25 October 2024

St. Crispin's Day

Saint Crispin's Day marks the anniversary of The Battle of Agincourt, in the Hundred Years War between England and France. That battle was fought on 25 October 1415.

While I would love to go on at length about Agincourt, you can find plenty of information if you look. I believe there are six accounts made by people present at the battle that are available.

I will only note that from my point of view, it is one of the times in history, where a change in technology proved decisive in battle. The Welsh longbow together with a few other changes, enabled the British to best a larger force of plate armored cavalry and men-at-arms.

The day was immortalized in the Shakespeare classic Henry V, in the Band of Brothers speech by King Henry to his officers and men.

This story shall the good man teach his son, and Crispin Crispian shall ner go by from this day, to the ending of the world, but we in shall be remembered.

This is the "The Band of Brothers speech" as seen through the 1994 Danny DeVito movie Renaissance Man. It isn't exact, but it is one of my favorite versions. For a low-budget movie, that didn't include monsters, aliens, superheroes, or the like, it is pretty good.

People make much of the Kenneth Branagh version of Henry V, but I think you can't go wrong with Laurence Olivier version from 1944.

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