Albion Agincourt Sword

Agincourt – one of the most lopsided and stunning battles of medieval history, lends its name to this sword from Albion Armorers. At Agincourt, Henry V found his sick and dysentery-ridden army blocked from shelter via the English-controlled port city of Calais. The French army, gathered from the forces of many nobles, outnumbered the English many times over and advanced with the brazen confidence of wolves unto weakened prey. Estimates put the English numbers at about 9,000. The French likely numbered between 22,000 – 36,000. In addition to numerous, well-equipped footmen, the French had many thousands of well-armed knights – among the greatest in Europe. The English forces were more modest, composed mostly of footmen and longbowmen with some knights among them. Cleverly installing stakes in front of the longbowmen to stop a cavalry charge the English had dug into a defensive position that would bottleneck the French into attacking only from the front – There they awaited the charge from the field of Fleur-de-Lis banners before them.

When the French charged, what would have probably been a shattering rout in clear, open conditions turned into a catastrophic fiasco for the French. Unwilling to wait to use their own large reserves of archers, the heady French knights charged, over-eager to drive the English before them for their personal glory. But whistling arrows that found the flanks of their horses threw them into disorder and a field of mud turned a chivalrous charge into a miasma of slopping doom as Europes foremost Chivalric nobility was shot into the ground by well-drilled English commoners.

The advance of the tightly-packed French men-at-arms followed, but they too were slowed by the density of their own formation – they slogged through the deep mud, now churned into a slop pit by the horses before them. At every step they were harassed and struck by the incessant iron rain of arrow shot. Finally meeting the core of English men-at-arms, they found their own flanks threatened by the English longbowmen, who abandoned their bows to charge with their arming swords, daggers and stake-driving mallets. After a three-hour brawl, the French were defeated amidst heavy losses and confusion. The remaining French forces, demoralized by the shaming defeat of their nobility and the garish, maimed stragglers returning to their lines, fled the field.

The battle would go down in history as one of wars great reversals, where an army, already nearly defeated by disease and hunger would triumph over a larger force on its homelands, already defeated by its lack of unity, strategy and arrogant hubris – bested by a smaller, well-drilled army with its ”back against the wall.”

This sword, by Albion Arms, would look right at home in the hands of a knight or professional soldier of either side. It is a bastard sword – A sword that came into its own when armor had had advanced enough that men felt confident enough to abandon their shields and concentrate on offense. This sword is well balanced – it can be wielded one-handed with little difficulty, though a two-handed grip imparts agility and leverage that cannot be gained single-handedly. A strongly tapering blade facilitates thrusting technique designed to split chainmail link asunder and find the weak joints between the armor of the time.

Hand-ground from high carbon steel, the blade is tempered and sharpened to a keen edge. The wood grip is of tightly wrapped leather over ribbed cord. The blade is peened to the hilt for strength.

The sword grip comes in a selection of colors, please select an option below.