I don’t like to review guidebooks unless I’ve actually done the tours; however, Peter Hoskins and Anne Curry’s Agincourt 1415 covers the campaign and battle pretty well while giving tour directions. Many of the original site from 1415 are gone; several other wars with concomitant destruction intervened in the area. If you’re not familiar with the Hundred Years War, the dispute goes all the way back to Henry II, who, through various dynastic alliances, controlled more of France than the King of France did – but he had to do homage for it. Eventually, due to French dynastic disputes, Edward III of England had a better claim to the throne of France than the native Valois line – but it was through the female line, which was invalid under French law. Various English and French kings fought over the issue – the English won all the major battles (Crecy, Poitiers, Agincourt). In the Agincourt campaign, Henry V first took the coastal town of Harfleur by siege, then marched to Calais to head back to England. He was eventually intercepted at Agincourt by the French forces; as had happened in the earlier encounters, English yeoman archers slaughtered the armor-encumbered French men-at-arms and knights, ending in a decisive victory for England; the terms let French king Charles V remain on the throne while alive but required him to marry his daughter Katherine to Henry and make Henry his heir. This probably seemed a safe bet, since Charles was a couple of decades older than Henry – but Henry died young, before Charles, and his successors became embroiled in their own dynastic dispute, the War of the Roses. Joan of Arc showed up to give divine aid to France and the Channel Islands are now the sole remaining English possession of their original French territory.

It’s interesting to speculate on what would have happened if Henry V had outlived Charles V and became King of England and France; perhaps sort of a Norman Conquest in reverse? Or perhaps just a blood and treasure draining war for a hundred more years. Another topic for speculation would be what would happen if the French had won? Henry V had sworn not to be taken alive, to spare England from paying an enormous ransom; I expect the War of the Roses would have started earlier, with various claimants from the houses of Lancaster and York fighting for the throne.

Alas, I can’t speak for this book’s adequacy as a guidebook since I haven’t done any of the tours; it gives hiking, biking and car directions for following Henry’s route and they seem thorough enough. Author Hoskins repeatedly refers readers to coauthor Curry’s historical accounts of the battle and the Hundred Years War in general. Good maps of the campaign and battlefield, and numerous photographs of tour routes; a modest bibliography but I expect the more formal histories referenced are more than adequate. ( )

Oddly enough, {Agincourt: 1415 The Archer's Story} really has one chapter dedicated to the bowman of that particular battle. I felt a bit mislead by the title. Up to that point the book was fairly informative and interesting with chapters on Henry V, the battle itself, and (finally) the book's namesake. This piece then wanders off into a biography of Sir Thomas Erpingham. Don't get me wrong, as alleged commander of the archers at Agincourt, Sir Thomas did deserve prominence in this book, but I felt that he dominated it instead of complimenting.
Be forewarned, this book is made up of essays from several different auhors, which in itself is not a bad thing if they were essays illustrating different aspects of the longbowman or the battle. Like I said earlier, waaaay to much emphasis on Erpingham (there is an excruciating chapter on Norfolk architecture inspired by and featuring him!). An essay on his role in the two different "Henry V" films delivered the coup de grace' for me. Very dissapointed in a book that I was really looking forward to reading and wasted on vacation. ( )

There are essays in this book I really enjoyed, and others that were simply too much historical navel gazing. The essays on Henry V, employment on the Longbow, Agincourt in Shakespeare, biographical information on Thomas Erpingham were all great and helpful. The chapters on Erpingham's life in Norfolk were way more than I needed to know. ( )