome. Many folkloric or etymological myths have sprung up about its origin, especially the widely quoted one about the interplay between the French and English soldiery at the battle of Agincourt 1415, where the French threatened to amputate the middle fingers of the English archers to prevent them from drawing their bows, which of course is absolute The "middle finger" gesture does not derive from the mutilation of English archers at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. Im even more suspicious of the alleged transformation of p to f. In another of his books Morris describes a variety of sexual insults involving the middle finger, such as the middle-finger down prod, the middle-finger erect, etc., all of which are different from the classic middle-finger jerk. The idea being that you need two fingers to draw a bow, which makes more sense, and thus links up a national custom with a triumphant moment in national history! [88], Regardless of when the baggage assault happened, at some point after the initial English victory, Henry became alarmed that the French were regrouping for another attack. At least one scholar puts the French army at no more than 12,000, indicating that the English were outnumbered 2 to 1. Since the French had many more men-at-arms than the English, they would accordingly be accompanied by a far greater number of servants. Without the middle finger it would be impossible to draw the renowned English longbow and therefore they would be incapable of fighting in the future. [105] Other benefits to the English were longer term. Then they had to walk a few hundred yards (metres) through thick mud and a press of comrades while wearing armour weighing 5060 pounds (2327kg), gathering sticky clay all the way. Certainly, d'Azincourt was a local knight but he might have been chosen to lead the attack because of his local knowledge and the lack of availability of a more senior soldier. [130][131] Partially as a result, the battle was used as a metaphor at the beginning of the First World War, when the British Expeditionary Force's attempts to stop the German advances were widely likened to it.[132]. [49], The French vanguard and main battle numbered respectively 4,800 and 3,000 men-at-arms. The Face of Battle. This suggests that the French could have outnumbered the English 5 to 1. The battle remains an important symbol in popular culture. [127], Shakespeare's play presented Henry as leading a truly English force into battle, playing on the importance of the link between the monarch and the common soldiers in the fight. Thinking it was an attack from the rear, Henry had the French nobles he was holding prisoner killed. The field that the French had to cross to meet their enemy was muddy after a week of rain and slowed their progress, during which time they endured casualties from English arrows. The English had very little food, had marched 260 miles (420km) in two and a half weeks, were suffering from sickness such as dysentery, and were greatly outnumbered by well-equipped French men-at-arms. The English account in the Gesta Henrici says: "For when some of them, killed when battle was first joined, fall at the front, so great was the undisciplined violence and pressure of the mass of men behind them that the living fell on top of the dead, and others falling on top of the living were killed as well."[62]. But frankly, I suspect that the French would have done a lot worse to any captured English archers than chopping off their fingers. And although the precise etymology of the English word fuck is still a matter of debate, it is linguistically nonsensical to maintain that that word entered the language because the "difficult consonant cluster at the beginning" of the phase 'pluck yew' has "gradually changed to a labiodental fricative 'f.'" The next day the French initiated negotiations as a delaying tactic, but Henry ordered his army to advance and to start a battle that, given the state of his army, he would have preferred to avoid, or to fight defensively: that was how Crcy and the other famous longbow victories had been won. [114][115] Curry and Mortimer questioned the reliability of the Gesta, as there have been doubts as to how much it was written as propaganda for Henry V. Both note that the Gesta vastly overestimates the number of French in the battle; its proportions of English archers to men-at-arms at the battle are also different from those of the English army before the siege of Harfleur. before a defensive battle was possible. The idea being that you need two fingers to draw a bow, which makes more sense, and thus links up a national custom with a triumphant moment in national history! ), And even if killing prisoners of war did not violate the moral code of the times, what would be the purpose of taking archers captive, cutting off their fingers, and then executing them? Before the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, the French, anticipating victory over the English, proposed to cut off the middle finger of all captured English soldiers. This material may not be reproduced without permission. [81] In any case, to protect themselves as much as possible from the arrows, the French had to lower their visors and bend their helmeted heads to avoid being shot in the face, as the eye- and air-holes in their helmets were among the weakest points in the armour. Send questions to Cecil via cecil@straightdope.com. The army was divided into three groups, with the right wing led by Edward, Duke of York, the centre led by the king himself, and the left wing under the old and experienced Baron Thomas Camoys. [121] Mortimer notes the presence of noncombatant pages only, indicating that they would ride the spare horses during the battle and be mistakenly thought of as combatants by the English.