Remember that Band of Brothers Speech? Well, before that…
Photo by Ex-PH2
When Henry V was still a prince, a young fellow who would, in our society, either be making himself useful clearing trash out of conservation areas or some other such stuff. Instead, he was armored up and on the battlefield at 16, at Shrewsbury in England, because at 16, he was considered to be a grown man and as the future King of England, he was expected to lead. Henry IV (Dad) could likely produce another heir.
During this particular battle, Prince Harry got hit in the face by an arrow, despite his helmet. Normally, this might have killed him. But it was not to be. The helmet deflected the arrow just enough to guide it under the cheekbone, into the lower skull. And it was probably spent by the time it hit him. He had to wait while the chirurgeon removed the arrow and the arrowhead from his lower skull — without an anesthetic.
The video, posted below, shows a “best guess” how it was done, according to the records left behind by the chirurgeon. The video shows the arrow may have hit him and how it was removed. And Prince Hal lived to fight another day… at Agincourt.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8Nef1siUus
Category: Historical
The Prince had an H arrow ing experiance. Hopefully he turned out to be straight arrow.
Don’t quit your day job….
Oh, come on.
Tell me you didn’t laugh.
Yes, he got the point.
“He had to wait while the chirurgeon removed the arrow and the arrowhead from his lower skull”
He did not quiver
This was a prototype of the Pierce Arrow.
Or perhaps he Israeli Arrow.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrow_(Israeli_missile)
Are those birds waiting for their shredded tweet breakfast cerial???
They are indeed, seeded for breakfast. Is it Puns Tuesday and nobody told me?
Not to sound nuts or anything, but how do you keep the squirrels away?
I throw peanuts at them. Peanuts land on the lawn (or snowbanks) and the squirrels aerate my lawn by digging for them.
I’ve been throwing rocks at the Grackles lately. Down to two feeders that keep everything out except hairy and downey woodpeckers and smaller.
Red Squirrels eat the steel pellets and feed the Crows. Gray Squirrels are off limits outside of legal season but for the Reds there is “no closed season”. Kinda like Coyotes.
The grackles poke holes in my lawn to get bird food that got thrown off the feeder line by the other birds. They aerate my lawn for me, so I don’t have to do it myself.
And years later, another Harry (Nilsson) wrote a song in 1971 titled “Me and My Arrow”:
I remember that song from “The Point” and the Plymouth Arrow commercials.
Eggs, is it this commercial?
https://youtu.be/Dg_c8WVTq0o
My memory recalls a version that sounds more like the original song, but it’s been a few years.
Well, that version is nice. But I think I prefer the alternate lyrics here:
https://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=67229
(smile)
I’m with you Hondo! I like your version better!
Definitely not a snowflake
I am sure his grandpa called him the equivalent of snowflake for his time.
It’s a generational thing. All old people think the newest generation is weak.
Homo erectus thought Homo heidelbergensis was weak, but Homo neanderthalensis was the weakest.
“We didn’t even have stone hand axes back in the day….”
A very cool story, PH2. Thanks for posting it. Who knew there was anyone that clever back in those bad olden times.
I’m amazed that Henry was able to endure the pain.
No wilting flower that one!
I think that, in the words of the ranks, he clanked when he walked… and it wasn’t juts from the sword hitting his armor.
And, today, youth older than that require therapy because someone disagreed with them.
An arrow?
You sure it wasn’t a crossbow bolt?
I don’t think the type of arrow you mention can penetrate 14th century plated armor.
But then, I didn’t watch the video.
It didn’t penetrate the armor. Per the video, the arrow seems to have been deflected by Harry’s helmet just enough to change its course slightly.
The draw weight on a longbow was 68 pounds. The draw weight on the medieval crossbow was 740 pounds. I believe a crossbow bolt would have gone right through his face. If I understand the explanation correctly, this arrow went in below the cheek bone and stopped in the base of the skull, but didn’t go all the way through.
68lbs may be a bit low for the draw for a Medieval longbow, Ex-PH2. Wikipedia gives estimates ranging from 80 to over 130 lbs.
Thanks for the heads up, Hondo. My source said 68 lbs.
Slow Joe…Watch AND Listen to the videos. You’d be amazed at not only the educational value, but also the entertainment value. Somebody went to a lot of trouble and expense to make the video and someone else went to the time and trouble to dig up the video and tie it into a nice little story package. Least you can do is watch it. Hell, Man, it’s free. Give it a try. Oh and BTW, not all of us old folks think that all the young’uns are weak idiots, just some of them tide pod eating, Mommy change my sheets, butt hurt, sparkle pony ones.
Good Post Ex-PH2. Will have to send that linky to one of my Ladies that does 19th century medical demos. I don’t thinks she has delved back that far.
Examination of the skeletal remains of typical English Longbowmen show significant “lopsided” development, from the frequent practice of shooting very high-pull longbows.
The length of draw also applied that heavy draw weight over a much greater time than shorter bows.
They also had a very good arrow point for piercing armor.
The combination was devastating to armored opponents.
The way I understood it was that the arrow hit the helmet of someone else and deflected into Harry.
That’s what I get from this snippet from the video.
https://youtu.be/C8Nef1siUus?t=227
I just can’t see how an arrow would glance off of Harry’s helmet and end up where it did.
You’re right. I missed that and thought they said it was Harry’s armor. But it was just enough to throw it off and slow it a tiny bit, even so.
This may be of interest: http://www.medievalists.net/2013/05/prince-hals-head-wound-cause-and-effect/
The video is the same as that already cited, but interestingly the author of the text above it suggests the wound was on the opposite side of Henry’s face, ie, on the right side of his face rather than on the left.
I agree it’s most probable the shot was deflected as if the arrow had struck one of Henry’s helmet plates it would either have penetrated or glanced off.
Therefore it’s likely to have struck a helmet plate of a comrade to his right, glanced off, then struck him as it did.
This would also explain why later portraits of him as King Henry V always show his left side profile as the scar(s) left behind would have made him a little self-conscious of his right facial profile.