Chivalry and Betrayal: The Hundred Years' War to confirm his legitimacy resumed the war with France now led by a king who was insane. In 1415 he landed at Harfleur which fell after a long siege weakening the English army. Against advice Henry led his army on a chevauchée to English held Calais but was intercepted by a far larger French army at Agincourt and at the ensuing battle Henry's archers killed the cream of French nobility. At Agincourt Henry V, the son of a usurper, had proved his right to be King and he was determined to regain Normandy and recreate the Duchy and landed in
Battle of Agincourt 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. Shakespeare's version of the battle of Agincourt has been turned into (several minor and) two major films, starring Laurence Olivier in 1944 and Kenneth Branagh in 1989. 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. Branagh's version gives a longer, more realist portrayal of the battle itself, drawing on both historical