It was a disastrous attempt. As the story goes, the French were fighting with the English and had a diabolical (and greatly advertised) plan of cutting off the middle fingers of any captured English archers so they could never taunt the French with arrows plucked in their . Battle of Agincourt and the origin of Fu#K | Origin story of middle A Short History of "Flipping the Bird" - OddFeed As the English were collecting prisoners, a band of French peasants led by local noblemen began plundering Henrys baggage behind the lines. Some historians trace its origins to ancient Rome. The deep, soft mud particularly favoured the English force because, once knocked to the ground, the heavily armoured French knights had a hard time getting back up to fight in the mle. He contrasts the modern, English king and his army with the medieval, chivalric, older model of the French. The effect of the victory on national morale was powerful. The English eyewitness account comes from the anonymous author of the Gesta Henrici Quinti, believed to have been written by a chaplain in the King's household who would have been in the baggage train at the battle. In the other reference Martial writes that a certain party points a finger, an indecent one, at some other people. When the English won the battle the soldiers waved their middle fingers at the French in defiance, thus flipping the bird was born PDF THE ENGLISH VS FRENCH - Carolina Traditional Archers John Keegan argues that the longbows' main influence on the battle at this point was injuries to horses: armoured only on the head, many horses would have become dangerously out of control when struck in the back or flank from the high-elevation, long-range shots used as the charge started. His men-at-arms were stationed in the centre, flanked by wedges of archers who carried longbows that had an effective range of 250 yards (229 metres). The 'middle finger salute' is derived from the defiant gestures of English archers whose fingers had been severed by the French at the Battle of Agincourt. Africa: Funny but Fanciful - Little Evidence for Origin of the F Word One of the most renowned. Without the middle finger it would be impossible to draw the renowned English longbow and therefore be incapable of fighting in the future. There was no monetary reward to be obtained by capturing them, nor was there any glory to be won by defeating them in battle. But frankly, I suspect that the French would have done a lot worse to any captured English archers than chopping off their fingers. The delay allowed a large French force, led by the constable Charles dAlbret and the marshal Jean II le Meingre (called Boucicaut), to intercept him near the village of Agincourt on October 24. With 4,800 men-at-arms in the vanguard, 3,000 in the main battle, and 1,200 in the infantry wings. After several decades of relative peace, the English had resumed the war in 1415 amid the failure of negotiations with the French. When did the middle finger become offensive? - BBC News An account purporting to offer the historical origins of the obscene middle-finger extended hand gesture (varously known as "flipping the bird," "flipping someone off," or the "one-finger salute") is silly, and so obviously a joke that shouldn't need any debunking. This is the answer submitted by a listener: Dear Click and Clack, Thank you for the Agincourt 'Puzzler', which clears up some profound questions of etymology, folklore and emotional symbolism. Henry V and the resumption of the Hundred Years War, That fought with us upon Saint Crispins day, https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Agincourt, World History Encyclopedia - Battle of Agincourt, Warfare History Network - Miracle in the Mud: The Hundred Years' War's Battle of Agincourt, Battle of Agincourt - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). [130] Critic David Margolies describes how it "oozes honour, military glory, love of country and self-sacrifice", and forms one of the first instances of English literature linking solidarity and comradeship to success in battle. Update [June 20, 2022]: Updated SEO/social. The terrain favoured Henrys army and disadvantaged its opponent, as it reduced the numerical advantage of the French army by narrowing the front. According to most chroniclers, Henry's fear was that the prisoners (who, in an unusual turn of events, actually outnumbered their captors) would realise their advantage in numbers, rearm themselves with the weapons strewn about the field and overwhelm the exhausted English forces. It seems it was purely a decision of Henry, since the English knights found it contrary to chivalry, and contrary to their interests, to kill valuable hostages for whom it was commonplace to ask ransom. (Even if archers whose middle fingers had been amputated could no longer effectively use their bows, they were still capable of wielding mallets, battleaxes, swords, lances, daggers, maces, and other weapons, as