Few victories have been so complete, or achieved against such heavy odds, as that won by Henry V, king of England, against the army of the French sovereign Charles VI at the small French village of Agincourt on October 14, 1415. In a pitched battle that lasted barely three hours, a depleted and exhausted British force of fewer than 6,000 knights and archers routed a French army at least four times its size.


"An elegant history. Agincourt includes excellent illustrations and maps; quotations from Shakespeare; lists of King Henry V's retinue; the texts of the challenge to the Dauphin; his severe but suppositious ordinances of war; and so forth. Hibbert shows the brutalities and limitations of the campaign so vividly that his conclusion comes as a shock."New Statesman