On this day in 1415…
…a tired English king beat a much bigger French army in the mud, and Shakespeare made him a speech for it later.
§ The story
It was a wet, muddy October morning in a place called Agincourt, in France. King Henry V had a small English army. They were cold, they were hungry, they had walked a very long way. In front of them was a French army four times bigger.
But the English had LONGBOWS — tall bows of yew wood, taller than a man, that could shoot an arrow farther than anyone thought possible. The French had heavy armour and horses. They charged. The mud sucked at their boots. The arrows fell like rain.
The English won. Two hundred years later, a playwright called William Shakespeare gave Henry a speech to say the morning of the battle. Nobody knows what Henry really said. Everyone remembers what Shakespeare said he said.
» You read this line
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.
» You read this line
This day is called the feast of Crispin.
Close the book. Tell it back. Do the CHARGE with your feet as slowly as if you were in mud up to your knees.
§ Tell it in three pictures
Three pictures: the muddy field with two armies, the English arrows in the sky, and Henry giving his speech to his soldiers.
Harder, go as far as you can — Under picture 1, write the name of the king. His name is Henry, and the number is 5.
Check yourself: Henry V (Henry the Fifth).
§ From the St Crispin's Day speech
Say each little bit three times. Notice how the same shape comes back, each time smaller and closer. That is what makes it stick.
Illuminate — Illuminate the great letter W with two crossed longbows.
§ Number page
The English had about 6,000 soldiers. The French had about 24,000. That is FOUR TIMES as many.
Check yourself: a) French, four times bigger b) 5
§ Draw the inside
Draw an English longbow standing up as tall as you. Show the wood, the string, and one arrow beside it with feathers at the back and a sharp point at the front.
drawn by me
Labels
§ Listening minute
The night before a battle is very, very quiet. Sit for one minute and listen for tiny sounds.
What was the QUIETEST thing you heard?
§ Move & notice
Catch
Walk very slowly across a room pretending it is thick mud. Every step is hard. Now try it carrying something heavy.
Predict first
Guess how many mud-steps it will take to cross the room.
§ The thinking question
Shakespeare made the speech up. Does that mean it is not TRUE?
For your treasury book
BROTHER
An Old English word, brōthor, for someone born of the same mother — and later, for anyone who stands beside you when things are hard.
Copy BROTHER into your treasury book. Draw two figures standing side by side.
Test the grown-up tonight — Ask a grown-up if they can say ‘we band of brothers’ AND what came before it. Most people only know the ending.
§ For the corridor timeline
First, look at your timeline string. Does a panel for this century already hang there? If not, cut out the century panel below. Then clip the event card onto it.
THE 15th CENTURY · the 1400s
event cards clip below this line — leave room, more will come
Event card
AGINCOURT, 1415
Henry V wins a battle nobody expected him to win, on St Crispin's Day.
draw the event here before you clip it up
§ Evening review
FOR DAD
Morning ignition (10 minutes)
Today is St Crispin's Day. On this date in 1415, a tired little English army beat a huge French one in a muddy field, and Shakespeare wrote them a speech about it two hundred years later.
The sealed question
“Why do we remember what Shakespeare wrote more than what Henry actually said?”
Evening review, in this order
Mark the badges (circle one for each)
One line worth remembering from today
the day is sealed here
Add to your week