archers typically did when the opponents closed ranks with them and the fighting became hand-to-hand.). This head-lowered position restricted their breathing and their vision. And although the precise etymology of the English word fuck is still a matter of debate, it is linguistically nonsensical to maintain that that word entered the language because the "difficult consonant cluster at the beginning" of the phase 'pluck yew' has "gradually changed to a labiodental fricative 'f.'" For three hours after sunrise there was no fighting. On 25 October 1415, an army of English raiders under Henry V faced the French outside an obscure village on the road to Calais. [5] [b] Henry V 's victory at Agincourt, against a numerically superior French army. The ransoming of prisoners was the only way for medieval soldiers to make a quick fortune, and so they seized every available opportunity to capture opponents who could be exchanged for handsome prices. The body part which the French proposed to cut off of the English after defeating them was, of course, the middle finger, without which it is impossible to draw the renowned English longbow. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. [53] A further 600 dismounted men-at-arms stood in each wing, with the left under the Count of Vendme and the right under the Count of Richemont. Saint Crispin's Day - Wikipedia He told his men that he would rather die in the coming battle than be captured and ransomed. And I aint kidding yew. In Gestures: Their Origins and Distribution, Desmond Morris and colleagues note that the digitus infamis or digitus impudicus (infamous or indecent finger) is mentioned several times in the literature of ancient Rome. Agincourt. The two armies spent the night of 24 October on open ground. [56] Some 200 mounted men-at-arms would attack the English rear. Battle of Agincourt - HISTORY Juliet Barker quotes a contemporary account by a monk from St. Denis who reports how the wounded and panicking horses galloped through the advancing infantry, scattering them and trampling them down in their headlong flight from the battlefield. These heralds were not part of the participating armies, but were, as military expert John Keegan describes, members of an "international corporation of experts who regulated civilized warfare." The insulting gesture of extending one's middle finger (referred to as digitus impudicus in Latin) originated long before the Battle of Agincourt. October 25, 1415. This famous weapon was made of the . There is a modern museum in Agincourt village dedicated to the battle. This would prevent maneuvers that might overwhelm the English ranks. The battlefield was a freshly plowed field, and at the time of the battle, it had been raining continuously for several days. Over the years some 'folk etymologies' have grown up around this symbolic gesture. Keegan also speculated that due to the relatively low number of archers actually involved in killing the French knights (roughly 200 by his estimate), together with the refusal of the English knights to assist in a duty they saw as distastefully unchivalrous, and combined with the sheer difficulty of killing such a large number of prisoners in such a short space of time, the actual number of French prisoners put to death may not have been substantial before the French reserves fled the field and Henry rescinded the order. Send questions to Cecil via cecil@straightdope.com. Agincourt 1415: The Triumph of the Longbow (Video 1993) - IMDb Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. After a difficult siege, the English forces found themselves assaulted by a massive French force. The Hundred Years' War. Contemporary chroniclers did not criticise him for it. News of the contrivance circulated within Europe and was described in a book of tactics written in 1411 by. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Agincourt 1415: The Triumph of the Longbow: Directed by Graham Holloway. Singer Robbie Williams insults the viewer. It may be difficult to pinpoint exactly when the middle finger gesture originated, but some historians trace its roots to ancient Rome. [88] In some accounts the attack happened towards the end of the battle, and led the English to think they were being attacked from the rear. Without the middle finger it would be impossible for the English soldiers to draw the renowned English longbow and therefore incapable of fighting in the future. The Face of Battle. A Dictionary of Superstitions.Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992 ISBN 0-19-282916-5 (p. 454). Keegan, John. So they were already overcome with fatigue even before they advanced against the enemy". [7] Barker, who believes the English were outnumbered by at least four to one,[120] says that the armed servants formed the rearguard in the battle. [32] In 2019, the historian Michael Livingston also made the case for a site west of Azincourt, based on a review of sources and early maps.