Customer Reviews
Well written and interesting - By: Peter, 09 Jul 2007 
If your knowledge of Agincourt is based on school history lessons then this is a fantastic book. It places the campaignin its historical context & the book is writtenin a way that is entertaining & easy to read. Her forte is the age of chilvary & this comes acrossin several of the incidents describedin the book. The book could have benefited from some more detailed maps & a longer analysis of the aftermath. The chapter on Henry's rerturn to London could have been replaced with an analysis of what the victory did or didn't achieve.
One of the Most Famous Battles in English History - By: J. Chippindale, 17 Mar 2007 I found this book extremely readable & very entertaining. Not something you can say about a lot of historical tomes.
The author gives a compelling account of the actual battle. So much so that the smell of the horses, the blood & gore & all the other noxious smells that are part & parcel of a battlefield seem to pervade the readers nostrils.
However the book is not just about the battle itself but also about the participants particularly the English King, scheming churchmen & murderous Dukes. The knightly heroes, cowards, surgeons & spies. The book has them all.
The author has made it possible for history to be enjoyed by a wider audience, rather than the academic. History has always been interesting. Books written like this one will make many more readers aware of that fact.
An enthralling insight into the medieval world. - By: Caroline, 27 Apr 2006 If you only ever read one book on the battle of Agincourt then this is the one I would recommend.
Juliet Barker brings history to lifein this account of the finest hour of one of England's greatest kings. It's the attention to details that make this book stand out above any other that I have read on the subject. By the end of the book I felt that I knew personally some of the principle charactersin the conflict.
This is a book that is hard to put down.
24 out of 460 pages cover the battle...sparse - By: tom ryan, 02 Feb 2006 
Just a caution for fellow soldiers seeking insight into tactics & the human dimension of this battle. I admire Juliet Barker's exhaustive research behind this work, but 24 pages of 460 dealing with the battle itself? Sparse attention & very disappointing. To soldiers considering this as an addition to their professional bookshelves...give it a miss. Consider a copy of John Keegan's "Face of Battle". This book is for those more interestedin statistics & "body count".
A English Catholic King almost beyond compare - By: , 24 Jan 2006 
Barker's account of the King & the build up, invasion campaign & aftermath makes for a detailed, accessible & compelling read. Her portrayal of Henry reveals an almost archetypal heir to the English crown whoin many senses proves to be a worthy successor to the mad Charles VI (thinks he is made of glass during bouts of madness) & indeed honours his ancestor Edward III who instigated the 100 years warin the first place believing the crown was his thanks to his grandfather Philippe IV of France. Henry is a darling of Parliament because he spends prudently & actually funds what he proposes to spend unlike the profligacy of his Father. The Church are indebted to him because he stops Oldcastle's strand of Lollardy menacing orthodox Catholicism. He is battle worthy extinguishing Northumberland's rebellion at the Battle of Shrewsbury & taking an arrowin the face for his pains. As for the execution of the Agincourt campaign itself, he brilliantly neutralises Brittany & Burgundy & strikes maritime truces with Bretons & Castilians making the most of the pathological hatreds the Armagnacs & Burgundians harbor for one another. During the course of the book the scale of the French disorder & catalogue of disastrous decisions made makes it hard to believe they are the superpower of the continent at this time. Barker's genius is her flair for factual, well researched accounts such as the expenses of warfare using modern day currency comparisons with the costs of the day. £71 million pounds at least & knights spending over £30 000 & re-mortgaging estates to fit their personal costs. She debunks the Shakespearean "tennis balls" & Scots & Irish representationsin the English / Welsh army myths as well as casualty figures & memorably amuses us with her revelations of the "keep it under your hat" phrase & Henry's calculated lie about the archers losing two fingers on their right hand if the French catch them. She reminds us the French did have a battleplan for Agincourt & indeedin this birthplace of chivalry they were battle hardened from crusadind & civil conflicts on a regular basis. Read it yourself for the mysteries to be unravelled! My only criticisms I suppose are that a more balanced than the whiter than white depiction could be preferable. Barker briefly towards the end draws attention to the fact Henry could be viewed as a warmonger who burdens the people of England with heavy taxation. Moreover, he can be seen as the initiator of the bloody war of the Roses. He doesn't particularly like his brother Clarence neither - but then again few like their Daddy's favourites. Nontheless, these are trifles. The actual account of the eve & day of the battle of Agincourt are worth reading for themselves even if Barker does not clarify who shot the first bodkin arrowhead first after the English re-deployed. Knee jerking, bowel churning stuff. Strongly recommended reading.
