Schlacht Von Ackycourt: The Battle Of Agincourt

The Battle of Agincourt: Schlacht von Azincourt 1432
The French army was placed deliberately out of range of a typical longbow at 200 to 250 yards from the English ranks. But the English longbows with the wind behind them (and the rain had stopped early that morning while the English commanders had been careful to ensure both strings and fletches had been kept dry) had a range nearly one and a half times that which the French had expected.

Suddenly, the rear and front ranks of the French were being hit with volleys of arrows as the English archers stepped forwards to just in front of the muddy base of the valley, placed their pointed staves in position to offer them defence against cavalry attack, and let loose at twenty thousand arrows each

John de Vere, 12th Earl of Oxford 1416-1464

John de Vere inherited the title in 1416 and faced a future of civil strife and conflict. He was 10 years old when his father died and was under royal ward-ship for some years. He was in France when Henry V died in 1422 and remained in France for the coronation of Henry VI, a minor like himself, and similarly born under the shadow of a warrior father. John was at the Battle of Verneuil under the Duke of Bedford 's command in 1424, but he was not knighted until 1426, when he came of age.

Battle of Verneuil, 1424

The Battle of Verneuil (occasionally written as Vernuil) was an important battle fought on 17th August 1424 near Verneuil in Normandy and a significant English victory. It was a particularly bloody battle, described by the English as a second Agincourt. Altogether some 7262 French and allied troops were killed, including 4000 Scots. English losses were 1600, including two men-at-arms and "a very few archers". The Scots army, led by Archibald, Earl of Douglas and John Stewart, Earl of Buchan (both of whom were killed), was almost totally destroyed. Many French noblemen were taken prisoner: among them the Duke of Alençon, Pierre, the bastard of Alençon, and Marshall