Over the years some 'folk etymologies' have grown up around this symbolic gesture.
Plucking The Yew - Jerry Pournelle The terrain favoured Henrys army and disadvantaged its opponent, as it reduced the numerical advantage of the French army by narrowing the front. It is unclear whether the delay occurred because the French were hoping the English would launch a frontal assault (and were surprised when the English instead started shooting from their new defensive position), or whether the French mounted knights instead did not react quickly enough to the English advance.
The History of the Middle Finger & "Fuck You" - Blogger [106] This lack of unity in France allowed Henry eighteen months to prepare militarily and politically for a renewed campaign. This was not strictly a feudal army, but an army paid through a system similar to that of the English. The battle probably lasted no longer than three hours and was perhaps as short as half an hour, according to some estimates. During World War II the symbol was adopted as a V for victory. Read more about our work to fact-check social media posts here . Apparently Henry believed his fleeing army would perform better on the defensive, but had to halt the retreat and somehow engage the French [94][10][11] The list of casualties, one historian has noted, "read like a roll call of the military and political leaders of the past generation". 1.3M views 4 months ago Medieval Battles - In chronological order The year 1415 was the first occasion since 1359 that an English king had invaded France in person. I thought the French threatened to cut off the primary finger of the English longbowmen (the middle finger was neeed the most to pull the bowstring). There had even been a suggestion that the English would run away rather than give battle when they saw that they would be fighting so many French princes. The one-finger salute, or at any rate sexual gestures involving the middle finger, are thousands of years old. The English account in the Gesta Henrici says: "For when some of them, killed when battle was first joined, fall at the front, so great was the undisciplined violence and pressure of the mass of men behind them that the living fell on top of the dead, and others falling on top of the living were killed as well."[62]. According to research, heres the true story: Before the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, the French, anticipating victory over the English, proposed to cut off the middle finger of all captured English soldiers. |. (Indeed, Henry V was heavily criticized for supposedly having ordered the execution of French prisoners at Agincourt. [44] There was a special, elite cavalry force whose purpose was to break the formation of the English archers and thus clear the way for the infantry to advance. [93] Among them were 90120 great lords and bannerets killed, including[95] three dukes (Alenon, Bar and Brabant), nine counts (Blmont, Dreux, Fauquembergue, Grandpr, Marle, Nevers, Roucy, Vaucourt, Vaudmont) and one viscount (Puisaye), also an archbishop. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Several heralds, both French and English, were present at the battle of Agincourt, and not one of them (or any later chroniclers of Agincourt) mentioned anything about the French having cut off the fingers of captured English bowman. Departing from Harfleur on October 8, Henry marched northward toward the English-held port of Calais, where he would disembark for England, with a force of 1,000 knights and men-at-arms and 5,000 archers. Barker states that some knights, encumbered by their armour, actually drowned in their helmets.[64].
A Short History of "Flipping the Bird" - OddFeed The image makes the claim that the gesture derives from English soldiers at the Battle of Agincourt, France in 1415. In his 2007 film adaptation, director Peter Babakitis uses digital effects to exaggerate realist features during the battle scenes, producing a more avant-garde interpretation of the fighting at Agincourt. The Duke of Brabant (about 2,000 men),[65] the Duke of Anjou (about 600 men),[65] and the Duke of Brittany (6,000 men, according to Monstrelet),[66] were all marching to join the army.
Battle of Agincourt - HISTORY [53] A further 600 dismounted men-at-arms stood in each wing, with the left under the Count of Vendme and the right under the Count of Richemont. Participating as judges were Justices Samuel Alito and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. It took place on 25 October 1415 (Saint Crispin's Day) near Azincourt, in northern France. The deep, soft mud particularly favoured the English force because, once knocked to the ground, the heavily armoured French knights had a hard time getting back up to fight in the mle. The Burgundian sources have him concluding the speech by telling his men that the French had boasted that they would cut off two fingers from the right hand of every archer, so that he could never draw a longbow again.
Africa: Funny but Fanciful - Little Evidence for Origin of the F Word This famous English longbow was .
030223 - Musings From Leroy In the Battle of Agincourt, the French threatened the English Soldiers that they would cut off their fingers and when they failed the Englishmen mocked them by showing their fingers. [60][61], Accounts of the battle describe the French engaging the English men-at-arms before being rushed from the sides by the longbowmen as the mle developed. Poitiers 1356: The capture of a king (Vol. After a difficult siege, the English forces found themselves assaulted by a massive French force. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content.
How different cultures perceive emojis in workplace communication [23] Thomas Morstede, Henry V's royal surgeon,[24] had previously been contracted by the king to supply a team of surgeons and makers of surgical instruments to take part in the Agincourt campaign. Many people who have seen the film question whether giving the finger was done around the time of the Titanic disaster, or was it a more recent gesture invented by some defiant seventh-grader. This symbol of rocking out is formed by tucking the middle and index finger and holding them in place with the thumb. Very quickly after the battle, the fragile truce between the Armagnac and Burgundian factions broke down. The Roman gesturemadeby extending the third finger from a closed fist, thus made the same threat, by forming a similarly phallic shape. Omissions? By 1415, negotiations had ground to a halt, with the English claiming that the French had mocked their claims and ridiculed Henry himself. Fighting ignorance since 1973. .
