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(Footnote)

    The story is that King Henry V invaded France in October of the year 1415 with an army of 12,000 English. On the 25th of that month he found himself and his army surrounded by an army of 100,000 French at Agincourt. The English had just introduced a new weapon to their arsenal, the Long Bow. The French were naturally derisive of this “English toy.” The French commander ordered that the middle finger of any English captured would be cut off so that they could no longer draw the Long Bow.

     It’s not much of a stretch to understand that to a French army of 100,000, 12,000 English is an overwhelming force, especially with their new “English toy.” As the French fled before this massive English army, the English hoisted their middle fingers to show that they still had them. While it may be true that the middle finger salute had been used in other cultures and in other times, those uses of it were sexual in nature. The Battle of Agincourt is the first time it was ever used as a symbol of pure contempt, devoid of sexual connotation or sexual reference of any kind. This act of contempt on the part of the English on October 25, 1415 is the birth of “the Bird.”

For a full description of the events at Agincourt, please review Agincourt http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3619298.Agincourt_LP_A_Novel
By Bernard Cornwell.

(Don't forget that The Bird is The Word!)

The following is an account of the battle from:

Inventory # TT-2

(the back of the shirt says "Pluck Yew," - see image to right-->.

Inventory # HK-2

Few of the Kings of England have been able to resist the temptation of making war on France, whenever a favorable opportunity presented itself. At this time, France was torn in pieces by furious factions among the nobles and seemed to offer itself an easy prey to invaders. It is not surprising, therefore, that the military ardor of Henry V induced him to revive the claim to the crown of that country which had been urged by Edward III. In making war, Henry obeyed the dying injunctions of his father. He also deemed that some employment must be found for the restless activity of the English, which, if not turned toward foreign enemies would certainly break out in open rebellion against their own king.

Henry accordingly assembled a large fleet and army at South Hampton and crossing over to France landed near Harfleur which place he took after a vigorous resistance while the French princes argued among themselves over who should command the army assembled to oppose him.

Henry soon began to repent of his rash inroad into France. The fatigues of the siege, the unusual heat of the weather, and the indiscretion of the troops eating too much fruit [diarrhea], had so wasted the English Army that Henry could enter upon no further enterprises: as he sent away the ships that had brought him over, he had no means of reaching England but by proceeding first to Calais. The whole distance lay through the enemy’s country: there were strong towns to pass, deep rivers to cross and an army of one hundred thousand Frenchmen was in the field. The attempt, therefore, on the part of Henry, with a force no reduced to less than twelve thousand, appeared to be almost desperate.

Nothing daunted, however, he departed from Harfleur in October 1415 proceeding by easy marches and enforcing the strictest discipline. He paid the country people liberally for everything he had of them, and they consequently brought him supplies of provisions in spite of the orders they had received to the contrary. During the march the king fared no better than the common soldier. He encouraged his men by the cheerful and friendly manner in which he conversed with them. Thus they proceeded to the 24th of October when upon their arrival near the town of Agincourt, they beheld the whole French Army drawn up at some distance before them.

Henry took a tentative survey of the country from a high hill, and saw that it was equally impossible to retreat or advance. He therefore immediately set about his preparations for battle; for to surrender without a blow never entered his mind. He chose his position on a small rising ground, surrounded with trees and brushwood. He then placed guards and lighted fires, and the army, with the exception of some who passed in prayer what they supposed would be the last night of their lives, retired to rest. As some of the nobles conversed together, one of them said he wished all of the brave men, who were then living idly in England were there to help them.

The King heard them and cried out, “No! I would not have one more here. If we are defeated, we are too many; but if it please God to give us victory, as I trust He will, the smaller our number the greater our glory.”

The French passed the night in noisy festivity; and confident of victory on the morrow, it was agreed among them that all the English would be put to the sword except for the King and the chief nobility who would be saved for the sake of their ransoms.

We need not detain the reader by giving the details of the battle, which took place the next day. It would be but the story of Cressy and Poictiers over again. The French, proud of their own strength and despising the weakness of the enemy acted with rashness and foolhardiness which gave to their cautious and well disciplined enemy a complete victory.

The King himself displayed valor worthy of the Black Prince. Arrayed in shining armor, with a crown of gold adorned with precious stones on his head, he was easily distinguished to be in the thickest of the fight. Eighteen French knights made a vow to kill or take the English King, and they all lost their lives in attempting to fulfill it. They were all slain by David Cam, the King’s faithful squire and two other Welshmen who defended him at the cost of their own lives. Henry knighted them as they lay bleeding to death at his feet. One might think it could do the dying man but little good to say to him, “Rise up, Sir David Cam,” but it was the only means, at that moment, in the King’s power to express his sense of gratitude and regard for so faithful a servant.

The battle being at an end, Henry called upon the French Herald, who was named Mountjoy to declare to him to whom the victory belonged; and he adjudging it to the English, the king asked him the name of a neighboring castle to which he pointed with his finger. “It is called Agincourt” replied the Herald; then said the king, “This action shall henceforth be called ‘The Battle of Agincourt.”

Snopes Rebuttal - http://www.snopes.com/language/apocryph/pluckyew.asp

An excellent short read --> Battle of Agincourt , Round 2

Rebuttal to Snopes Rebuttal:  http://www.starving-writers.com/SnopesHoleyBible.htm

Professor Ann Curry contests the numbers, but not the salute.  This is a good read.