[122]. The recently ploughed land hemmed in by dense woodland favoured the English, both because of its narrowness, and because of the thick mud through which the French knights had to walk. The middle finger gesture does not derive from the mutilation of English archers at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. [19], Henry V invaded France following the failure of negotiations with the French. . Soon after the battle started, it had thousands of English and French soldiers and horses running through it. So they were already overcome with fatigue even before they advanced against the enemy". Didn't it originate at Agincourt? The Battle of Agincourt was another famous battle where longbowmen had a particularly important . A Dictionary of Superstitions. [97] According to the heralds, 3,069 knights and squires were killed,[e] while at least 2,600 more corpses were found without coats of arms to identify them. Battle of Agincourt. The English numbered roughly 5,000 knights, men-at-arms, and archers. New York: Penguin Books, 1978 ISBN 0-140-04897-9 (pp. [62] Le Fvre and Wavrin similarly say that it was signs of the French rearguard regrouping and "marching forward in battle order" which made the English think they were still in danger. In 1999, Snopesdebunked more of the historical aspects of the claim, as well as thecomponent explaininghow the phrase pluck yew graduallychanged form to begin with an f( here ). [51] Albret, Boucicaut and almost all the leading noblemen were assigned stations in the vanguard. This was not strictly a feudal army, but an army paid through a system similar to that of the English. Sumption, thus, concludes that the French had 14,000 men, basing himself on the monk of St. Denis;[119] Mortimer gives 14 or 15 thousand fighting men. These heralds were not part of the participating armies, but were, as military expert John Keegan describes, members of an "international corporation of experts who regulated civilized warfare." One of the most renowned. Kill them outright and violate the medieval moral code of civilized warfare? Materials characterization, 29(2), 111117. [Adam attaches the following memo, which has been floating around the Internet for some time.] In his 2007 film adaptation, director Peter Babakitis uses digital effects to exaggerate realist features during the battle scenes, producing a more avant-garde interpretation of the fighting at Agincourt. Military textbooks of the time stated: "Everywhere and on all occasions that foot soldiers march against their enemy face to face, those who march lose and those who remain standing still and holding firm win. News of the contrivance circulated within Europe and was described in a book of tactics written in 1411 by. Do you return these prisoners to your opponents in exchange for nothing, thereby providing them with trained soldiers who can fight against you another day? [94][10][11] The list of casualties, one historian has noted, "read like a roll call of the military and political leaders of the past generation". [21] On 19 April 1415, Henry again asked the Great Council to sanction war with France, and this time they agreed. When the first French line reached the English front, the cavalry were unable to overwhelm the archers, who had driven sharpened stakes into the ground at an angle before themselves. "[102], Estimates of the number of prisoners vary between 700 and 2,200, amongst them the dukes of Orlans and Bourbon, the counts of Eu, Vendme, Richemont (brother of the Duke of Brittany and stepbrother of Henry V) and Harcourt, and marshal Jean Le Maingre.[12]. The ransoming of prisoners was the only way for medieval soldiers to make a quick fortune, and so they seized every available opportunity to capture opponents who could be exchanged for handsome prices. The version that I tell explains the specific British custom of elevating two fingers as a rude gesture. T he battle of Agincourt, whose 600th anniversary falls on St Crispin's Day, 25 October, is still tabloid gold, Gotcha! The struggle began in 1337 when King Edward III of England claimed the title King of France over Philip VI and invaded Flanders. Opie, Iona and Moira Tatem. When the English won the battle the soldiers waved their middle fingers at the French in defiance, thus flipping the bird was born Henry threatened to hang whoever did not obey his orders. First of all, the word pluck begins with the blend pl, which would logically become fl if the voiceless bilabial plosive p has actually transformed into the labiodentalfricative f, which is by no means certain. Keegan, John. The one-finger salute, or at any rate sexual gestures involving the middle finger, are thousands of years old. Contemporary accounts describe the triumphal pageantry with which the king was received in London on November 23, with elaborate displays and choirs attending his passage to St. Pauls Cathedral. Fixed formatting. Jones, P. N. (1992). Battle of Agincourt, (October 25, 1415)Battle resulting in the decisive victory of the English over the French in the Hundred Years' War. [93] In