Why is showing the middle finger offensive? When, how, and - Quora Update [June 20, 2022]: Updated SEO/social. The city capitulated within six weeks, but the siege was costly. Wikipedia. The English army, led by King Henry V, famously achieved victory in spite of the numerical superiority of its opponent. Your opponent is not going to pay you (or pay you much) for the return of mutilated soldiers, so now what do you do with them? All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. Contemporary accounts [ edit] [133] Branagh's version gives a longer, more realist portrayal of the battle itself, drawing on both historical sources and images from the Vietnam and Falkland Wars.[134]. On February 1, 1328, King Charles IV of France died without an heir. When the English won the battle the soldiers waved their middle fingers at the French in defiance, thus flipping the bird was born It forms the backdrop to events in William Shakespeare's play Henry V, written in 1599. October 25, 1415. The French nobility, weakened by the defeat and divided among themselves, were unable to meet new attacks with effective resistance. . An account purporting to offer the historical origins of the obscene middle-finger extended hand gesture (varously known as "flipping the bird," "flipping someone off," or the "one-finger salute") is silly, and so obviously a joke that shouldn't need any debunking.
The traditional view of the years 131821 is one of domination by Agincourt 1415: The Triumph of the Longbow: Directed by Graham Holloway. Loades, M. (2013). . When the French rejected Henrys substantial territorial demands, he arrived in Normandy in August 1415 with a force of about 12,000 men and laid siege to the city of Harfleur. Theodore Beck also suggests that among Henry's army was "the king's physician and a little band of surgeons". The Battle of Agincourt was immortalized by William Shakespeare in his play Henry V. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Without the middle finger it would be impossible to draw the renowned English longbow and therefore be incapable of fighting in the future. Made just prior to the invasion of Normandy, Olivier's rendition gives the battle what Sarah Hatchuel has termed an "exhilarating and heroic" tone, with an artificial, cinematic look to the battle scenes. The king received an axe blow to the head, which knocked off a piece of the crown that formed part of his helmet. French knights, charging uphill, were unseated from their horses, either because their mounts were injured on the stakes or because they dismounted to uproot the obstacles, and were overpowered. Take on the burden and expense of caring for them? with chivalry. Its up there with heres something that they dont want you to know.. 1995 - 2023 by Snopes Media Group Inc. I admit that I bring this story up when I talk about the Hundred Years War only to debunk it. Julia Martinez was an Editorial Intern at Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Legendinc.com Giving the Finger History With 4,800 men-at-arms in the vanguard, 3,000 in the main battle, and 1,200 in the infantry wings. [52] The dukes of Alenon and Bar led the main battle. The fact that Winston Churchill sometimes made his V-for-victory gesture rudely suggests that it is of much more recent vintage. It is also because of the pheasant feathers on the arrows that the symbolic gesture is known as "giving the bird". Many folkloric or etymological myths have sprung up about its origin, especially the widely quoted one about the interplay between the French and English soldiery at the battle of Agincourt 1415, where the French threatened to amputate the middle fingers of the English archers to prevent them from drawing their bows, which of course is absolute Soon after the battle started, it had thousands of English and French soldiers and horses running through it.
