Battle of Crécy

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Battle of Crécy
Part of the Hundred Years' War
Date 26 August 1346 Location South of Calais, near Crécy-en-Ponthieu Result Decisive English victory
Belligerents
Kingdom of England, Allied knights from the Holy Roman Empire and Denmark	Brittany, France, Genoese Mercenaries, the Kingdoms of Navarre, Bohemia and the Balearic Islands
Commanders
Edward III of England Edward, the Black Prince	Philip VI of France +
Strength
4,000 men-at-arms 7,000 archers 5,000 spearmen 5 cannon[1]	74,000 cavalry 6,000 Genoese crossbowmen[2]
Casualties and losses
100-300 killed[3]	30,000 killed[4]

v • d • e Hundred Years' War Edwardian – Breton Succession – Castilian – Two Peters – Caroline – Lancastrian

v • d • e Hundred Years' War (1337–1360) Cadsand – English Channel – Sluys – Saint-Omer – Auberoche – Caen – Blanchetaque – Crécy – Calais – Neville's Cross – Les Espagnols sur Mer – Poitiers

The Battle of Crécy (often the Battle of Cressy in English) took place on 26 August 1346 near Crécy in northern France, and was one of the most important battles of the Hundred Years' War. The combination of new weapons and tactics have caused many historians to consider this battle the beginning of the end of chivalry.

Contents 1 Summary 2 Background 3 English dispositions 4 The battle 5 Casualties 6 Aftermath 7 Fictional accounts 8 Footnotes 9 References 10 External links

[edit] Summary

Crécy was a battle in which a much smaller English army of 16,000, commanded by Edward III of England and heavily outnumbered by Philip VI of France's force of 80,000, was victorious as a result of superior weaponry and tactics, demonstrating the importance of the modern military concept of fire power. The effectiveness of the English longbow, used en masse, was proven against armoured knights, contrary to the conventional wisdom of the day which held that archers would be ineffective and be butchered when the armoured units closed in.

In the battle, the French knights, protected by mail reinforced with plate, nearly exhausted by having to walk through a quagmire of mud to charge uphill into Welsh arrow storms, were cut down. The result was that much of the French nobility died, perhaps as many as a third (estimates of the actual numbers in each army vary considerably, depending on the source).

Knights' armour had not yet evolved to the stage where longbows could not penetrate, and the knights' horses were barely protected at all. The storm of arrows killed or disabled the knights' mounts, and left the knights floundering about in the mud on foot beneath a withering fire.

The battle is seen by many historians as the beginning of the end of chivalry; during the course of the battle, many of the prisoners and wounded were killed. This was against the chivalric codes of warfare; and knights on horseback were no longer "undefeatable" by infantry.

It also may have seen the first real use of cannon on the European battlefield, which were used only in small numbers by a few states during the 1340s. "Ribaldis" were first mentioned in the English Privy Wardrobe accounts during preparations for the battle between 1345 and 1346, and they possibly were employed against both the Genoese and the cavalry.^[5] Similar cannon would appear also at the Siege of Calais in the same year, although it would not be until the 1380s that the "ribaudekin" became mounted on wheels.^[5] The use of firearms at this battle is only mentioned in one contemporary source of the battle that of Villani (d. 1348). Villani did travel abroad during much of the early 14th century yet he was returned to his home in Florence at the time of the Battle of Crecy so the information likely was second hand if not third or forth hand. His account also conflicts with almost all of the other contemporary chronicles of this time as to the events of the battle, specifically the use of firearms. Froissart does mention guns being used in the battle as well in one of his later versions of his chronicle but by this time firearms had become more common in warfare and his earlier versions fail to include any mention of firearms. So while it is possible firearms were employed their effect on the battle should be more critically viewed.^[6]

The political consequences of the battle were significant for Edward III especially, who had financed and supplied his expedition to Normandy with increasingly unpopular policies. The widespread use of purveyance and the arresting of ships to provide transport for his armies had left the King with potential sources of discontent in his kingdom. Likewise, the bold and unprecedented move to expand compulsory service, usually only required for defense of the coasts, to overseas service in France proved to be deeply unpopular with many of his subjects. However, the successes of the campaign did much to mute opposition when English Parliament was called at 11th – 20th September 1346.

