Facsimile of the "Agincourt Carol" in the Trinity Carol Roll (Trinity MS O.3.58)Facsimile of the Selden Carol Book version of the "Agincourt Carol" (15th century). Oxford, Bodleian Library, Manuscript Archives
The "Agincourt Carol" (sometimes known as the Agincourt Song, the Agincourt Hymn, or by its chorus and central words, Deo gratias Anglia) is an English folk song written some time in the early 15th century. It recounts the 1415 Battle of Agincourt, in which the English army led by Henry V of England defeated that of the French Charles VI in what is now the Pas-de-Calais region of France.
The carol is featured in Laurence Olivier's 1944 film Henry V.[3] The composer Ernest Farrar created his 1918 Heroic Elegy: For Soldiers on the basis of the Agincourt Carol.[4]
The pattern of a strophe (verse) sung in English followed by a burden (chorus) in Latin followed a structure typical of the religious carols of the period.[6]
^Hayward, Paul. "The Agincourt Carol". Medieval Primary Sources—Genre, Rhetoric and Transmission, Department of History, Lancaster University. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
^"Soundtracks for "The Chronicle History of King Henry the Fift with His Battell Fought at Agincourt in France"". IMDb entry for "The Chronicle History of King Henry the Fift with His Battell Fought at Agincourt in France" (1944). Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2007-04-19.
^Andrew Achenbach Farrar Orchestral Works, review Gramophone Magazine July 1998
^"Der Hundertjährige Krieg: Der sogenannte "Agincourt Carol"". Abteilung für Mittelalterliche Geschichte der Universität Tübingen. Universität Tübingen. Archived from the original on 2007-06-12. Retrieved 2007-04-19.
^Roden, Timothy; Wright, Craig; Simms, Bryan (2010). Anthology for Music in Western Civilization. Vol. 1. Boston, MA: Schirmer. p. 41. ISBN 978-0-495-57274-9.
^Young, Rob (2011). Electric Eden: Unearthing Britain's Visionary Music. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. p. 199. ISBN 978-0-86547-856-5.
External links
Agincourt carol sheet music
IMSLP
Medieval primary sources
YouTube Interpretation by The Young Tradition (Peter Bellamy. Royston Wood, Heather Wood), with David Munrow on shawm, Roddy and Adam Skeaping on viols, and Christopher Hogwood on percussion.