No, no, not at all, don't mention it. Always glad to give a heads up on a good book
Just kidding by the way.
I've nearly finished this book now and I can highly recommend it but only if you're interested in history. Otherwise you may find it a bit hard going in places.
There is a description of the seige of Harfleur and then a very good account of the march to Calais when the English were stopped by a massive French army blocking their way which was the site of the battle near the village of
azincourt It is really edge of the seat stuff and I couldn't put it down, although a little slow to start with. The French army was so huge that they were blase about winning the battle and taunting the English. The English men-at-arms and archers must have been a bit worried to say the least but Henry V lead from the front and wasn't one of those kings who watched the battle from the side of a hill in a safe spot, he was right there in the thick of it spending time before the battle going round talking to his troops, offering encouragement He was a fantastic leader, extremely brave and strict but fair.
The English troops hadn't slept properly for a few days and had to sleep in the pouring rain in the open the night before the battle. Half of them had dysentry. They were cold wet and ill. Henry had around 6,000 troops facing the French who had around 20,000.
There was a stand off on the morning of the battle before Henry made the first move towards the French and moved forward towards the French lines to a narrow part of the land which was between 2 thick woods. Which was an excellent move as the woods funneled the french cavalry into a narrow point, which made it easy pickings for the English Archers.
The things that won the battle for the English despite the odds was a combination of a few things. The very muddy ground (due to the rain the night before) which with their heavy armour and horses trampling up the ground turned it into a mud bath for the French. The cavalry charged but the going was heavy. The sharpened wooden stakes the English had made the horses turn and run straight into their advancing men-at-arms who were having a very hard time trying to run through the churned up mud with their armour on, so a lot of the foot troops got trampled by their own horses. The English archers (of which there were 5000 from the army of 6000) slaughtered the the French who were funneled into a small gap and finding it hard to advance. It was the minimum requirement for an English archer to be able to fire 10 aimed arrows a minute.
There's loads of interesting snippets about medieval life throughout the book. The books not really Bushcraft I know, but they would have had to use some knowledge of edible plants as they ran very low of rations and I'm sure they would have had flint and steels for their fires etc, etc.
That's it in a very , very small nutshell but I was absolutely rivetted as much as any suspense film. The author Juliet Barker must have spent a very long time researching this from chronicles and documents and books from both France and England and she has a fantastic knowledge of medieval siege tactics, chivalry , tournaments and general way of life.................. Excellent!!
