Keagan also says that much of the victory can be attributed to the French cutting their lances short for close combat while the English kept theirs long. Maps - the book would have benefited greatly if there had been a few.Īs to the battle 'The Face Of Battle: A Study of Agincourt, Waterloo and the Somme' by Keagan brought it to life much better for me. I would have liked some discussion as to when and how the concept of Englishness came about, since it is referred to so often and is central to the claim of an English King over France rather than the other way round. I certainly understand the nature of chivalry much better than I did and it is clear that they could celebrate great events in medieval times every bit as well as we can celebrate the Olympic Games today. Henry V came across very well, as did his clever use of symbolic acts to achieve his ends (acts which he really seemed to have believed in). Best when dealing with insights such as the function of heralds, or the system of dating. Overall a superb book but I agree with some other reviewers that it could get bogged down in detail that, as a non-historian, was unlikely to have any lasting significance for me.
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