The Ballad of the Victory at Agincourt

Agincourt Computing is a short discussion of Agincourt's "Historicity."

A Short Biography of Henry V

Inventory # HK-1

According to Doug Lennox – The Book of Answers

When the outnumbered English faced the French at the battle of Agincourt, they were armed with a relatively new weapon, the longbow. The French were so amused that they vowed to cut off the middle finger of every archer. When the longbows won the day, the English jeered the retreating French by raising that middle finger in a gesture that still means, among other things, "in your face".

Whether this is true or not , who knows. But it is as good an explanation as any.

Here's a history lesson...Isn't history more fun when you know something about it?

Giving the Finger after the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, the French, anticipating victory over the English, proposed to cut off the middle finger of all captured English soldiers.
Without the middle finger it would be impossible to Draw the renowned English longbow and therefore be incapable of fighting in the future.

This famous weapon was made of the native English Yew tree, and the act of drawing the longbow was known as "plucking the yew" (or "pluck yew").
Much to the bewilderment of the French, the English won a major upset and began mocking the French by waving their middle fingers at the defeated French, saying, "See, we can still pluck yew! "Pluck Yew!" Since "pluck yew" is rather difficult to say, the difficult consonant cluster at the beginning has gradually changed to a labio-dental fricative "F" and thus the words often used in conjunction with the one-finger Salute are mistakenly thought to have something to do with an intimate encounter. It is also because of the pheasant feathers on the arrows used with the Longbow that the symbolic gesture is known as "giving the bird".

Footnote:

    A lot of people say that this story or portions of it are not true.  I pose a question.  George Charlie, Mack and Mitch each have a one dollar bill.  How much money do they have between them? The truth is that no one knows except George, Charlie, Mack and Mitch. If we press the question to them, assuming they are present, alive and able to communicate and count their money, they tell us they have a little over three hundred dollars between them. While it is true that each has a one dollar bill, it is also true that they also have tens, twenties, fifties and a few more one dollar bills.  Who could know that?  If the four are dead and gone and can't report to us, some would speculate that they were destitute with only four dollars between them. 

    History is like that.  We pick up a tidbit here and a dollop there and we extrapolate all sorts of conclusions based on that flimsy information.  Speculation about history and truth is fair play, but announcing "The Truth," based on little or no evidence is just flimflammery. No one knows for sure where the word, "fuck" came from.  It's all speculation.  No one knows who flipped the first bird or what they meant by it, when they did it. Flimflammers are bad news to history buffs.  They mislead by announcing a thing "true" when the truth is, they are just speculating.  In the worst form, they want to support an idea and twist the bits and pieces we have of the long ago to fit and support their ideas and postulates.    The highly credentialed, the Phd's especially are guilty of this, using their years of doing nothing but reading and teaching others what they read as a badge of credibility.  When they speak (speculate) with conviction from their ivy-leagued podiums, the cowed masses believe. 

   Don't believe anybody.  Everybody has an agenda.  Find out for yourself.  Challenge authority with questions.  Don't accept the pat answer just because the speaker is using words specialized to a particular subject or because he or she is quoting some famous name.  Do your own thinking.  Draw your own conclusions. The only person on this planet who is credited with being able to speak infallibly is the Pope, and even he is not above suspicion.

FB

Friar Bob opened a second web page, http://www.middlefinger party.com. The title seems a bit “in your face,” but read on.

Why are we doing this?

In much of western culture, people find the single digit salute to be an ultimate slap in the face. It starts fights. Receiving the middle finger salute, or getting “flipped off” results in negative feelings on both the parts of the giver and the receiver. When a person delivers this symbol it’s an ultimate expression of frustration, impotent anger or direct hostility.

The recipient of “The Bird” is challenged and insulted. It leaves one with the option to FIGHT or walk away leaving the insult unanswered. Neither option leaves the recipient or the provider of the insult uplifted.

It is this writer’s ultimate hope that the grass roots movement of celebrating the Middle Finger Birthday Party will desensitize people to this symbol so that, in time, when someone gets “flipped off,” they laugh at the impotence and humor of the symbol instead of becoming enraged by it. It will become common place and meaningless.

So, contributing and participating in this grass roots movement of desensitizing people to the Middle Finger Salute can be regarded as a philanthropic. It is a genuine contribution to uplifting our society and promoting harmony among people – peace on Earth, Good Will among humans. Bring your middle finger and come to one of these wonderful parties. Flip off your friends, then give them a hug.

This movement began in St. Augustine Florida, the oldest continuously occupied European settlement in the United States. It’s appropriate that such an important movement should begin in this place. This is where the oldest Christian Congregation on the North American Continent still worships. It marks the spot in North America, where Christians first killed Christians over dogmatic differences, where the first free Negro settlement arose (Fort Mose) and where today, people of all nations and faiths live together in peace.

May the movement spread and may this symbol of arrogant enmity, in the minds of men, devolve to the silliness of its real status.

The first participants in this philanthropy are Jacks Bar-B-Que, Bar None Saloon, The Mill Top Tavern, The Sand Bar, The Pelican Pub and Nobby’s Sports Tavern, all in St. Augustine Florida. It is appropriate that an idea with lofty goals begin in humble places. St. Augustine Florida is the manger for this one.

To find the party nearest you, log on to middlefingerparty.com and click on “Hottest Parties.”
Friar Bob (bob@middlefingerparty.com)