She shows how the chivalry and piety which underpinned medieval society, and the contradictions inherent in trying to uphold them, were reflected in the fate of those caught up in the brutal power struggles of the period. But she also looks behind the action on the field to paint a portrait of the age, from the logistics of preparing to launch one of the biggest invasion forces ever seen at the time to the dynamics of daily life in peace and war. In this landmark study of Agincourt, prize-winning author Juliet Barker draws upon a huge range of sources, published and unpublished, English and French, to give a compelling account of the battle. But what is the truth behind the battle upon which so many legends have been built? For six centuries it has been celebrated as the triumph of the under-dog in the face of overwhelming odds, of discipline and determination over arrogance and egotism, of stout-hearted common men over dissolute aristocrats. The battle of Agincourt became part of the nation’s self-image. When Henry V and his ‘band of brothers’ defeated the assembled might of French chivalry on a rainy October day in 1415 it was a defining moment in English history.
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