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XV. The Sources of Drayton's Battaile of Agincourt
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020
Extract
Holinshed has heretofore been considered the primary source of Drayton's Battaile of Agincourt. “Its faithfulness to Holinshed,” declares Mr. H. H. Child in his article on Drayton, “brings it frequently into touch with Shakespeare's King Henry Fifth.” Similar is the statement made by Garnett in his edition of the poem:
When his historical authority inspires, Drayton is inspired accordingly; when it is dignified, so is he; with it he soars and sings, with it he also sinks and creeps. Happily the subject is usually picturesque, and old Holinshed at his worst was no contemptible writer.
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- Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1926
References
1 The Cambridge History of English Literature, vol. IV, p. 221.
2 The “Battaile of Agincourt,” ed. Richard Garnett, Intro. p. xv.
3 Id. Intro. p. xvii.
4 For a list of a host with its various ensigns, see Orlando Furioso X, 77 ff.; XIV, 10 ff.; and Jerusalem Delivered I, 37 ff. The device of sending an angel down from heaven to guide the English, which appears to be a unique feature of Drayton's poem, is likewise employed in the romantic epics of Ariosto and Tasso. See Orlando Furioso XIV, 75 ff.; Jerusalem Delivered I, 11 ff.; IX, 58 ff.
5 Speed may have suggested these lines, IX, 15, p. 629: “And thence sent his spiall to the town of Harflew.”
6 Cf. Holinshed, ed. 1808, vol. III, p. 79; Hall, ed. 1809, p. 66; Speed, ed. 1614, Bk. IX, Chap. 15, p. 632.
7 Cf. Holinshed, p. 81; Hall, p. 69; Speed, p. 633.
8 Act IV, I, 308 ff.
9 Act IV, 2, 51-2.
10 Drayton's material, however, may have been derived from Speed, as his account is almost as detailed as that of Hall.
11 See Drayton's notes following the epistles of “William de la Poole, Duke of Suffolk, to Queen Margaret” and “Mary the French Queen to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk.” Dr. Wilhelm Claassen, in his dissertation, Englands Heroical Epistles, Eine Quellenstudie, thus summarizes his conclusions regarding Drayton's use of Holinshed, Hall, and Stow: “Mit Vorliebe hat Drayton für seine historischen Bemerkungen die Chronik Stows benutzt, …. Nicht minder stark ist Hall von ihm verwendet worden, …. Nicht ganz so häufig kommt Holinshed in Betracht.”
12 The Annales, ed. 1615, pp. 345, 348.
13 The History of Great Britaine, ed. 1614, pp. 628, 631.
14 The Annales, pp. 347, 350.
15 The History of Greai Britaine, pp. 629, 630, 633.
16 These particular facts are noted in the comparison of Drayton with Speed. The one possible exception,—of slight account—is this: Stow is the only chronicler who says (p. 349) that “the King of England very early set forth his hoste in array.” Drayton says that Henry arose
An hour before that it was fully light,
To see if there might any place be found
To give his host advantage by the ground.
17 P. 628.
18 P. 629.
19 P. 628.
20 It does not appear that Drayton read Speed very carefully, for on the next page Speed contradicts himself thus: “Here King Henry abode the space of twelve or fifteene dayes, expecting an answere of his message sent to the Dolphin.”
21 P. 630.
22 Pp. 629, 631. In Stow the number of fighting men is twenty-nine thousand. See Annales, p. 347.
23 P. 631. In Speed, the speech of the Duke of Berry is a reply to the princes who insist that the King and Dauphin be invited to come and watch the battle. In Drayton, the speech is delivered at the council at Rouen.
24 Holinshed, ed. 1808, III, 78-79. This is taken over directly from Hall.
25 P. 632. This description, excepting the fact that the royal standard is not mentioned, is very similar to the one in Stow. Stow's source is the Pseudo-Elmham. See the Annales, p. 349.
26 This incident is also noted by Stow, p. 349.
27 This incident is noted by both Holinshed and Hall. The second shout, however, is noted by Speed only. Cf. Holinshed III, 80; Hall, p. 68.
28 Vol. III, p. 81. Holinshed's account of Henry's reasons for slaughtering the prisoners is as follows:
He doubting least his enimies should gather togither againe, and begin a new field; and mistrusting further that the prisoners would be an aid to his enimies, or the very enimies to their takers in deed if they were suffered to live, contrarie to his accustomed gentleness, commanded by sound of trumpet, that every man (upon paine of death) should incontinentlie slaie his prisoner.