Editions  

UK: Agincourt: The King, the Campaign, the Battle
Little, Brown, 2005: ISBN: 0-316-72648-6
Abacus, 2006: ISBN: 0-349-11918-X
Audiobook: Hachette Audio, 2007: read by Elliot Cowan, star of Henry V at the Royal Manchester Exchange (2007) and  ITV’s Lost in Austen (2008)        ISBN: 978-1-4055-0363-1

US: Agincourt:  Henry V and the Battle that Made England
Little, Brown, 2006: ISBN: 0-316-01503-2
Back Bay Books: ISBN: 0-316-01504-0

Juliet says: "Of all my books I think Agincourt has been the most fun to write. After seventeen years immersed in nineteenth century literary biography it was a joy to return to my medieval roots. Like The Brontës, this was a subject which was so familiar that it seemed impossible that there could be anything new to say.  A great deal had been written about the actual battle by military historians fascinated by the tactics and disposition of the armies. What I felt was lacking was the human element: how and why the men on both sides found themselves in the terrible situation of preparing to kill or be killed on that muddy field on a cold wet October morning in 1415. What also became clear as I researched contemporary administrative records was the sheer amount of preparation Henry V had put into making sure that the campaign was a success and the efficiency with which he oversaw the whole operation.  His incredibly detailed financial accounts reveal gems such as that he employed a female blacksmith making armaments in the Tower of London and that he refused to pay the wages of four of the duke of York’s archers because they fell below the minimum required standard of being able to shoot ten aimed arrows a minute.  (The earl marshal’s accounts reveal that his special purchases for the campaign included a new seat for his latrine!) I love details like these: for me they illuminate, personalise, humanise. Want to know how you remove an arrowhead embedded in the face? How to navigate your way around a foreign country without the aid of maps as we know them? Or where the phrase ‘keep it under your hat’ comes from? It’s all in Agincourt!"  

What the cover says: ‘In the name of Almighty God, and of Saint George, Avaunt baner!’ His troops roared out their battle-cries, his musicians sounded their trumpets and drums, and the whole army advanced in battle formation towards the French lines. They were now within longbow shot of the enemy.

            When Henry V and his band of brothers defeated the assembled might of French chivalry on a rainy October day in 1415, it was a defining moment in English history. The battle of Agincourt became part of the nation’s self-image. For six centuries it has been celebrated as the triumph of the underdog in the face of overwhelming odds, of discipline and determination over arrogance and egotism, of stout-hearted common men over dissolute aristocrats. But what is the truth behind the battle upon which so many legends have been built?

            In this landmark study of Agincourt, prize-winning author Juliet Barker draws upon a huge range of sources, published and unpublished, English and French, to give a compelling account of the battle. But she also looks behind the action on the field to paint a portrait of the age, from the logistics of preparing to launch one of the biggest invasion forces ever seen at the time to the dynamics of daily life in peace and war. She shows how the chivalry and piety that underpinned medieval society, and the contradictions inherent in trying to uphold them, were reflected in the fate of those caught up in the brutal power struggles of the period. A mad king, murderous dukes, scheming bishops, knightly heroes, surgeons, heralds, spies and pirates: the story of Agincourt has them all. 

 

Reviews of Agincourt:  

‘If you buy just one book of history this year, choose this one. Juliet Barker’s Agincourt, like Henry’s achievement, is a triumph’
Bernard Cornwell, Mail on Sunday  

‘This book is a model of how to write scholarly history for a wide audience. Barker’s deep understanding of the Middle Ages shows in many fascinating asides about contemporary life. Biographical vignettes of the participants, great and small, liven up her pages. Her style is taut, readable, informative’
Jonathan Sumption, London Evening Standard  

‘This is the best book I have read for ages … Almost every page contains an insight into the medieval world. The narrative kept me reading into the night’
Clive Aslet, Country Life  

‘A lively, stimulating account of this bloody day of battle. It is full of both serious research and entertaining gems’
Erica Wagner, The Times  

‘Her book is quite wonderfully vivid, clear and involving. She never forgets that a military campaign is made up of human beings. All the terror, dust and dirt of war is here …’           The Economist  

‘A gripping and accessible account of a battle that looms large in European history …  This is so much more than a narrow military work and manages to evoke a portrait of the entire age’
The Glasgow Herald  

‘A milestone in Agincourt studies’
Christina Hardyment, Independent  

‘Barker’s great achievement lies in her treatment of the less familiar elements of this dramatic story … It is an engrossing account, laced with unexpected and arresting images.'   Helen Castor, Saturday Guardian  

‘A tremendous achievement and bound to become a standard work on the subject. It should be on the wish-list of every historian and writer interested in the medieval period’
Sara Wilson, Historical Novels Review  

‘Medieval history at its best  … This is a sweeping sage of politics and conquest, with prose as versatile as the longbow itself’
Colin Gardiner, The Oxford Times  

‘A thoroughly engrossing study of Henry V and the battle that made him’
William Grimes, New York Times  

‘Her superb study … [shows] a thorough understanding of the principal actors and the world in which they lived’
Mark Molesky, Wall Street Journal  

‘With an eye for detail and a crisp writing style, the author brings into focus the dynamics of medieval life … An excellent book that is highly readable’
Larry Cox, Tuscon Citizen  

‘Fast-paced and extremely readable … Ms. Barker proves an expert guide to the conditions of medieval warfare’
Adam Kirsch, New York Sun

Links; www.littlebrown.co.uk
www.hachettebookgroup.com/authors_Juliet-Barker-(1075666).htm
www.meettheauthor.co.uk/bookbites/915.html