"Archers' stakes at Agincourt" Topic

Wargamers often show a single dense row of stakes for English archers but I don't think that is how it was done.

I think a good defence that could not be jumped by a horse would have been at least 4 staggered lines of stakes each stake about 50 cm apart. If I recall correctly, there were 4,500 archers and each had one stake. The narrow point between the Azincourt and Tramecourt woods was only 700 metres. As I understand there were stake defences in front of the archers but not in front of the men at arms. That gives 4,500 stakes in about 600 metres which is 7.5 stakes per metre.

Has anybody read anything about this?

What is your opinion?

Regards

Mick

I think staggered lines is right to allow the archers to emerge. Anne Curry's book Angincourt is very good.

What OB said.

Thank-you both.

Anne Curry has written several books about Agincourt – which is the best one?

link

Anne Curry has written several books about Agincourt – which is the best one?

"Agincourt, A New History".

The rows of archers were staggered, so that each man from the third rank back was standing behind the man two rows in front of him. The stakes were therefore in a "checkerboard" pattern. This made passage through their own stakes easy enough for archers, but cavalry moving at any speed faster than a walk would find the "hedge" of stakes very difficult to move through without injury.

Close order MAA arriving at a band of stakes would require time to negotiate through (probably pushing down many in the process), thus giving the archers standing behind several more pointblank shots before any melee contact was reached….

Yeah that's the one.

Thank-you

She's the lead author for the Medieval Warfare Magazine special on Agincourt, which is due out this summer and might be worth a looksee

Which is the best book for preparing a wargame of Agincourt?
I want details such as maps, army compositions, deployment but also pictures of troops flags and heraldry.

As far as I can see, Anne Curry's "Agincourt – A New History" and similar books are mosty text with few pictures or maps.

How good are these Osprey books?
The Armies of Agincourt (Men-at-Arms) Paperback – 23 Jul 1981

Agincourt 1415: Triumph Against the Odds (Osprey Campaign) Paperback – 23 May 1991

All of them are good. Taken together you'll get more of what you want. No single book supplies all that you want. Curry's book has a nicely assembled center section of color plates….

Don't forget to read Oman. His map is still a good one, especially accessible for a wargame setup, imho, of course….

The Osprey by Matthew Bennett is excellent – Arguably the best in the whole series.

Thank-you both