all, around 6,000 of their fighting men lay dead on the ground. The Battle of Agincourt (720p) Watch on The Burgundians seized on the opportunity and within 10 days of the battle had mustered their armies and marched on Paris. Although it could be intended as humorous, the image on social media is historically inaccurate. Archers were not the "similarly equipped" opponents that armored soldiers triumphed in defeating -- if the two clashed in combat, the armored soldier would either kill an archer outright or leave him to bleed to death rather than go to the wasteful effort of taking him prisoner. Opie, Iona and Moira Tatem. The Battle of Agincourt is one of England's most celebrated victories and was one of the most important English triumphs in the Hundred Years' War, along with the Battle of Crcy (1346) and Battle of Poitiers (1356). "[67] On top of this, the French were expecting thousands of men to join them if they waited. Despite the lack of motion pictures and television way back in the 15th century, the details of medieval battles such as the one at Agincourt in 1415 did not go unrecorded. [93] Among them were 90120 great lords and bannerets killed, including[95] three dukes (Alenon, Bar and Brabant), nine counts (Blmont, Dreux, Fauquembergue, Grandpr, Marle, Nevers, Roucy, Vaucourt, Vaudmont) and one viscount (Puisaye), also an archbishop. It did not lead to further English conquests immediately as Henry's priority was to return to England, which he did on 16 November, to be received in triumph in London on the 23rd. [88] In some accounts the attack happened towards the end of the battle, and led the English to think they were being attacked from the rear. Corrections? Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. The fighting lasted about three hours, but eventually the leaders of the second line were killed or captured, as those of the first line had been. But lets not quibble. The approximate location of the battle has never been disputed, and the site remains relatively unaltered after 600 years. After the initial wave, the French would have had to fight over and on the bodies of those who had fallen before them. Poitiers 1356: The capture of a king (Vol. Battles were observed and chronicled by heralds who were present at the scene and recorded what they saw, judged who won, and fixed names for the battles. John Keegan argues that the longbows' main influence on the battle at this point was injuries to horses: armoured only on the head, many horses would have become dangerously out of control when struck in the back or flank from the high-elevation, long-range shots used as the charge started. [72], The French cavalry, despite being disorganised and not at full numbers, charged towards the longbowmen. A labiodental fricative was no less "difficult" for Middle English speakers to pronounce than the aspirated bilabial stop/voiceless lateral combination of 'pl' that the fricative supposedly changed into, nor are there any other examples of such a pronunciation shift occurring in English. Without the middle finger it would be impossible to draw the renowned English longbow and therefore be incapable of fighting in the future. I admit that I bring this story up when I talk about the Hundred Years War only to debunk it. There was no monetary reward to be obtained by capturing them, nor was there any glory to be won by defeating them in battle. With 4,800 men-at-arms in the vanguard, 3,000 in the main battle, and 1,200 in the infantry wings. Without a river obstacle to defend, the French were hesitant to force a battle. [23] Thomas Morstede, Henry V's royal surgeon,[24] had previously been contracted by the king to supply a team of surgeons and makers of surgical instruments to take part in the Agincourt campaign. Rogers says each of the 10,000 men-at-arms would be accompanied by a gros valet (an armed, armoured and mounted military servant) and a noncombatant page, counts the former as fighting men, and concludes thus that the French in fact numbered 24,000. Nonetheless, so many readers have forwarded it to us accompanied by an "Is this true?" A widely shared image on social media purportedly explains the historic origins of the middle finger, considered an offensive gesture in Western culture. He claimed the title of King of France through his great-grandfather Edward III of England, although in practice the English kings were generally prepared to renounce this claim if the French would acknowledge the English claim on Aquitaine and other French lands (the terms of the Treaty of Brtigny). The insulting gesture of extending one's middle finger (referred to as digitus impudicus in Latin) originated long before the Battle of Agincourt. [citation needed], In any event, Henry ordered the slaughter of what were perhaps several thousand French prisoners, sparing only the highest ranked (presumably those most likely to fetch a large ransom under the chivalric system of warfare). Why do some people have that one extra-long fingernail on the pinkie finger. While numerous English sources give the English casualties in double figures,[8] record evidence identifies at least 112 Englishmen killed in the fighting,[103] while Monstrelet reported 600 English dead. [116] Rogers, on the other hand, finds the number 5,000 plausible, giving several analogous historical events to support his case,[112] and Barker considers that the fragmentary pay records which Curry relies on actually