The Battle of Crecy

 

Today is the anniversary of the Battle of Crecy, it taking place in 1346 as part of the Hundred Years War (a later developed label that would have mystified its participants and contemporaries). One of the three defining battles of that conflict, the others being Poitiers (1356) and Agincourt (1415), the English decisively prevailed at each. Still they lost the Hundred Years War.

 

The English army, under the direct command of King Edward III and including amongst its nobles his son Edward the Prince of Wales (a/k/a the Black Prince so named because of the blackened steel of his armor), had landed in the Cherbourg Peninsula at St. Vaast de Hogue and proceeded to march across Normandy. St. Lo and Caen, both known to students of the D-Day invasion of 1944, were in Edward’s path of pillage; Caen was captured and looted for five days. The spoils of war were loaded into Edward’s fleet and dispatched back to England with orders to collect more men and equipment and meet him at Le Crotoy at the mouth of the Somme.

 

Continuing the ongoing pillage , just short of Rouen they turned south towards Paris, but did not proceed past Poissey (20 miles from Paris) as his army there crossed the Seine, the crossings further north having been destroyed in an effort to deprive Edward of an opportunity to proceed further north. Still, the complete failure of the French forces was feared, a general levy was ordered, and plans for the defense of Paris were prepared. 

 

Having crossed the Seine, Edward’s forces moved generally north-east towards their goal of Le Crotoy, crossing the Somme river at Blanchetaque where they defeated a French defensive force on the river’s north bank. After maneuvering between the forces the French under the command of King Phillip VI thought they had pinned down the English forces, thereby forcing a direct battle. Be careful what you ask for.

 

Determining the number of combatants in medieval warfare is notoriously difficult with many ranges being up to 100%. Crecy is no exception; the English forces are estimated to have been between a low of 7000 and a high of 15,000. Jonathan Sumption, author of a monumental five-volume history of the Hundred Years War, put the English forces at between 7000 and 10,000. Regardless they were clearly outnumbered; the French forces were somewhere in the range of 20,000 to 30,000.

 

Edward picked the site of the battle, positioning his line uphill from the  expected advance of the French. In preparation his forces set up some primitive small cannon and as well dug holes through the hill to interrupt any cavalry charge. Likely the archers were protected by sharpened stakes driven into the ground at an angle, especially useful against cavalry. Once in place the English settled into position and rested, awaiting the expected French attack. The Black Prince commanded one of the forward elements; Edward III was in the rear with a reserve force.

 

While the why is less than clear, it is clear that French discipline failed and what could have been an organized attack by an overwhelming force became a string of uncoordinated actions without a unifying plan or mutual support. Initially a mercenary force of Italian crossbow men largely if not exclusively from Genoa engaged, but without the heavy wooden shields they needed for protection while reloading; a crossbow could fire maybe twice a minute during which time a Welsh bowman could unleash ten arrows at significantly longer range. In addition, it rained, and the softened ground made it more difficult to reload the crossbows. The crossbow men retreated, pushing against the other forces moving forward who thought them cowards and killed many of them. Meanwhile the forward edge of the French forces were in range of the English bows.

 

Having pushed their way to the front, French mounted knights and men at arms initiated a cavalry charge. Uphill. Across ground recently rained upon and containing trenches and holes dug by the English to impede a cavalry charge. It went as well as you might expect. While likely most of the mounted soldiers had some plate armor, particularly helmets, padded tunics and chain mail were still predominant, and at 200/250 feet a longbow’s arrow could penetrate even plate. Even more vulnerable were the unarmored horses, and each one that fell brought down not only its rider but as well impeded the horses behind it. No doubt wounded and terrified horses ran thru the French forces further shattering its cohesion. The few French forces who survived the cloud of arrows to reach the English line were dispatched in hand to hand combat.

 

That was just the first wave. As more French forces arrived they organized and launched further calvary charges. Again uphill. Again over wet ground, now impeded not just by English dug trenches and holes but by the bodies of dead men and horses and against the force of retreating men and horses. Into the face of archers who knew they were winning, who knew that not winning meant certain death, and who had the experience against the first cavalry charge to inform how to handle each that followed. The same fate awaited those few French who survived the arrows of the long bowmen and reached the English line. And it happened again. And again. The charges continued through dusk into the night, perhaps as late as midnight. King Phillip was injured by an arrow to his jaw, and the French battle standard, the Oriflamme, was captured. Finally the French just stopped attacking.

 

The total number of prisoners taken that day by the English forces is a rare clearly quantified figure: zero.

 

The next day various English forces sallied forth to attack, killing perhaps another 2000.

 

The total French casualties are unknown; the English heralds counted 1542 nobles among the dead. Credible estimates of up to 4000 men at arms and 10,000 common soldiers are supported. As for the English, they lost 300 or fewer.

 

The English army, morale no doubt boosted by their victory at Crecy, continued on its route and would besiege for eleven months and capture Calais, it remaining English territory until lost in January, 1558 during the reign of Queen Mary Tudor.

 

A good single volume review is The Battle of Crecy (1346), a collection of essays edited by Andrew Ayton and Philip Preston. That said, Jonathan Sumption’s five-volume history of the Hundred Years War (The Hundred Years War I – Trial by Battle; The Hundred Years War II – Trial by Fire; The Hundred Years War III – Divided Houses;The Hundred Years War IV – Cursed Kings; and The Hundred Years War V - Triumph and Illusion) is without compare.