Shoutout to the person who pointed out that medieval battles had like 50 guys not thousands

I was reading a history forum last night and found out that the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 probably only had around 6,000 English soldiers, not the 30,000 you see in movies. That blew my mind because I always pictured massive armies clashing like in Lord of the Rings. Does it make a story more dramatic to exaggerate numbers, or does the truth hit harder for readers? What do you guys lean towards when you're writing historical fiction?

3 comments

3 Comments

karencampbell1mo ago

Wait, haven't I read that the ancient Roman historians did the same thing, like they'd say a battle had 100,000 guys when modern estimates put it at like 20,000? I mean, it makes sense that storytellers have been doing this forever to make things sound more epic. But honestly, reading about a 50-man skirmish where everyone knows each other and has to look their neighbor in the eye while stabbing them, that feels way more personal and scary to me. I remember hearing a podcast where a historian said medieval battles were more about shoving and exhaustion than Hollywood sword fights, and that stuck with me more than any big number ever could. Maybe it's just me but the messy, close-up truth hits harder than a huge army you can't really picture.

nguyen.morgan1mo ago

Did you catch that thread on r/AskHistorians about the Battle of Towton? Someone broke down the numbers and said it was probably around 50,000 guys total, which is wild because most people think of medieval fights as just a few hundred dudes in mail. For writing, I lean towards the truth because the small, messy reality of a 50-man skirmish feels more brutal than a CGI army. Movies always inflate numbers for spectacle, but a reader can get that same drama from the grit of a real, tiny fight.

evan_cooper731mo ago

That's a good point about smaller fights feeling more brutal, idk why but it's the same with like arguments or drama in real life - the big dramatic blowups get all the attention but it's the quiet, messy little tensions that really stick with you.