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IrelandMud, steel and muster rolls reshape Agincourt on Chronicle
Anne Curry and battlefield investigators test the longbow legend in the channel's most-watched new documentary.
Chronicle - Medieval History Documentaries
Story of Why this story? The channel's weekly summary: what went up this week, what is drawing views now, and where the channel stands among similar channels.
The Complete Story Of The Battle Of Agincourt: Is This The Real Reason England Won?
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- 6:33Anne Curry uses muster rolls and financial records to reconstruct the size and composition of Henry V's army.
- 10:46Archers cost half as much as men-at-arms, giving the English army's composition an economic explanation.
- 20:00Metallurgical analysis and a drop test challenge the ability of bodkin arrows to penetrate French steel armour.
- 33:15Tests of local subsoil demonstrate how waterlogged mud creates suction against smooth metal armour.
- 39:11Keith Still's simulations explain how the narrowing battlefield could turn packed French ranks into a crowd disaster.
An archer's pay packet turns out to be a useful clue to England's victory at Agincourt. In Chronicle - Medieval History Documentaries' biggest new upload, historian Anne Curry examines military records and offers a practical explanation for Henry V's archery-heavy army: archers were cheaper.
"The Complete Story Of The Battle Of Agincourt: Is This The Real Reason England Won?" reached about 37,000 views, the strongest showing among four uploads this week. It presents an episode of Battlefield Detectives that takes the familiar story of English longbows and asks what the landscape, armour and paperwork can add.
Quite a lot, as it happens. Tim Sutherland and Simon Richardson investigate a narrowing battlefield, while Alan Williams's metallurgy work and an impact test challenge the idea that bodkin arrows readily pierced French steel armour. Later, soil tests demonstrate the suction of waterlogged ground, and crowd analyst Keith Still uses simulations to explain how tightly packed ranks could become a disaster. These are the documentary's explanations, moving the emphasis from a single weapon to the conditions around it.
Elsewhere, the week's uploads explored Iford Manor and Pentillie Castle, revisited the Princes in the Tower mystery and opened the Inquisition's records on Montaillou. That newest documentary is already the channel's second-busiest video for daily viewing, behind Agincourt. An older Anglo-Saxon palace excavation featuring Time Team remains active too.
The channel added around 1,000 subscribers over the week, although daily viewing is currently only a little over half its usual level. Its weekly views sit between nearby history channels Odyssey and Banijay History. For Chronicle, the most substantial new audience gathered around a medieval battle explained through wages, steel and stubborn mud.
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- Subscribers
- 899,000 ▲ 1,000 this week
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 662,347
- Videos published this week
- 4
- Video published
- November 1, 2026
- Video views so far
- 36,559
- Views on its first day
- 17,622
The numbers
Here is Chronicle's week in views and subscribers.
💡 Test your knowledge
Which English king commanded the army at Agincourt?
Henry V led the English army at Agincourt during his campaign in France.