French say English exaggerated Agincourt

AGINCOURT, France, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- French scholars said they planned to prove Saturday that English soldiers acted like criminals 593 years ago in the historic Battle of Agincourt.

"At the very least the English forces acted dishonorably," said Christophe Gilliot, director of the Medieval History Museum in Agincourt.

Gilliot and other French historians were to use the battle site Saturday to accuse England of exaggerating King Henry V's legendary victory in the most famous battle of the Hundred Years' War, The Daily Telegraph reported.

The English lied about being hugely outnumbered and behaved barbarically, said Gilliot, alleging English forces burned prisoners and allowed 40 royal bodyguards to savage a single Gallic nobleman who had surrendered.

The Battle of Agincourt, immortalized by William Shakespeare in his play Henry V, has been upheld throughout English history as a heroic effort in the face of impossible odds, the Telegraph reported.

Anne Curry, a military historian at Southampton University in England, confirmed much of the battle was exaggerated to enhance an image of "plucky little England" against the evil French.