Shakespeare’s ‘Once More Unto the Breach:’ The Real Life Messenger of Harfleur and Agincourt Brings Urgent Word to the French Crown of the Peril from the Forces of English King Henry V, During Events and With Figures Made Famous by Shakespeare

Of the men fighting off King Henry: “having entered into great peril and bodily danger”

 

There is no record of any document relating to Harfleur or Agincourt having reached the market, nor have we ever before seen a document directly relating to a person in one of Shakespeare’s plays. This has been in a private collection for a century.

 

A remarkable medieval document, the first such historical relic we can recall on the market, describing action, peril, and danger at one of the most famous battles in Medieval History, mentioned by name

 

From the collection of Dr. Otto O. Fisher, who bought primarily in the 1930s and 1940s, so this not been offered for sale in nearly a century

 

Reference for research, publication, and institutions: Raab M13.078

English King Henry V, while still under thirty years of age, twice raised the largest military force England had ever seen. He also succeeded in transporting this force to France and achieving victory in one of the most celebrated battles in English history. By the time of his coronation, he was already a seasoned general. Henry sought to revive the English claim to the French throne long before he became king. In the book “A Great and Glorious Adventure”, we are told that once he took the throne, embassies were sent to France and French assemblies went to England to negotiate these claims. Henry demanded that the French relinquish control of “the Duchies of Normandy & Aqaitayne, with the Counties of Anion and Muſne, and ye countrey of Gascoigne.” The French denied him these demands.

When the French rejected Henry’s substantial territorial demands, he arrived in Normandy in August 1415 with a force of about 12,000 men. He aimed to topple France, and seize the crown. His first target: the city of Harfleur.

Harfleur was three miles around, surrounded by high stone walls and a deep moat. The author Robin Neillands tells us that once Henry surrounded the city on August 18, 1415, he gave the French one chance to surrender. When they declined his offer, Henry commenced his siege.

He began attacking with his cannons from the sea, but the sea level in the area prevented the English from getting close enough to make any sort of constant attack. Eventually the French forces began to crumble under these assaults and Henry instructed his men to tunnel underneath the moat and wall. These mining efforts did not give the English access to the city, but they did succeed in partially flooding the city and contaminating the French’s water supply.

On September 17, Henry succeeded in destroying one of the barbicans on the wall. He then instructed his men to bombard the city with cannon fire all night to prevent the defenders from doing any repairs. He also prepared his ground troops for an attack the following morning. The attack never happened. The damage to the city and its inhabitants was considerable. The lack of clean water or food coupled with the emergence of dysentery led to the city’s surrender on September 22, 1415, thirty-six days after his siege began.

Shakespeare and this document

‘Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more’ is the second most famous speech from Shakespeare’s Henry V, given at Harfleur, as Henry’s celebrated Crispin’s Day speech was given at Agincourt. This speech comes in Act 3, Scene 1, of the play, set during this very siege of Harfleur in Normandy, carried out by the real historical King Henry V in 1415 as part of the Hundred Years War.

In Shakespeare’s Henry V, Henry’s siege of Harfleur is marked with both triumph and depravity. It is the first battle portrayed in the play, and Henry’s victory sets a precedent of success for future battles.

Henry’s rousing speech to his troops is his attempt to unite the inspire his men to continue fighting with him against the French. In Shakespeare’s great work, Henry says:

“Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
Or close the wall up with our English dead.
In peace there’s nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility:
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger;
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,
Disguise fair nature with hard-favour’d rage;
Then lend the eye a terrible aspect;
Let it pry through the portage of the head
Like the brass cannon; let the brow o’erwhelm it
As fearfully as doth a galled rock
O’erhang and jutty his confounded base,
Swill’d with the wild and wasteful ocean.

In early September, the besieged town of Harfleur called for help. Jean II Le Maingre, also known as Boucicaut, was a French knight and military leader. Renowned for his military skill and embodiment of chivalry, he was made a marshal of France. Charles I d’Albret  was the Lord of Albret and the Constable of France from 1402 until 1411, and again from 1413 until 1415. He was also the co-commander of the French army at the Battle of Agincourt where he was killed by the English forces led by King Henry V. Constable Charles d’Albret plays a significant role in William Shakespeare’s play Henry V, as one of the leading enemies of the English. His death is portrayed in very different ways in film adaptations of the play. Constable d’Albret was portrayed by Leo Genn in the 1944 film Henry V. The film sets up d’Albret as the most militarily worthy of the French warriors, but with a sneering manner and a “fierce and inhuman appearance” in black armour with a pointed visor.[5] He is killed in single combat with Henry, played by Laurence Olivier. His distinctive black armour is later taken and worn by Ancient Pistol.

They heard the cries of Harfleur and understood the strategic importance and sent M. Gaucourt to protect the town.  M. de Guyenne, the Duke and Dauphin, was involved in readying the country for the British invasion.

Boucicot would later go on as a commander of Agincourt, with Charles, where one was captured and another killed.

Jehan (Jean) Lestot was evidently sent by the town to warn all of the above, bringing  pleas in letters.

Of Gaucourt, Shakespeare wrote, “Lord Gaucourt certyenly; For he was capteyn in that place.”  Shakespeare wrote of Guyenne a number of times, including his capture at Agincourt.

Document Signed, September 16, 1415, dated a week before Harfleur fell and the day before Henry sealed the fate of the French, signed by Robert le Vigneron, administrator to the French king, in French secretary script, describing the actions of the men mentioned in the document and their compensation from the French king for their defense of Harfleur.

“To all those who see or have this, Nicolas de la Mote, keeper of the seal of the Viscount of Rouen bids you greetings. Let it be known that before Robert le Vigneron, clerk of the said Viscount, appeared Jehan Lestot, seaman, who acknowledges receiving from Robert the Marquis receiver at Rouen from the amount bestowed for the war, the sum of 20 livres… Salary and in compensation for many great efforts he has made, on behalf of the King, our Sire. As he has entered into great bodily danger and peril, at night, off coast of the sea, inside the town of Harfleur, having gotten out and having brought to Mr. le Connestable [Charles I, Sire d’Albret], Marshal Boursicoult in Rouen and from there to Vernon to Mr. Guyenne, letters from Mr. de Gaucourt, on behalf of the State, treating with the situation of those inside the said town and the provision that was necessary for their aid… and done so with great difficulty….

There is no record of any document relating to Harfleur or Agincourt having reached the market, nor have we ever before seen a document directly relating to people in one of Shakespeare’s plays. This has been in a private collection for a century. The only other similar piece we have found resides at the British Museum and is published in Nicholas’s great work “The History of the Battle of Agincourt,” which mentions Guyenne and Gaucourt several times in connection with the last stand at Harfleur.

The effort was futile. Indeed Gaucourt was captured by the English, and imprisoned. His narrative of the battle is perhaps the most important first person account. It was Guyenne who rode out with Gaucourt to meet with the Dauphin on the surrender.