Osprey - General Military - Knight - The Warrior and ... - Brego-weard

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KNIGHT
it was almost impossible for a commander to alter the direction of a battle. New orders
had to be given by trumpet calls or the movement of banners. This limited them to
fairly simple instructions: retreat, advance, move left, move right. It the banner went
forward, so did the men; at the battle of Najera in 1366, the Chandos Herald records
the Black Prince giving the order to advance with the words 'Forward banner! God
help us to our right!' This was echoed by the Duke of Lancaster who cried 'Forward,
forward banner! Let us take the Lord God as our protector and let each acquit himself
honourably!' Similarly, if the banner moved to the right or left then the understanding
was that the troops should follow it, as at the battle of Mansourah when Louis IX
ordered the redeployment of his army to the right by having the Oriflamme, the sacred
royal banner, moved to the right. Anything more complex had to be conveyed by word
of mouth, sending a messenger into the fray to find the particular commander. This was
made all the more difficult by the fact that commanders were expected to lead from the
front, and would invariably be closely involved with the fighting. Like the men they
led, they were warriors whose prowess and status were enhanced through their actions
on the field of battle. Not only did this limit their tactical vision, making it very difficult
for them to have an understanding of what was going on around them on the field, but
the need to enhance their individual prowess could conflict with the pursuit of the
battle plan.
Agincourt is a key example of this. We are fortunate enough that a copy of the
battle plan drawn up by the French commanders in the days prior to the battle has
survived. It specifies the normal formations of vanguard, main guard and rearguard,
formed in successive lines one behind the other comprising dismounted knights and
men-at-arms. These were flanked by two wings of crossbows and two blocks of
cavalry, one of which comprised men on the best horses and wearing the strongest
armour who were tasked with sweeping the English bowmen from the field. The plan
was that as the vanguard began their advance on foot, the crossbowmen would close
range and the cavalry would begin their charge. By the time the vanguard came to
hand-strokes the combination of the crossbowmen's firepower and the horsemen's
charge would have destroyed the archers and disordered the men-at-arms. When it
came to the battle itself, however, the plan was changed, in part because two of the
larger retinues were still marching up to meet with the army. The vanguard was also
front loaded and all of the great nobles insisted on being part of it in order to share in
the glory of destroying what appeared to be a weak English force. This meant that
when the vanguard was overthrown most of the army's commanders were lost too,
and no one was in position to redirect the second and third lines.
The argument between Gloucester and Hereford over which of them had the right
to lead the attack at Bannockburn led to precipitate charges and casualties on the first