The Battle of Agincourt (from the Vigils of Charles VII)

Henry V

William Shakespearec. 1599
ShakespeareGruelingHistory PlayEnglishQuick · 187 pages
Influence23rd pct
Popularity50th pct
Where it ranks
#129of 200Overall#20of 38Shakespeare
Shakespeare

Read this if you…

  • want the greatest pre-battle speech ever
  • want shakespeare being his most patriotic
  • have Read Henry IV and you want to keep going in order

Skip this if you…

  • aren't willing to go slow, read notes, look up analyses of famous passages (only way to "get" shakespeare)
  • foolishly think shakespeare is overrated
  • don't like his histories compared to his tragedies

The Groblé Take

Band of brothers passage is all time . I also liked when Henry V went undercover boss

Connections

The lineage through Henry V

Built Onwhat came beforeHenry VPsalms

  • Psalms by David. Henry V built on it. - Henry's great Agincourt thanksgiving is the *Psalms* speaking through him — he names Psalm 115's "Non nobis" and orders it sung - "O God, thy arm was here; not to us... ascribe we all" echoes Psalm 44's insistence that the victory was God's, not the soldiers' - The Coverdale and Geneva *Psalms* were Shakespeare's most-quarried scripture; reading them first lets you catch the borrowed cadence under the king's piety
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Gallery

Depicted in Art

Henry V stands and points accusingly at Cambridge, Grey, and Scroop, who recoil in horror as their treason is exposed.

Henry Fuseli, 1780

Late-medieval miniature: English and French knights clash on horseback under fluttering banners; armored figures crowd the frame.

1484

Henry V mounted among his armored knights at dawn before Agincourt; muddy field, banners aloft, French lines massed beyond.

John Gilbert, 1884

Fifteenth-century miniature of the battle: English longbowmen on the right, French knights advancing on the left, Henry V crowned at center.

1422

Henry V at dawn before the battle, surrounded by armored knights and standards, calmly readying his outnumbered army.

John Gilbert, 1884

Three-quarter profile of the young king in fur-trimmed robes, jeweled collar, hands clasped — the standard likeness Shakespeare's audience knew.

1520

Painted decorative tile of Henry V in armor and crown raising his sword, banners behind, stylized for a children's library.

Anna Malin and Louisa Seymour Malin, 1906

Editions

Recommended Editions

#1Top Pick$9.99$9.31

Folger Shakespeare Library

2004

Folger's the readable one. Text on one page, notes on the facing page, written in plain English instead of textbook-speak. Catches every word and reference you'd otherwise Google, without breaking the scene to do it.

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Notable Quotes

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.

Henry V, Henry V
All 23 quotes, with sources →
Adaptations

Screen & Stage

Posters via The Movie Database (TMDB)

AcclaimPraised by 3 notable voices
  • Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, 1874–1965: Backed Olivier's 1944 film as wartime morale-fuel, and his own "so few" oratory echoes Henry's "band of brothers."
  • Roger Ebert, film critic, 1942–2013: "There is no more stirring summons to arms in all of literature than Henry's St. Crispin's Day speech."
  • Laurence Olivier, actor & director, 1907–1989: "Looking back, I don't think we could have won the war without 'Once more unto the breach…' somewhere in our soldiers' hearts."

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