By: Billy BeerSlugger
Plucking the Yew! Before the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, the French, anticipating victory over the English, proposed to cut off the middle finger of all captured soldiers. Without the middle finger it would be impossible for the English soldiers to draw the renowned English longbow and therefore incapable of fighting in the future. The famous bow was made of the English Yew tree and the act of drawing the longbow was known as “plucking the yew” or “pluck you”. Much to the amazement of the French, the English won the battle and began mocking the French by waving their middle fingers at the defeated French and saying “We can still pluck yew. Pluck you”. Since “pluck yew” is rather difficult to say, the difficult consonant cluster at the beginning has gradually changed to a labiodental fricative ‘F’ and thus the words often used in conjunction with the one-finger salute.
It is also because of the pheasant feathers on the arrows used with the longbow that the symbolic gesture is known as “giving the bird”. And yew thought that yew knew everything.
The Hundred Years War:
The Hundred Years war lasted more than 100 years, about 116 years, though there were intermittent periods of peace. The war was actually a series of conflicts historians used to describe the Edwardian War (1337–1360), Caroline War (1369–1389), the Lancastrian War (1415–1429), and the decline of English fortunes after the appearance of Joan of Arc (1412–1431). Overall, the reason for fighting was for the Rule of France which was vacant due to the Capetian line of French kings inability to produce a male heir. The two party’s pursuing the throne were the House of Valois and the House of Plantagenet which, after more than 100 years, the House of Valois won.