[116] One particular cause of confusion may have been the number of servants on both sides, or whether they should at all be counted as combatants. The main part of the speech begins "This day is called the feast of . This claim is false. [23] The army of about 12,000 men and up to 20,000 horses besieged the port of Harfleur. Why not simply kill them outright in the first place? The army was divided into three groups, with the right wing led by Edward, Duke of York, the centre led by the king himself, and the left wing under the old and experienced Baron Thomas Camoys. [121] Mortimer notes the presence of noncombatant pages only, indicating that they would ride the spare horses during the battle and be mistakenly thought of as combatants by the English.[122]. [101] The bailiffs of nine major northern towns were killed, often along with their sons, relatives and supporters. Although it could be intended as humorous, the image on social media is historically inaccurate. It forms the backdrop to events in William Shakespeare 's play Henry V, written in 1599. The Battle of Agincourt is one of England's most celebrated victories and was one of the most important English triumphs in the Hundred Years' War, along with the Battle of Crcy (1346) and Battle of Poitiers (1356). Fighting commenced at 11:00 am, as the English brought their longbows within killing range and the first line of French knights advanced, led by cavalry. This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. The Battle of Agincourt (/dnkr(t)/ AJ-in-kor(t);[a] French: Azincourt [azku]) was an English victory in the Hundred Years' War. John Keegan argues that the longbows' main influence on the battle at this point was injuries to horses: armoured only on the head, many horses would have become dangerously out of control when struck in the back or flank from the high-elevation, long-range shots used as the charge started. The historian Suetonius, writing about Augustus Caesar, says the emperor expelled [the entertainer] Pylades . The English Gesta Henrici described three great heaps of the slain around the three main English standards. Image source The English and Welsh archers on the flanks drove pointed wooden stakes, or palings, into the ground at an angle to force cavalry to veer off. Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. Although the French initially pushed the English back, they became so closely packed that they were described as having trouble using their weapons properly. One popular "origin story" for the middle finger has to do with the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. It was often reported to comprise 1,500 ships, but was probably far smaller. The Hundred Years' War. The French, who were overwhelmingly favored to win the battle, threatened to cut a certain body part off of all captured English soldiers so that they could never fight again. Tudor re-invention, leading to the quintessential Shakespearean portrayal of "we happy few", has been the most influential, but every century has made its own accretions. It is also because of the pheasant feathers on the arrows that the gesture is known as giving the bird. And yew all thought yew knew everything! The French army blocked Henry's way to the safety of Calais, and delaying battle would only further weaken his tired army and allow more French troops to arrive. As the mle developed, the French second line also joined the attack, but they too were swallowed up, with the narrow terrain meaning the extra numbers could not be used effectively. . Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. It seems clear, however, that the English were at a decided numerical disadvantage. [130][131] Partially as a result, the battle was used as a metaphor at the beginning of the First World War, when the British Expeditionary Force's attempts to stop the German advances were widely likened to it.[132]. [105] Other benefits to the English were longer term. [56] Some 200 mounted men-at-arms would attack the English rear. Originally representing the erect phallus, the gesture conveyssimultaneously a sexual threat to the person to whom it is directed andapotropaicmeans of warding off unwanted elements of the more-than-human. ( here ).
What Is the History of the Middle Finger? | Snopes.com He contrasts the modern, English king and his army with the medieval, chivalric, older model of the French.
When did the middle finger become offensive? - BBC News Battles were observed and chronicled by heralds who were present at the scene and recorded what they saw, judged who won, and fixed names for the battles.
Battle of Agincourt: English victory over the French | Britannica Before the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, the French,anticipating victory over the English, proposed to cut off the middle finger of all captured English soldiers. The Battle of Agincourt took place on October 25, 1415. Certainly, d'Azincourt was a local knight but he might have been chosen to lead the attack because of his local knowledge and the lack of availability of a more senior soldier. In the ensuing negotiations Henry said that he would give up his claim to the French throne if the French would pay the 1.6million crowns outstanding from the ransom of John II (who had been captured at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356), and concede English ownership of the lands of Anjou, Brittany, Flanders, Normandy, and Touraine, as well as Aquitaine. The idea being that you need two fingers to draw a bow, which makes more sense, and thus links up a national custom with a triumphant moment in national history! [109] Juliet Barker, Jonathan Sumption and Clifford J. Rogers criticized Curry's reliance on administrative records, arguing that they are incomplete and that several of the available primary sources already offer a credible assessment of the numbers involved. (There is an Indo-European connection between the p-sound and f-sound see the distinction between the Latin pater and the Germanic Vater/father but that split occurred a long time ago.) Why is the missionary position called that? His men-at-arms were stationed in the centre, flanked by wedges of archers who carried longbows that had an effective range of 250 yards (229 metres). The trial ranged widely over whether there was just cause for war and not simply the prisoner issue. [73] The mounted charge and subsequent retreat churned up the already muddy terrain between the French and the English. Before the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, the French, anticipating victory over the English, proposed to cut off the middle finger of all captured English soldiers. (Storyline based on the play by William Shakespeare "The Cronicle History of King Henry the Fift with His Batt. The f-word itself is Germanic with early-medieval roots; the earliest attested use in English in an unambiguous sexual context is in a document from 1310. Corrections? Moreover, with this outcome Henry V strengthened his position in his own kingdom; it legitimized his claim to the crown, which had been under threat after his accession. The Burgundians seized on the opportunity and within 10 days of the battle had mustered their armies and marched on Paris. While the precise number of casualties is unknown, it is estimated that English losses amounted to about 400 and French losses to about 6,000, many of whom were noblemen. A list of English archers killed at Agincourt, as recorded in the village's museum, The story of the battle has been retold many times in English, from the 15th-century, Dates in the fifteenth century are difficult to reconcile with modern calendars: see, The first known use of angled stakes to thwart a mounted charge was at the Battle of Nicopolis, an engagement between European states and Turkish forces in 1396, twenty years before Agincourt. Despite the lack of motion pictures and television way back in the 15th century, the details of medieval battles such as the one at Agincourt in 1415 did not go unrecorded. Didn't it originate at Agincourt? The pl sound, the story goes, gradually changed into an f, giving the gesture its present meaning. [26] He also intended the manoeuvre as a deliberate provocation to battle aimed at the dauphin, who had failed to respond to Henry's personal challenge to combat at Harfleur.