The Battle of Crécy

France, August 26, 1346: after a long march from Cherbourg to the town of Crécy, the invading English forces faced off against an overwhelmingly larger French and Genoese army. It was a battle royale that shook France and showed the lasting ability of the English to defeat overwhelming odds.

Englands formidable Edward III (1312-1377,) claimed the throne of France for himself through birth. Fearing the prospect of an English king on the French throne, Phillip VI and other French nobles protested Edward III's claim by reinterpreting Salic law, which had previously only denied inheritance of the French throne by a woman. The new interpretation made inheritance through a woman illegal as well. Although a compromise in 1329 between Phillip and Edward left England in control of Gascony as a French vassal and Phillip without an English rival to the throne, Phillip could not withstand the temptation of the rich province. While Edward fought the Scots under David II in 1333, Phillip made his move, declaring the English Edward in violation of his feudal oath to his lord (the French Phillip). One can see how this was taken because the reaction of Edward was to declaring war on France in July 1337, while securing an alliance with the Holy Roman Emperor Louis IV, the Low Countries, and the burgher of Flanders.

After marching three hundred miles and skirmishing along the way with the local levies of peasant troops, Edward's weary army arrived near Crécy on Saturday, August 25, 1346, poised to make a stand near the forest located there.

After a night's rest, the English army took the high ground between the towns of Crécy and Wadicourt. Incorporating strategies learned by fighting the Scots, Edward ordered his army to fight on foot. It is unknown exactly how large Edward's total forces were; however, it is estimated between 9,000 and 12,000 with approximately 7,000 of them a mix of English and Welsh archers. King Edward spent part of the morning and early afternoon exhorting his troops with personal visits, which lifted the spirits of the flagging army.

Map of the Battle of Crecy 1346

Edward deployed his forces in a 2000-yard wide front facing east. The son of the English King, Prince Edward, had his contingent to the South, nearest to Crécy and consisted of approximately 1,000 men-at-arms, 2,500 archers, and 1,000 Welsh spearmen. On the Wadicourt side to the northeast of the Prince Edward’s forces was de Bohun's division of 1,000 men-at-arms, 3,000 archers and an unknown number of spearmen. The King grouped his reserve forces to the northwest of the Prince's with 700 men-at-arms and some 2,000 more archers. Although exact establishment of the archers is up for debate it is believed that the archers formed on the flanks of each division with hastily dug pits to the forward of the English line.

The French army came upon them later in that day, having followed from the crossing of the river Somme at Abbeville. As in the case of the numbers attributed to the English army, the strength of the French forces can only be estimated as between 30,000 and 72,000 strong with perhaps as many as 6,000 Genoese crossbowmen. The French army outnumbered the English anywhere from three-to-one to six-to-one. After the delay in crossing due to the tides (the bridges across the Somme had been burned at Phillip's command to resist Edward's advances), the French were eager for battle and the glory of the victory. Even though Phillip had been advised to wait until the following day, the impatient French nobles ordered the advance of the Genoese mercenaries, which were still in preparations after the long march. The first attack occurred around 4:00 pm and approached from the southeast. Their pavises still stored on wagons, the unprepared and footsore Genoese charged uphill to the English positions.

Several things happened which helped to break that first charge. The rain which had been falling all day stopped, leaving the field a muddy mess, and the westerly sun broke from the clouds, dazzling the charging Genoese. About 150 yards out, the English archers began raining arrows on the Genoese, who suffered heavy casualties. Furthermore, some scholars contend that the brief shower had damaged the strings of the Genoese crossbows, inhibiting their ability to counterattack, whereas the English archers had kept their bowstrings protected by simply unstringing their bows. Finally, Edward had with him several cannons, whose noise only added to the confusion. Stunned by the treatment, the Genoese mercenaries sounded a retreat, only to be run down by the forces of the infuriated French! Again the longbows sang, the bodkin-tipped arrows piercing the armour of the French knights, causing devastating losses.

The French charged the English position fifteen times and each time was turned away. One such attack was lead by the blind John I, King of Bohemia and Count of Luxembourg who, in searching for his son, Charles, charged into the thick of the English tied to his escort of two knights. Valiant at it may have been, the action cost him his life. The next day, Prince Edward, the son of the English King, would honor the fallen John by adopting part of his coat of arms, three white plumes, and John's motto, Ich dien ("I serve"). It can still be seen today throughout England.

During the course of the fighting, Prince Edward was at one point hard-pressed, and several of King Edward's nobles asked to ride to the heir's aid. Upon determining that the Prince was not in immediate danger of death, the King's response was, "Return to him and to them that sent you hither, and say to them that they send no more to me for any adventure that falleth, as long as my son is alive: and also say to them that they suffer him this day to win his spurs; for if God be pleased, I will this journey be his and the honour thereof, and to them that be about him." This statement of faith by the English King in the abilities of the Prince, the stance that the heir was not to be pampered, and the earlier interaction with the mostly peasant forces contributed to the high morale of the exhausted English army late in the day.

Finally, wounded and exhausted, Phillip VI retreated under the cover of darkness to the castle at Broye, where after a short refreshment, he continued at midnight onwards to Amiens. Only sixty men accompanied Phillip to Amiens, the rest of his forces lay dead or dying or else scattered to the four winds. The next morning would reveal that an estimated 12,000 French lay dead or dying on the battlefield (although some claim as many as 30,000 were killed). The English archers went amongst the dying and dispatched them with daggers to the armpit, thus violating the codes of chivalry, since knights were to be ransomed rather than killed by peasants. This action greatly displeased Edward, as he hoped to ransom the captive and injured French nobles. Amongst the French dead were eleven Princes, and twelve hundred knights, the cream of the French nobility. Although too tired to follow up and completely annihilate the French forces, Edward III soon pressed on to Calais and successfully besieged the city, which remained an English possession until January 7, 1558. Phillip was largely unable to mount any resistance to Edward and only the Black Death (1348) curtailed further English in-roads into French territory.

Crécy stands as a monument in English military history. Crécy was a stunning blow to the pride of the French upper class as a smaller force of well-trained peasant soldiers were able to decisively take the strategic advantage on the field of battle while facing a numerically superior mounted force. It showed how the English can be warriors and leaders on the same day, in the same location – one and all.