akes behind them fixed in the ground.
The French cavalry on either side endeavored to close them in, but were
soon obliged to retire before the thick showers of arrows poured in upon
them, which destroyed four-fifths of their numbers. Their horses then
became unmanageable, being plagued with a multitude of wounds, and the
whole army was thrown into confusion. Never was a more brilliant victory
won against more overwhelming odds.

One sad piece of cruelty alone tarnished the glory of that day's action,
but it seems to have been dictated by fear as a means of
self-preservation. After the enemy had been completely routed in front,
and a multitude of prisoners taken, the King, hearing that some
detachments had got round to his rear, and were endeavoring to plunder
his baggage, gave orders to the whole army to put their prisoners to
death. The order was executed in the most relentless fashion. One or two
distinguished prisoners afterward were taken from under heaps of slain,
among whom were the dukes of Orleans and Bourbon. Altogether, the
slaughter of the French was enormous. There is a general agreement that
it was upward of ten thousand men, and among them were the flower of the
French nobility. That of the English was disproportionately small. Their
own writers reckon it not more than one hundred altogether, some
absurdly stating it as low as twenty or thirty, while the French
authorities estimate it variously from three hundred to one thousand six
hundred.

Henry called his victory the battle of Agincourt, from the name of a
neighboring castle. The army proceeded in excellent order to Calais,
where they were triumphantly received, and after resting there awhile
recrossed to England. The news of such a splendid victory caused them to
be welcomed with an enthusiasm that knew no bounds. At Dover the people
rushed into the sea to meet the conquerors, and carried the King in
their arms in triumph from his vessel to the shore. From thence to
London his progress was like one continued triumphal procession, and the
capital itself received him with every demonstration of joy.

The progress of the English arms in France did not, for a long time,
induce the rival factions in that country to suspend the civil war among
themselves. But at length some feeble efforts were made toward a
reconciliation. The Council of Constance having healed the divisions in
the Church by the election of Martin V as pope in place of the three
rival p