Agincourt Carol Agincourt Carol The Agincourt Carol (sometimes known as the "Agincourt Song", the "Agincourt Hymn", or by its chorus and central words, "Deo gratias Anglia") is an English folk song written some time in the early 15th century. It recounts the 1415 Battle of Agincourt, in which the English army led by Henry V of England defeated that of the French Charles VI in what is now the Pas-de-Calais region of France. The carol is one of thirteen on the Trinity Carol Roll, probably originating in East Anglia, that has been held in the Wren Library of Trinity College, Cambridge since
Battle of Agincourt on the defensive, he was eventually forced to take a calculated risk, and move his army further forward to start the battle. This entailed abandoning his chosen position and pulling out, advancing, and then re-installing the long sharpened wooden stakes pointed outwards toward the enemy, which helped protect the longbowmen from cavalry charges. (The use of stakes was an innovation for the English: during the Battle of Crécy, for example, the archers had been instead protected by pits and other obstacles.) The tightness of the terrain also seems to have restricted the planned deployment of the French forces. The French