Azincourt

by Bernard Cornwell. Harper Collins, 2008.

Cornwell, the creator of the Sharpe series of Napoleonic novels and the Starbuck series of US Civil War stories turns his attention to one of history’s most famous battles, Agincourt, at which an outnumbered English army took on the might of the French in 1415. Nick Hook, an archer who has been outlawed, finds employment as a mercenary in France, and later is enrolled in the company of Sir John Cornwaille, a superb fighter in the army of Henry V. The author’s research is thorough, and every character in the novel finds his contemporary in the chronicles of the time. There is a great deal of grim period detail.

The author faces two problems: Henry V is best-known to us through Shakespeare’s character, so Cornwell includes aspects of the Shakespearian king in his own portrayal of a stubborn, cold-blooded ruthless leader; and the result of the battle is well-known, which robs the story of much of its suspense, although Cornwell does his best to make up for this with a somewhat melodramatic sub-plot involving Hook’s French wife. But he really excels at battle scenes, and the novel is an assault on the senses, brutally violent. It seems unlikely that this will be the first in a new series, but if Cornwell decides to write about more great battles of English history then it will be an (almost) painless way to learn history.

- John