St. Crispin's Day

Henry V is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to be written in approximately 1599. It is based on the life of King Henry V of England, and focuses on events immediately before and after the Battle of Agincourt (1415) during the Hundred Years' War. (Wikapedia, the free encyclopedia)

The Battle of Agincourt itself is famous not only as a stunning victory for the English against the French encroachment into Normandy, a province owned by the English kings since the invasion of England by William, the Conqueror in 1066. It was also famous for the English and Welsh bowmen's use of the longbow, a tactic crucial to the English victory. The long bowmen were so hated by the French that, for years to come, the French soldiers would stick up the two fingers of their hands (index and middle)in a visual threat to English soldiers, particularly bowmen, that, if captured, they would cut those fingers off so that they could not shoot arrows with their longbows again. This gesture by the French is now used in Great Britain in the same way we, in America, stick up our middle finger. The message is the same, and it has nothing to do with arrows. Some call it flipping the bird.

From this historical play by William Shakespeare comes one of the most rousing speeches ever given before a battle. In Shakespeare's play, it was given by Henry V in Act IV, scene iii before the Battle of Agincourt to rouse his soldiers to victory. In the movie, Renaissance Man, one of the soldiers, in a memorable scene, recites it in the rain on a field maneuver.

It is a beautiful speech, and I am including it in this posting, to share with my readers. I hope you enjoy it as much as I.

This day is called the feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian:'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispin's day.'
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names.
Familiar in his mouth as household words
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.