The Story of the St. Crispian's Day Speech

First and foremost, this comes from a historical drama called "Henry V" by William Shakespeare, which was written in 1599. In history, King Henry V was an English king who was the nephew of the great King Edward the "Black Prince", who conquered the northern part of France in the mid-14th century. King Henry decided to follow in his uncle's footsteps by declaring war upon France for the reason of rights to the crown of France. He invaded France, leaving a beaten and muddy path wherever his army trod. The whole while they were in France, it was nothing but a bloody, muddy and rainy mess. He cost the lives of 30,000 Englishmen when he sieged the French city of Harfleur. He was eventually succesfull in the defeat of the city however. He decided to make north for the port of Calais to disembark for England and so end the miserable campaign. The French king however, was not going to let him leave so easily. He sent the Constable of France, with a 50,000 soldier army to keep King Henry from crossing the river needed to eventually reach Calais. Finally in A.D. 1415, the English came to a town called "Agincourt". This was where the English and French armies were to meet in battle. King Henry's army was about 5,000 in number while the French vastly outnumbered them 5 to 1. Many French nobles and knights were in the French army, wanting to partake in the slaughter of the English army. King Henry positioned his Welsh and English longbowmen on the top of a large hill. The longbowmen had already proved their worth at the battles of Poitiers and Crecy (1356). They had cut down many a French knight. King Henry also ordered for sharp wooden stakes to be carved and placed in front of the longbowmen. He then positioned his infantry in front of the longbowmen.

The French were down from the hill and had vast amounts of cavalry at their disposal. They positioned the cavalry at the front of the army and the infantry in the back. The French knights then charged, as the French always get in hurry to do, and attacked. King Henry ordered his longbowmen to fire at the French knights, cutting them down like animals. The height advantage combined with the heavy rain resulting in profuse mud, worked out to the great advantage for the English. The French then combined their forces and attacked the English with both cavalry and infantry, the infantry of King Henry then charged. They battled for a long time, lasting many hours. The English eventually came out the victor. How amazing that they should, because of the large manpower difference. The French retreated in shame, many of their nobles dead. The total count of dead was: France, 10,000, 8,000 of which were nobles and knights. 500 of those 8,000 were ones who were dubbed knights the day before the battle. England only lost 24 men, with only five nobles dead. This was an amazing victory. The speech given by King Henry V before the battle is below. He gave it to his soldiers whilst they waited for the French to arrive on the battlefield. They were quite demoralized and terrified by the size of the French army. It is completely fictional, but it greatly embodied the spirit of the medieval kings and lords. Read it and be inspired.