support the lower estimates. [76] Modern historians are divided on how effective the longbows would have been against plate armour of the time. I suppose that the two-fingered salute could still come from medieval archery, even if it didnt come specifically from the Battle of Agincourt, although the example that Wikipedia links to (the fourteenth-century Luttrell Psalter) is ambiguous. The basic premise that the origins of the one-finger gesture and its association with the profane word "fuck" were an outgrowth of the 1415 battle between French and English forces at Agincourt is simple enough to debunk. Upon his death, a French assembly formed to appoint a male successor. (There is an Indo-European connection between the p-sound and f-sound see the distinction between the Latin pater and the Germanic Vater/father but that split occurred a long time ago.) [b] The unexpected English victory against the numerically superior French army boosted English morale and prestige, crippled France, and started a new period of English dominance in the war that would last for 14 years until France defeated England in the Siege of Orlans in 1429. This symbol of rocking out is formed by tucking the middle and index finger and holding them in place with the thumb. Shakespeare's portrayal of the casualty loss is ahistorical in that the French are stated to have lost 10,000 and the English 'less than' thirty men, prompting Henry's remark, "O God, thy arm was here". Rogers, Mortimer[117] and Sumption[41] all give more or less 10,000 men-at-arms for the French, using as a source the herald of the Duke of Berry, an eyewitness. Thepostalleges that the Frenchhad planned to cut offthe middle fingers ofall captured English soldiers,to inhibit them fromdrawingtheir longbowsin futurebattles. This head-lowered position restricted their breathing and their vision. In March 2010, a mock trial of Henry V for the crimes associated with the slaughter of the prisoners was held in Washington, D.C., drawing from both the historical record and Shakespeare's play. [43], The French were organized into two main groups (or battles), a vanguard up front and a main battle behind, both composed principally of men-at-arms fighting on foot and flanked by more of the same in each wing. Without the middle finger it would be impossible to draw the renowned English longbow and therefore [soldiers would] be incapable of fighting in the future. Winston Churchhill can be seen using the V as a rallying call. Despite the numerical disadvantage, the battle ended in an overwhelming victory for the English. 33-35). It seems to me that the single upturned middle finger clearly represents an erect penis and is the gestural equivalent of saying f*ck you! As such, it is probably ancient Wikipedia certainly thinks so, although apparently it became popular in the United States in the late nineteenth century under the influence of Italian immigration, replacing other rude gestures like thumbing the nose or the fig sign. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. giving someone the middle finger [53] A further 600 dismounted men-at-arms stood in each wing, with the left under the Count of Vendme and the right under the Count of Richemont. England had been fraught with political discord since Henry IV of the house of Lancaster (father of Henry V) had usurped the throne from Richard II in 1399. 33-35). The English won in a major upset and waved the body part in question at the French in defiance. [33], Early on the 25th, Henry deployed his army (approximately 1,500 men-at-arms and 7,000 longbowmen) across a 750-yard (690m) part of the defile. It may be in the narrow strip of open land formed between the woods of Tramecourt and Azincourt (close to the modern village of Azincourt). [77][78][79][80] Rogers suggested that the longbow could penetrate a wrought iron breastplate at short range and penetrate the thinner armour on the limbs even at 220 yards (200m). French knights, charging uphill, were unseated from their horses, either because their mounts were injured on the stakes or because they dismounted to uproot the obstacles, and were overpowered. This famous English longbow was . The Battle of Agincourt (/dnkr(t)/ AJ-in-kor(t);[a] French: Azincourt [azku]) was an English victory in the Hundred Years' War. (Storyline based on the play by William Shakespeare "The Cronicle History of King Henry the Fift with His Batt. Maybe it means five and was a symbol of support for Henry V? October 25, 1415. [107], Most primary sources which describe the battle have English outnumbered by several times. Contemporary accounts [ edit] Bowman were not valuable prisoners, though: they stood outside the chivalric system and were considered the social inferiors of men-at-arms. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). The cavalry force, which could have devastated the English line if it had attacked while they moved their stakes, charged only after the initial volley of arrows from the English. The third line of the French army, recoiling at the pile of corpses before them and unable to make an effective charge, was then massacred swiftly. Although the French initially pushed the English back, they became so closely packed that they were described as having trouble using their weapons properly. [34][d] The French apparently had no clear plan for deploying the rest of the army. Read more about our work to fact-check social media posts here . Omissions? While the precise number of casualties is unknown, it is estimated that English losses amounted to about 400 and French losses to about 6,000, many of whom were noblemen. The key word for describing the battle of Agincourt is mud . The pl sound, the story goes, gradually changed into an f, giving the gesture its present meaning. Very quickly after the battle, the fragile truce between the Armagnac and Burgundian factions broke down. Julia Martinez was an Editorial Intern at Encyclopaedia Britannica. