The Crushing Defeat at Agincourt

The Battle of Agincourt in 1415 was a catastrophe for France. When Marshal Louis de Longny arrived with reinforcements, he encountered only fleeing soldiers—broken men who warned him of the disaster. The French nobility had been decimated: over 6,000–8,000 lay dead, including 12 provincial governors and countless knights. Key figures like the Dukes of Alençon and Bar were among the fallen, while others, including Charles I of Orléans, were captured. The survivors, like the Breton Duke John V, abandoned the field, leaving King Charles VI’s court in Rouen to absorb the shock.

England’s Henry V, though victorious, faced his own struggles. His exhausted army, burdened with prisoners and lacking supplies, retreated to Calais—only to find its gates shut. Desperate soldiers sold their spoils for scraps of bread. Meanwhile, scavengers stripped the dead at Agincourt, leaving corpses “as naked as the day they were born.”

Political Turmoil and Noble Fragmentation

France’s military collapse exposed deep fractures. The Burgundian Duke John, mourning his brothers killed at Agincourt, blamed the Armagnac faction for the defeat. His grief turned to rage; he sent a gauntlet to Henry V, threatening war, but soon redirected his fury inward. By November 1415, Burgundian forces marched on Paris, exploiting the power vacuum.

The Armagnac-controlled royal court, reeling from losses, scrambled to appoint new leaders. With key figures dead or imprisoned, power fell to Bernard VII, Count of Armagnac—a ruthless strategist. Meanwhile, Dauphin Louis, tasked with uniting the country, succumbed to dysentery in December 1415, plunging France deeper into crisis.

The Burgundian-Armagnac Feud Escalates

The rivalry between Burgundy and Armagnac factions spiraled into civil war. Burgundian troops ravaged the countryside, while Armagnac forces retaliated with executions and confiscations. Paris became a battleground: in 1416, a failed Burgundian coup led to mass arrests and drownings in the Seine. The city’s streets ran red as factions clashed.

Meanwhile, Henry V capitalized on the chaos. His navy broke the French blockade of Harfleur in August 1416, resupplying the besieged garrison. The French, stretched thin, signed a truce—but it was a fleeting pause.

The Betrayal of Queen Isabeau and the Fractured Monarchy

In 1417, the conflict took a personal turn. Queen Isabeau, accused of adultery with the late Louis of Orléans, was imprisoned by Armagnac hardliners. Her wealth was seized, and her allies purged. The scandal shattered royal authority, emboldening Burgundy to declare open rebellion. His manifesto denounced Armagnac corruption, promising tax relief—a populist move that stirred revolts across Normandy and Picardy.

Cities like Rouen erupted in violence. Tax collectors were murdered; mobs chanted “Long live Burgundy!” The Dauphin Charles, now heir, struggled to assert control, but France was unraveling.

Legacy: A Kingdom Divided

By 1419, France lay broken. The Burgundian-Armagnac war crippled resistance to Henry V, who conquered Normandy and forced the Treaty of Troyes (1420)—disinheriting the Dauphin. The conflict’s bitterness endured for decades, fueling Joan of Arc’s rise and prolonging the Hundred Years’ War.

Agincourt wasn’t just a battle; it was the spark that ignited France’s self-destruction. The nobility’s failure to unite, the monarchy’s collapse, and the factions’ vicious infighting became cautionary tales of how pride and division can doom a nation. Today, the war’s legacy echoes in France’s centralization reforms—a hard-learned lesson from an era when the kingdom nearly tore itself apart.