Editing Battle of Agincourt (section)

===Terrain===
The field of battle was arguably the most significant factor in deciding the outcome. The recently ploughed land hemmed in by dense woodland favoured the English, both because of its narrowness, and because of the thick [[mud]] through which the French knights had to walk.{{sfn|Wason|2004|p=74}}{{sfn|Holmes|1996|p=48}}

Accounts of the battle describe the French engaging the English men-at-arms before being rushed from the sides by the longbowmen as the [[melee]] developed. The English account in the ''Gesta Henrici'' says: "For when some of them, killed when battle was first joined, fall at the front, so great was the undisciplined violence and pressure of the mass of men behind them that the living fell on top of the dead, and others falling on top of the living were killed as well."{{sfn|Curry|2000|p=37}}

Although the French initially pushed the English back, they became so closely packed that they were described as having trouble using their weapons properly. The French monk of St. Denis says: "Their vanguard, composed of about 5,000 men, found itself at first so tightly packed that those who were in the third rank could scarcely use their swords,"<ref>Quoted in {{harvnb|Curry|2000|p=107}}.</ref> and the Burgundian sources have a similar passage.

Recent heavy rain had made the battle field very muddy, proving very tiring to walk through in full [[plate armour]]. The French monk of St. Denis describes the French troops as "marching through the middle of the mud where they sank up to their knees. So they were already overcome with fatigue even before they advanced against the enemy". The deep, soft mud particularly favoured the English force because, once knocked to the ground, the heavily armoured French knights had a hard time getting back up to fight in the melee. Barker states that some knights, encumbered by their armour, actually drowned in their helmets.{{sfn|Barker|2015|p=303}}