Historian Mike Loades Debunks 'The Agincourt Myth'

Historian Mike Loades Debunks 'The Agincourt Myth'

Legend of popular history Mike Loades provides Dan a detailed run down of Henry V's famous victory at the Battle of Agincourt on 25 October 1415 and how his men were more a band of brigands than a 'band of brothers'. They discuss the arms, the armour, the tactics and the popular myths today associated with the battle, thanks to the immortal works of Shakespeare and Laurence Olivier.

#BattleOfAgincourt #MikeLoades #DanSnow

[leolinguini]

What I really liked about this interview, is the sheer amount of "I don't know" that was said.
We really don't know a lot of things about the past. We can make an educated guess, but not much more than that.

[drd]

I think the biggest myth is the assumption that having archers in your army meant you had a bunch of untrained peasants working for you. Which is absolutely untrue. The skill, discipline and work required to become proficient with a longbow would have been incredibly valuable at that time.

[christibor]

I can’t get enough of Mike Loades, his enthusiasm for history is infectious

[Murph]

As a British soldier I had an experience which has parallels with the choice of the battlefield. We had to move an infantry Battalion across a small river in late September, the crossing point had been surveyed well in advance. However it was a disaster, the height of the river level was too low making the riverbank too steep, the boats, which were flat bottomed, went straight under when launched. I suspected the river was surveyed in Spring when it was much higher, I suspect the French chose the battlefield when the ground was dry, they didn't know when they would fight. By the time of the Battle Autumn rain had turned it into a bog, on the day it was chosen it was dry with a slight slope, perfect to attack down slope. Seems that lack of imagination as to the future conditions was to blame.

[bernardotorres]

How good it is to hear someone who knows about a subject that much that he can describe a lot of nuances that have a lot of common sense in them, but that one would never think about, unless you knew that subject extremely well .

[madiantin]

Wow, that was fascinating! And what a great interviewer! He asked the question then let Mr. Loades answer without interrupting him. Fabulous!

[thcentury]

Mike is a legend. Extremely enthusiastic. He's the chap who would happily grab medieval weaponry and give a demonstration. Brilliant.

[jackcoleman]

Thanks Dan and Mike!

I could listen to you two dissecting a battle all day. Very engrossing, and clearly Mike’s knowledge is substantial.

[oll-turny-llo]

love this historian. I've seen him in a lot of documentaries over the years. The way he talks you can tell he has a love and passion for history. Not that other historians don't. but you can really tell this guy loves it all.

[robsmithadventures]

I've seen Mike on shows for years. Great to see him again. He's very good at demonstrating techniques too.

[travisinthetrunk]

This is the calmest I’ve ever seen Mike Loades. Still, I love his enthusiasm.

[akiva]

Can we get a guard detail around mike to make sure 2022 doesn’t get ideas. Love this man’s energy and knowledge. Could watch him all day

[theortheo]

As a French, Im happy to have the British as an ally today. Great video.

[nigelworwood]

Excellent content.

As an ex Soundman ... Amused that Dan's mic was not used and on the shelf are two books on mastering audio!

[taymonkenton-smithply]

I'm a Paralympic Archer I competed in Tokyo 2020 last year. I have no fingers on my left bow hand. I was very impressed with his analysis of archers fatigue over time and over days. We shoot at 70 metres 72 arrows in ranking followed by a series of head to heads that can go up to 15 arrows a match.

The two bows, Olympic style Recurve bows, I took to the Paralympics were 38 and 40 pounds respectively. In my final months before Tokyo were I was shooting somewhere between 1, 500 arrows and 2, 000 a week (not including competition weeks overseas where I would shoot much less for obvious reasons) it was critical with that high volume to take routine breaks and breathers. Maintaining fluids and keep non archery related muscles active. Also you would spend sometimes 30 minutes to a few hours massaging your muscles with trigger balls and deep tissue work to prevent the body from over fatiguing. Because once your shoulders fatigue it can take days, weeks or even months to recover. I myself am currently in that recovery period. Then you need to slowly build back with form work, elastic bands and light weight limbs e.g. 24lbs. This has happened to me a couple of times over the years but my mentor who helped me make most of my apparatuses to shoot actually blew out his rotator cuff in his bow shoulder completely shooting lighter warbows such as 120-150 pounds. And he can now barely shoot 24 pounds.

So the rational of rotating the archers, giving them rests and then keeping them fresh was all very well explained. Also I have done a few re-enactment displays in earlier years and going from shooting large volumes to "fighting" can be incredibly exhausting and I'm athletically fit, can comfortably run 5km in just over 20 minutes. Everything about how this interview was done was enjoyable to listen to.

I do respectfully disagree with him on the idea of limiting target distance to 50 yards there abouts. I could shoot selfbows and modern longbows accurately with power of about 100-150 arrows at 80 yards but I feel on volleys they would be devastating even to 150 yards. Would they be as punishing compared to 10-30 yards? Absolutely not, the arrow has a point where it reaches its perfect distance, and then drops speed over time. Though I still theorise it would have been a somewhat common practice for distance volleys. Never the less I can't fault his argument on that point.

[jonwingfieldhill]

Mike Loades is a most eccentric gentleman and has such excitement for the subject you cant help but smile like a maniac whilst watching him.

[ThePereubu]

Never thought that the guy who taught me stage fighting techniques over 30 years ago would become so well known!

[Yajawte]

One thing many people fail to realize even today when looking at armor or modern body armor is deformation. As he describes a weapons projectile does not need to necessarily shoot straight through armor. The deformation of the armor can kill and injury, the extremities can be injured, they can lower mobility these are all part of the complicated combat that those outside of it glorify and misrepresent. What a great video!

[richardmabe]

Very interesting overview of Agincourt. I was similarly bowled over by Oliviers Henry V as a ten year old and am still enthralled. Years ago I visited the battlefield of Agincourt, there was just a board up which referred to the flower of French chivalry being cut down in the battle. Got more from Mikes interview thanks.

[jeremiekonegni]

Stayed longer than I thought. Not usually the format of interview i get history from. Great piece. Got lots of new insights on the reality of medieval politicking and mythologizing.