[edit] Background

Following the outbreak of war in 1337, the Battle of Sluys was the first great battle of the Hundred Years' War, on 23 June 1340. In the years following this battle, Edward attempted to invade France through Flanders, but failed due to financial difficulties and unstable alliances. Six years later, Edward planned a different route, and put into action a massive raid through the lands of Normandy, winning victories at the Caen on 26 July and the Battle of Blanchetaque on 24 August. A French plan to trap the English force between the Seine and the Somme Rivers failed, and the English escape led to the Battle of Crécy, one of the greatest battles in the whole war.

[edit] English dispositions

As in previous battles against the Scots, Edward III disposed his forces in an area of flat agricultural land surrounded by natural obstacles on the flanks. The king installed himself and his staff in a windmill on a small hill that protected the rear, where he could control the course of the battle.

In a strong defensive position, Edward III ordered that everybody fight on foot, and distributed the army in three divisions, one commanded by his sixteen-year-old son, Edward, the Black Prince. The longbowmen were deployed in a "V-formation" along the crest of the hill. In the period of waiting that followed, the English built a system of ditches, pits and caltrops to maim and bring down the enemy cavalry.

[edit] The battle

The French army, commanded by Philip VI, was much more disorganized, due to overconfidence on the part of his knights. The French tactical mindset was centered on the use of cavalry, and Philip was naturally assured that his cavalry could overwhelm Edward's much smaller cavalry contingent. Philip stationed his Genoese mercenary crossbowmen, under Ottone Doria, in the front line, with the cavalry in the back. The French even went as far as leaving the pavises, the only means of defence for the crossbowmen, behind, along with the infantries. Both proved to be deadly mistakes. French chronicler Froissart gives an account of the action:

“

The English, who were drawn up in three divisions and seated on the ground, on seeing their enemies advance, arose boldly and fell into their ranks...You must know that these kings, earls, barons, and lords of France did not advance in any regular order...There were about fifteen thousand Genoese crossbowmen; but they were quite fatigued, having marched on foot that day six leagues, completely armed, and with their crossbows. They told the constable that they were not in a fit condition to do any great things that day in battle. The earl of Alençon, hearing this, said, "This is what one gets by employing such scoundrels, who fail when there is any need for them." [7]

”

The first attack was from the crossbowmen, who launched a shower of volleys with the purpose of disorganizing and frightening the English infantry. This first move was accompanied by the sound of musical instruments, brought by Philip VI to scare the enemy. But the crossbowmen would prove completely useless. With a firing rate of around 1-2 shots every 2 minutes, they were no match for the longbowmen, who could fire one shot every 5 seconds. Furthermore, their weapons were damaged by the brief thunderstorm that had preceded the battle, while the longbowmen were able to simply unstring their bows until the weather improved. The crossbowmen did not have their pavises, which were needed to cover them during the long reloading procedure and had remained in the baggage train. Frightened and confused, the Genoese crossbowmen retreated after heavy losses, as any trained professional soldier would have done. The knights, however, hurled insults at the crossbowmen. Calling these crossbowmen cowards, the knights and kings hacked down their own men. The fault was not the crossbowmen's, for the decision of leaving the pavises was one made by the king. By the time they have stopped the fuss, several waves of longbow had already fallen among the French. At this the French knights decided it was time to charge, and they ran right over the retreating Genoeses in an unorganized way. The English longbowmen continued firing as the infantry advanced and many French knights fell along the way.^[8]

Froissart writes that English cannon had made "two or three discharges on the Genoese", which is taken to mean individual shots by two or three guns because of the time taken to reload such primitive artillery.^[5] These were believed to have shot large arrows and simplistic grapeshot. The Florentine Giovanni Villani agreed that they were destructive on the field, though he also indicated that the guns continued to fire upon French cavalry later in the battle:

"The English guns cast iron balls by means of fire...They made a noise like thunder and caused much loss in men and horses...The Genoese were continually hit by the archers and the gunners...[by the end of the battle] the whole plain was covered by men struck down by arrows and cannon balls."^[5]

With the crossbowmen invalid, the French cavalry charged again, organized in rows. However, the slope and man-made obstacles disrupted the charge. At the same time, the longbowmen continued firing volleys of arrows upon the knights. Each time more corpses fell into the way of yet another wave of charges. The French attack could not break the English formation, even after 16 attempts, and they took frightful casualties. Edward III's son, The Black Prince, came under attack, but his father refused to send help. The latter claimed that he wanted him to "win his spurs". The prince subsequently proved himself to be an outstanding soldier.

