Archer's stake

At the Battle of Nicopolis in 1396 Turkish archers were stationed behind a barrier of stakes.

This may have inspired Henry V when he instructed his men to provide themselves with six foot stakes, which were to be planted in front of them at an angle to impale horses of attacking French men-at-arms prior to the Battle of Agincourt, in 1415.

[2] In 1976, John Keegan proposed that each archer placed his stake in front of him where he stood in the ranks, thus creating a defensive belt of stakes several yards wide within which the archers operated.

[3] Keegan's proposal has been challenged by Clifford J. Rogers, who argues that most stakes were placed in a fence arrangement, with staggered gaps for archers to move through, in combination with a band of more widely spaced stakes.

[4] After the Agincourt campaign, stakes became a common piece of equipment for the English longbowman fighting in France.