Agincourt 1415 by Anne Curry

Author:Anne Curry
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780750966634
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2015-08-24T04:00:00+00:00

HENRY’S ROUTE AND THE FEAR OF BATTLE

The exact route Henry took to the south of Abbeville is not certain. The Gesta tells us only that he came close to the town on 13 October. The simple explanation would be that he approached from the south through Cambron and then kept to the high ground above the Somme, descending into the river valley towards Mareuil-Caubert, a place at which Waurin has him lodging. But there is another possibility. Intelligence about French defences at Blanchetaque could have reached Henry while he was still on the Bresle near Eu. In this scenario, he crossed the river between Incheville and Beauchamps and then headed away from the coast and to the east of Abbeville.32 Monstrelet has him, once he hears of the French presence at Blanchetaque, altering his route by moving towards Airaines, ‘burning and destroying the whole country, taking prisoners and acquiring great booty’. The significance of this comment is twofold. First it emphasises Henry’s annoyance at not being able to achieve his initial plan of crossing the Somme. If it is true that he had ordered his army to carry victuals for only eight days, anticipating that it would take that length of time to reach Calais, then he would have realised as he changed direction on 13 October that these supplies would not be enough. Hence the raiding of the countryside through which he passed.

The Gesta also comments, in a passage immediately following the failure to find a crossing on 14 October, that the English were running low on supplies. In the pays de Caux it had been possible to negotiate the provision of supplies from the towns. Henry does not seem to have tried this again until his arrival at Boves to the east of Amiens. Furthermore, as the Gesta notes, the enemy had been laying waste the countryside. According to de Cagny, this was effected by the passage of the constable as well as the Dukes of Bourbon and Bar and their troops as they moved from Rouen to Amiens, Corbie, Péronne and St-Quentin, at the orders of the Duke of Alençon.33 Certainly the lack of food on the march was a feature reported back by soldiers after the campaign, furnishing Walsingham’s comment that there was so little bread, men were forced to eat hazelnuts and dried meat instead, and to drink water for almost eighteen days (in place, no doubt, of beer and wine!)34

The second significance of Monstrelet’s comment is that it suggests Henry took a route that skirted well south of Abbeville, keeping away from any possible French army based at or near the town. This path would fit with the comment of the Chronique de Ruisseauville that Henry had wanted to return to Calais ‘by the frontier’, but that since his passage was blocked he had to return ‘through the vicinities of Amiens and Beauvais’. Airaines is on the road to Beauvais. The Religieux of Saint-Denis also suggest that since Henry could not cross the Somme

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