At nightfall, Philip VI, himself wounded, ordered the retreat. It was a disastrous and humiliating defeat for France and a majestic win for England.

[edit] Casualties

The losses were enormous:

• French and Genoese casualties were around 30,000 killed. Almost half the army was destroyed in the battle.
• English losses were trifling, suggesting few of the French knights reached the English lines. Losses were around 90 - 300.

Among the dead were such important nobles as:

• Charles II, Count of Alençon, Philip VI's brother (b.1297)
• John I, King of Bohemia and Count of Luxemburg; who was blind, and went into battle strapped to two other knights. (b.1296)
• Louis I, Count of Flanders (b.1304)
• Rudolph, Duke of Lorraine (b.1320)
• Enguerrand VI, Lord of Coucy

[edit] Aftermath

After the French left the field, the English checked the wounded French, to see who was worth taking prisoner for ransom. Those knights who were too severely wounded to be easily carried off the field were dispatched with misericordias (mercy-givers). These were long daggers which were inserted through the unprotected underarms and into the heart, or through vision slits to the brain. This was against the chivalric codes of warfare since peasants were killing knights; knights were also dying from anonymous arrows.

This battle established the military supremacy of the English / Welsh longbow over the French combination of crossbow and armoured knights (due to a significantly greater rate of shooting, and a longer range than the crossbows of the time in the hands of a skilled yeoman archer), and was to alter significantly the way in which war was conducted for a considerable period of time thereafter. After the Battle of Crécy, Edward III went on to besiege the city of Calais, which surrendered to him after eleven months, giving the English a base in northern France. The next major battle in the Hundred Years War, the Battle of Poitiers in 1356, would see another defeat for the French, under very similar conditions.

At this stage in history the longbow was capable of penetrating the armour in use (particularly the parts not yet covered by plates), but not all the arrows shot by the longbowmen would have found a target, or penetrated the armour of the advancing French knights if they did, partly due to the angles involved. However they would have had their horses shot out from under them, and it is worth remembering that even a non-piercing impact would still be substantial enough to bruise, wind and knock down the walking knights as they attempted to reach the English position. Froissart claimed the barrages of arrows were so heavy and frequent that they blotted out the sun when shot, and even allowing for some poetic exaggeration, not every arrow would have needed to find a target. By the time the survivors of the volleys reached the English formation, they were cut down with relative ease by the defensive arrangement of dismounted English men-at-arms. The overall effect was devastating.

After the battle, the Black Prince, having won respect and nobility, was triumphant. Yet he did not go straight to his father Edward III, but stayed on the battle field to pay his tribute to a stranger - King John of Bohemia. John was a middle-aged man who was almost blind, and yet he fought very bravely during the battle and killed many of the few English who ended up dead. Edward Woodstock, the Black Prince was very impressed and mourned at the loss of a hero. As a last sign of admiration and respect, he took the old king's shield and made it his (Prince of Wales's feathers). It is now a famous symbol throughout England, being the crest of the Surrey Cricket Club.

When the battle had ended, and the Welsh longbowmen had returned to their home in Llantrisant, South Wales, they were given an acre of land for their bravery. They were awarded "Freemen" and were exempted from paying the taxes for letting their cattle graze.

[edit] Fictional accounts

A fictional portrayal of the Battle of Crécy is written in the Ken Follett novel World Without End.^[9] The novel describes the battle both from an English knight's and a neutral person's perspective.

Another can be found in Warren Ellis' comic book Crécy or in Bernard Cornwell's fictional account of an archer in the Hundred Years War, "An Archer's Tale" (US title) or "Harlequin" (UK title).

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] References

• Andrew Ayton, Philip Preston, et al., The Battle of Crecy, 1346 (Boydell Press, 2005).
• Amt, Emilie, Ed., Medieval England 1000–1500: A Reader (Broadview Press: Peterborough, Ontario, 2001). ISBN 1-55111-244-2
• Cornwell, Bernard, Harlequin (Harper Collins, 2000). ISBN 0-00-651384-D
• Nicolle, David, Crécy 1346: Triumph of the longbow (Osprey Publishing, 2000). ISBN-13: 9781855329669

[edit] External links

• Great Battles: The Battle of Crécy (myArmoury.com article)