Editing Battle of Agincourt (section)

==Popular representations==
[[File:Agincourtcarol.jpg|thumb|The 15th century [[Agincourt Carol]]]]
The battle remains an important symbol in popular culture. Some notable examples are listed below.

===Music===
Soon after the  victory at Agincourt, a number of popular folk songs were created about the battle, the most famous being the "[[Agincourt Carol]]", produced in the first half of the 15th century.{{sfn|Curry|2000|pp=280–283}} Other ballads followed, including "[[King Henry Fifth's Conquest of France]]", raising the popular prominence of particular events mentioned only in passing by the original chroniclers, such as the gift of tennis balls before the campaign.{{sfn|Woolf|2003|p=323}}

===Literature===
{{Main|Henry V (play)}}
The most famous cultural depiction of the battle today is in Act IV of [[William Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Henry V (play)|Henry V]]'', written in 1599. The play focuses on the pressures of kingship, the tensions between how a king should ''appear'' – chivalric, honest, and just – and how a king must sometimes ''act'' – [[Machiavelli]]an and ruthless.{{sfn|Cantor|2006|p=15}} Shakespeare illustrates these tensions by depicting Henry's decision to kill some of the French prisoners, whilst attempting to justify it and distance himself from the event. This moment of the battle is portrayed both as a break with the traditions of chivalry and as a key example of the paradox of kingship.{{sfn|Cantor|2006|pp=21–22}}

Shakespeare's depiction of the battle also plays on the theme of modernity. He contrasts the modern, English king and his army with the medieval, chivalric, older model of the French.{{sfn|Cantor|2006|p=20}}

Shakespeare's play presented Henry as leading a truly English force into battle, playing on the importance of the link between the monarch and the common soldiers in the fight.{{sfn|Cantor|2006|p=16}} The original play does not, however, feature any scenes of the actual battle itself, leading critic [[Rose Zimbardo]] to characterise it as "full of warfare, yet empty of conflict."{{sfn|Hatchuel|2008|p=193}}

The play introduced the famous [[St Crispin's Day Speech]], considered one of Shakespeare's most heroic speeches, which Henry delivers movingly to his soldiers just before the battle, urging his "band of brothers" to stand together in the forthcoming fight.{{sfn|Margolies|2008|p=149}} Critic David Margolies describes how it "oozes honour, military glory, love of country and self-sacrifice", and forms one of the first instances of English literature linking solidarity and comradeship to success in battle.{{sfn|Margolies|2008|p=149}}{{sfn|Adams|2002|p=31}} Partially as a result, the battle was used as a metaphor at the beginning of the [[First World War]], when the [[British Expeditionary Force (World War I)|British Expeditionary Force]]'s attempts to stop the [[Imperial German Army|German]] advances were widely likened to it.{{sfn|Adams|2002|p=183}}

Shakespeare's portrayal of the casualty loss is ahistorical in that the French are stated to have lost 10,000 and the English 'less than' thirty men, prompting Henry's remark, "O God, thy arm was here".

In 2008, English-American author [[Bernard Cornwell]] released a retelling of both the events leading up the battle and the battle itself, titled [[Azincourt (novel)|''Azincourt'']]. The story is told predominantly through the eyes of an English longbowman named Nicholas Hook.

===Films===
Shakespeare's version of the battle of Agincourt has been turned into several minor and two major films. The latter, each titled ''Henry V'', star [[Laurence Olivier]] in [[Henry V (1944 film)|1944]] and [[Kenneth Branagh]] in [[Henry V (1989 film)|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.{{sfn|Hatchuel|2008|pp=194–195}} Branagh's version gives a longer, more [[Realism (arts)|realist]] portrayal of the battle itself, drawing on both historical sources and images from the [[Vietnam War|Vietnam]] and [[Falkland War]]s.{{sfn|Hatchuel|2008|p=195}}

In his 2007 film adaptation, director Peter Babakitis uses digital effects to exaggerate realist features during the battle scenes, producing a more ''[[Experimental film|avant-garde]]'' interpretation of the fighting at Agincourt.{{sfn|Hatchuel|2008|p=200}} The battle also forms a central component of the 2019 Netflix film [[The King (2019 film)|''The King'']], which stars [[Timothée Chalamet]] as Henry V and [[Robert Pattinson]] as the [[Louis, Duke of Guyenne|Dauphin of Viennois]]. The film takes inspiration from Shakespeare's Henriad plays''.''<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jagernauth |first=Kevin |date=3 February 2016 |title=Joel Edgerton Talks 'Game Of Thrones' Meets Shakespeare Project With David Michôd, 'Jane Got A Gun,' And More |url=https://www.indiewire.com/news/general-news/joel-edgerton-talks-game-of-thrones-meets-shakespeare-project-with-david-michod-jane-got-a-gun-and-more-83994/ |access-date=8 October 2023 |website=IndieWire |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |date=25 October 2019 |title=The True Story Behind Netflix's The King |url=https://time.com/5707035/the-king-netflix-true-story/ |access-date=8 October 2023 |magazine=Time |language=en}}</ref>

===Mock trial===
In March 2010, a mock trial of Henry V for the crimes associated with the slaughter of the prisoners was held in Washington, D.C., drawing from both the historical record and Shakespeare's play. Participating as judges were Justices [[Samuel Alito]] and [[Ruth Bader Ginsburg]]. The trial ranged widely over whether there was just cause for war and not simply the prisoner issue. Although an audience vote was "too close to call", Henry was unanimously found guilty by the court on the basis of "evolving standards of civil society".<ref name="mock-trial-cspan">{{Cite web |date=16 March 2010 |title=Judgment at Agincourt |url=http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/id/221111 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017093319/http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/id/221111 |archive-date=17 October 2012 |access-date=14 June 2010 |website=[[C-SPAN]]}} link to video</ref><ref name="mock-trial-cd">{{Cite web |last=Treanor |first=Tim |date=18 March 2010 |title=High Court Rules for French at Agincourt |url=http://dctheatrescene.com/2010/03/18/high-court-rules-for-french-at-agincourt/ |website=DC Theater Scene}}</ref><ref name="mock-trial-lawj">{{Cite web |last=Jones |first=Andy |date=8 March 2010 |title=High Court Justices, Legal Luminaries Debate Shakespeare's 'Henry V' |url=http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202446381186 |website=[[National Law Journal]]}}</ref>

{{wide image|AGINCOURT.hto3.jpg|1100px|Battlefield today|left}}