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Azincourt ( ; ) is a commune in the
Pas-de-Calais The Pas-de-Calais (, ' strait of Calais'; ; ) is a department in northern France named after the French designation of the Strait of Dover, which it borders. It has the most communes of all the departments of France, with 890, and is the ...
department in northern
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
. It is situated north-west of
Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise (, literally ''Saint-Pol on Ternoise''; ; Picard language, Picard: ''Saint-Po-su-Térnoèse'') is a Communes of France, commune in the Pas-de-Calais Departments of France, department in northern France. It is the seat of th ...
on the D71 road between Hesdin and Fruges. The Late Medieval
Battle of Agincourt The Battle of Agincourt ( ; ) was an English victory in the Hundred Years' War. It took place on 25 October 1415 (Saint Crispin's Day) near Azincourt, in northern France. The unexpected victory of the vastly outnumbered English troops agains ...
between the English and the French took place in the commune in 1415.


Toponym

The name is attested as ''Aisincurt'' in 1175, derived from a Germanic masculine name Aizo, Aizino and the early Northern French word ''curt'' (which meant a farm with a courtyard; derived from the Late Latin ''cortem''). It is often known as Agincourt in English. There is a village that is named "Agincourt", located in the
Meurthe-et-Moselle Meurthe-et-Moselle () is a '' département'' in the Grand Est region of France, named after the rivers Meurthe and Moselle. Its prefecture and largest city is Nancy and it borders the departments of Meuse to the west, Vosges to the south, ...
department in Eastern France. The name has no etymological link with Azincourt, and is derived separately from another male name ''*Ingin-''.


History

Azincourt is known for being near the site of the battle fought on 25 October 1415 in which the army led by King
Henry V of England Henry V (16 September 1386 – 31 August 1422), also called Henry of Monmouth, was King of England from 1413 until his death in 1422. Despite his relatively short reign, Henry's outstanding military successes in the Hundred Years' War against ...
defeated the forces led by Charles d'Albret on behalf of
Charles VI of France Charles VI (3 December 136821 October 1422), nicknamed the Beloved () and in the 19th century, the Mad ( or ''le Fou''), was King of France from 1380 until his death in 1422. He is known for his mental illness and psychosis, psychotic episodes t ...
, which has gone down in history as the
Battle of Agincourt The Battle of Agincourt ( ; ) was an English victory in the Hundred Years' War. It took place on 25 October 1415 (Saint Crispin's Day) near Azincourt, in northern France. The unexpected victory of the vastly outnumbered English troops agains ...
. According to M. Forrest, the French knights were so encumbered by their armour that they were exhausted even before the start of the battle. After he became king in 1509,
Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...
is purported to have commissioned an English translation of a Life of Henry V so that he could emulate him, on the grounds that he thought that launching a campaign against France would help him to impose himself on the European stage. In 1513, Henry VIII crossed the English Channel, stopping by at Azincourt. The battle, as was the tradition, was named after a nearby castle called Azincourt. The castle has since disappeared and the settlement now known as Azincourt adopted the name in the seventeenth century. John Cassell wrote in 1857 that "the village of Azincourt itself is now a group of dirty farmhouses and wretched cottages, but where the hottest of the battle raged, between that village and the commune of Tramecourt, there still remains a wood precisely corresponding with the one in which Henry placed his ambush; and there are yet existing the foundations of the castle of Azincourt, from which the king named the field."


Population


Sights

The original battlefield museum in the village featured model knights made out of
Action Man Action Man is an action figure launched in Britain in 1966 by Palitoy as a licensed copy of Hasbro's American "movable fighting man", G.I. Joe. Action Man was originally produced and sold in the United Kingdom and Australia by Palitoy Ltd of ...
figures. This has now been replaced by the Centre historique médiéval d'Azincourt (CHM)—a more professional museum, conference centre and exhibition space incorporating laser, video, slide shows, audio commentaries, and some interactive elements. The museum building is shaped like a
longbow A longbow is a type of tall bow that makes a fairly long draw possible. Longbows for hunting and warfare have been made from many different woods in many cultures; in Europe they date from the Paleolithic era and, since the Bronze Age, were mad ...
similar to those used at the battle by archers under King Henry. Since 2004 a large medieval festival organised by the local community, the CHM, The Azincourt Alliance, and various other UK societies commemorating the battle, local history and medieval life, arts and crafts has been held in the village."Videos from Azincourt" at ''Azincourt Alliance''
Prior to this date the festival was held in October, but due to the inclement weather and local heavy clay soil (like the battle) making the festival difficult, it was moved to the last Sunday in July.


International relations

Azincourt is twinned with Middleham, United Kingdom.


See also

*
Communes of the Pas-de-Calais department The following is a list of the 887 communes of the Pas-de-Calais department of France. The communes cooperate in the following intercommunalities (as of 2025):
* The neighbourhood of Agincourt, Toronto, Canada, named for Azincourt, not Agincourt, Meurthe-et-Moselle


References


External links

* {{Authority control Populated places in Artois Communes of Pas-de-Calais