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1991 ISBN 0-471-53672-5 (pp. The Gesta Henrici places this after the English had overcome the onslaught of the French men-at-arms and the weary English troops were eyeing the French rearguard ("in incomparable number and still fresh"). [8] These included the Duke of York, the young Earl of Suffolk and the Welsh esquire Dafydd ("Davy") Gam. [citation needed]. It supposedly describes the origin of the middle-finger hand gesture and, by implication, the insult "fuck you". The Face of Battle.New York: Penguin Books, 1978 ISBN 0-140-04897-9 (pp. Some notable examples are listed below. It was a disastrous attempt. Before the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, the French, anticipating victory over the English, proposed to cut off the middle finger of all captured English soldiers. To meet and beat him was a triumph, the highest form which self-expression could take in the medieval nobleman's way of life." The Battle of Agincourt is well documented by at least seven contemporary accounts, three from eyewitnesses. Snopes and the Snopes.com logo are registered service marks of Snopes.com. [109] Juliet Barker, Jonathan Sumption and Clifford J. Rogers criticized Curry's reliance on administrative records, arguing that they are incomplete and that several of the available primary sources already offer a credible assessment of the numbers involved. Humble English archers defeated the armoured elite of French chivalry, enshrining both the longbow and the battle in English national legend. Since pluck yew is rather difficult to say, like pheasant mother plucker, which is who you had to go to for the feathers used on the arrows for the longbow, the difficult consonant cluster at the beginning has gradually changed to a labiodental fricative f, and thus the words often used in conjunction with the one-finger salute are mistakenly thought to have something to do with an intimate encounter. Some historians trace its origins to ancient Rome. Since then there had been tension between the nobility and the royal house, widespread lawlessness throughout the kingdom, and several attempts on Henry Vs life. The English army, led by King Henry V, famously achieved victory in spite of the numerical superiority of its opponent. The image makes the claim that the gesture derives from English soldiers at the Battle of Agincourt, France in 1415. Clip from the 1944 movie "Henry V" (137 min). The Battle of Agincourt was a major English victory in the Hundred Years' War.The battle took place on Friday, 25 October 1415 (Saint Crispin's Day) in the County of Saint-Pol, Artois, some. This battle concluded with King Harold of England dying at the hands of the Norman King William, which marked the beginning of a new era in England. The battle occurred on Friday, 25 October 1415 ( Saint Crispin's Day ), near modern-day Azincourt, in northern France. The origins of the sign aren't confirmed, but popular folklore suggests that its original meaning, packed with insult and ridicule, first appeared in the 20th century in the battle of Agincourt. It lasted longer than Henry had anticipated, and his numbers were significantly diminished as a result of casualties, desertions, and disease. Osprey Publishing. The French hoped to raise 9,000 troops, but the army was not ready in time to relieve Harfleur. Another verse begins: You love to be sodomized, Papylus . Battle of Agincourt, (October 25, 1415), decisive battle in the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453) that resulted in the victory of the English over the French. When Henry V acceded to the English throne in 1413, there had been a long hiatus in the fighting. The Battle of Agincourt forms a key part of Shakespeare's Henry V. Photo by Nick Ansell / POOL / AFP) Myth: During the Hundred Years War, the French cut off the first and second fingers of any. Moreover, with this outcome Henry V strengthened his position in his own kingdom; it legitimized his claim to the crown, which had been under threat after his accession. Two are from the epigrammatist Martial: Laugh loudly, Sextillus, when someone calls you a queen and put your middle finger out., (The verse continues: But you are no sodomite nor fornicator either, Sextillus, nor is Vetustinas hot mouth your fancy. Martial, and Roman poets in general, could be pretty out there, subject-matter-wise. [46] Many lords and gentlemen demanded and got places in the front lines, where they would have a higher chance to acquire glory and valuable ransoms; this resulted in the bulk of the men-at-arms being massed in the front lines and the other troops, for which there was no remaining space, to be placed behind. [128] The original play does not, however, feature any scenes of the actual battle itself, leading critic Rose Zimbardo to characterise it as "full of warfare, yet empty of conflict.
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