The New Murrey and Blue blog

Mud, mud, glorious Agincourt mud….!

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NOT ENOUGH MUD!!!!

When I watched the movie The King about Henry V of England, I was bemused by the mud bath that was Agincourt. It seems this one aspect of the movie’s depiction was accurate, even if liberties had been taken with much of the rest of the film. Which I enjoyed very much, albeit taking it with a pinch of salt. One has to!

This article relates the battle’s progress, and shows that Henry chose the site very deliberately, to make full use of all that French mud!

But I know a mud-drenched battle, medieval or otherwise, was no joke. Even so, take a look at  this link from 2016, and imagine actually fighting for your life in that stuff!

from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvdvYvrhArQ

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  1. Anne Ayres Avatar
    Anne Ayres

    Of course Olivier’s film is iconic, but my favourite film version is Kenneth Branagh’s, so realistic, tragic yet uplifting…

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    1. viscountessw Avatar
      viscountessw

      Shhh, don’t tell everyone, but I think Olivier was a bit of a ham!

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      1. Anne Ayres Avatar
        Anne Ayres

        And I think actually, he knew it! But his self-awareness in John Osborne’s “The Entertainer” was very revealing and allowed a glimpse into the inner man. He gave the people what they wanted most of the time….

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  2. drake richards Avatar
    drake richards

    Edward IV was a commander favoured by the weather god’s.Snowstorm at Towton Fog at Barnet !

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  3. viscountessw Avatar
    viscountessw

    You’re right. And three sundogs appeared for him at Mortimer’s Cross. He certainly had luck on his side. Well, most of the time.

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    1. Gary Avatar
      Gary

      Let’s not forget the fog at Barnet. (It actually let the right wing of both armies outflank their opponents left flank).

      The wonderful historian John Keegan once pointed out that there were very few battles fought on what would be considered ideal ground and conditions.

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  4. Anne Ayres Avatar
    Anne Ayres

    And don’t forget the SNOW at the Battle of Bosworth (in August!) in the Benedict Cumberbatch version of “Richard III” by the BBC!! (Sometimes these things are a travesty!

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  5. The FAT Old Duke of York? – murreyandblue

    […] applied to Edward of Norwich, Duke of York, his grandfather’s older brother, who was slain at Agincourt, the only major English casualty of that famous […]

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  6. The 14th-16th century Westminster horse burial ground that is only Tudor, of course…. – murreyandblue

    […] can see what these war horses were really like in the following illustration of the Battle of Agincourt. Note that the armoured riders are still comparatively large by our […]

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