WHAT DAY IS IT TODAY?

[Bigbjorn]

Today is St. Crispin's Day, the anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt, 1415.

On Crispin's day Henry V's army of 6,000, depleted by casualties at the siege of Harfleur, and by disease, harried by the French across northern France, stood in a muddy ploughed wheat field, fought, and soundly defeated a French army of 30,000.

King Henry:

He that shall live this day and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say "Tomorrow is Saint Crispian":
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say "These wounds I had on Crispin's day".

I thought I would attempt to introduce a little culture into AULRO.:D

[abaddonxi]

Billy Bragg-St.Swithins Day.. - YouTube

[EDG60]

Today is St. Crispin's Day ... :o ere's me thinkin' it's choozdee ... and all day so far too ... ...


oh well


Happy St Crispy's day everyone!!

[isuzurover]

Emma Ayres talked at length about Agincourt and St Crispin's day this morning.

Not all of us here are sans culture ;)

Aren't you descended from Norsk barbarians Brian :D

[Bigbjorn]

Emma Ayres talked at length about Agincourt and St Crispin's day this morning.

Not all of us here are sans culture ;)

Aren't you descended from Norsk barbarians Brian :D

My ancestors were cultured folk from North Jutland, honest seafarers and merchants. Some were part of the Danish civilizing expeditions that attempted to bring culture, trade, and prosperity to the Irish, who were and remain the barbarians.

[JDNSW]

My ancestors were cultured folk from North Jutland, honest seafarers and merchants. Some were part of the Danish expeditions that attrempted to bring culture, trade, and prosperity, with sword, spear and axe, to the Irish, who were and remain the barbarians.

There, fixed it for you.

Yes, I was aware that it was the day of the Battle of Agincourt, also mentioned this morning on ABC Classic FM. This was when the ability of massed archers (plus mud) to withstand armoured knights was demonstrated, when the unthinkable happened - commoners (archers) killing nobility in large numbers.

John

[LoveMyV8County]

Supposedly this battle was the origin of the two-fingered "V" sign.

Per Wikipedia:
"According to a popular legend, the two-fingered salute or V sign derives from the gestures of longbowmen fighting in the English army at the Battle of Agincourt (1415) during the Hundred Years' War.[7][19] According to the story, the French claimed that they would cut off the arrow-shooting fingers of all the English and Welsh longbowmen after they had won the battle at Agincourt.[20] But the English came out victorious and showed off their two fingers, still intact."

[Redback]

My ancestors were cultured folk from North Jutland, honest seafarers and merchants. Some were part of the Danish civilizing expeditions that attempted to bring culture, trade, and prosperity to the Irish, who were and remain the barbarians.

And from me, on behalf of my ancestors (Irish, Scot and Welsh) we thank you:twisted:

Dunno who was the worst, you lot or the bloody Engish:p

Baz

[StephenF10]

The words of Henry V in his gee-up speech to the troops, as delivered by Laurence Olivier in the 1944 movie, are some of Shakespeare's best.

[JDNSW]

The words of Henry V in his gee-up speech to the troops, as delivered by Laurence Olivier in the 1944 movie, are some of Shakespeare's best.

Written by Willie Wagglestaff a nearly two hundred years after the battle - and almost certainly not the words he used, even if he did give a gee-up speech (probably did).

As you say, Shakespeare's best, not Henry's!

John

[kaa45]

St. Crispen's Day Speech
William Shakespeare, 1599

Enter the KING

WESTMORELAND. O that we now had here
But one ten thousand of those men in England
That do no work to-day!

KING. What's he that wishes so?
My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin;
If we are mark'd to die, we are enow
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires.
But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England.
God's peace! I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more methinks would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse;
We would not die in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is call'd the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,
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 Crispian'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 rememb'red.
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 remembered-
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 accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

[isuzurover]

...who were and remain the barbarians.

I would like to see you say that to George Stokes if he were alive today. Though a "barbarian" Irishman, along with the likes of Stephen Hawking and Isaac Newton, he was a Lucasian professor of mathematics and probably made the most significant contribution to modern fluid dynamics of anyone to-date.

[Bigbjorn]

And from me, on behalf of my ancestors (Irish, Scot and Welsh) we thank you:twisted:

Dunno who was the worst, you lot or the bloody Engish:p

Baz

Well, consider that the Irish, Clan O'Murrough, modern day Murphy, invited the "English" actually the Norman French Strongbow, Earl of Pembroke, (isn't Pembroke Welsh?) into Ireland to help them in one of their inter-clan feuds, so they really have only themselves to blame if the Normans saw a nice little earner and didn't leave. The Emperor of Naples, King of the Two Sicilies made the same mistake. He was impressed by the way the Normans ran their possessions and invited them to help him administer Sicily. They kicked the combined asses of his army and navy and took over.

The Scottish islands and highlands are as much if not more Norse than Gael. This is where the red hair and big physique came from. Same applies to Ireland. O'Neil-McNeil-Neilsen, Mc Auliffe-Olafsen and so on.

[Bigbjorn]

I would like to see you say that to George Stokes if he were alive today. Though a "barbarian" Irishman, along with the likes of Stephen Hawking and Isaac Newton, he was a Lucasian professor of mathematics and probably made the most significant contribution to modern fluid dynamics of anyone to-date.

I can't remember his name but an Irish academic wrote that Ireland produces all the p's. Priests, poets, playwrights, paedophiles, ****pots.

[sheerluck]

Well, consider that the Irish, Clan O'Murrough, modern day Murphy, invited the "English" actually the Norman French Strongbow, Earl of Pembroke, (isn't Pembroke Welsh?) into Ireland to help them in one of their inter-clan feuds, so they really have only themselves to blame if the Normans saw a nice little earner and didn't leave. The Emperor of Naples, King of the Two Sicilies made the same mistake. He was impressed by the way the Normans ran their possessions and invited them to help him administer Sicily. They kicked the combined asses of his army and navy and took over.

The Scottish islands and highlands are as much if not more Norse than Gael. This is where the red hair and big physique came from. Same applies to Ireland. O'Neil-McNeil-Neilsen, Mc Auliffe-Olafsen and so on.

I'd read that the "Gaelic" identity was pretty much a recent invention, and that there were no tribes/invaders that identified themselves as such. It was just an invention to gang together and try and get back at the English.

Made for some interesting times at family gatherings (I had 1 Welsh grandmother, 1 Irish grandmother, 1 Scottish grandfather and 1 English grandfather) and when the 6 nations rugby is going!

But hey. At least 596 years ago, we ganged up and trashed those dastardly Frogs!

[Redback]

I'd read that the "Gaelic" identity was pretty much a recent invention, and that there were no tribes/invaders that identified themselves as such. It was just an invention to gang together and try and get back at the English.

Made for some interesting times at family gatherings (I had 1 Welsh grandmother, 1 Irish grandmother, 1 Scottish grandfather and 1 English grandfather) and when the 6 nations rugby is going!

But hey. At least 596 years ago, we ganged up and trashed those dastardly Frogs!

It's interesting if you go back far enough you'll find the people now known as Celts, originated from what is now France (then known as Gaul) in fact the Bretons (one of the 6 Celtic Nations, Brittany) are still there.

They have been recorded as being as far east as what is now the middle east and as far south as Egypt on their nomadic journey to where they are now.

The Romans called them a very frightening enemy, but very disorginised, which brought them undone in many battles, then and to this day, the English used them to frighten the bejesus out of their enemy, which seemed to work quite well.

Baz.

PS The Viking influence still remains in Ireland, a little town called Dublin.