Battle of Crécy

battle_name=Battle of Crécy

The battle

The French army, commanded by Philip VI, was much more disorganized, due to overconfidence on the part of his knights. Roughly, Philip stationed his Genoese mercenary crossbowmen in the front line, with the cavalry in the back.

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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 three to five volleys a minute, they were no match for the longbowmen, who could fire ten to twelve arrows in the same period of time. Furthermore, their weapons were damaged by the rainfall that occurred before the battle while the longbowmen were able to avoid harm to their weapons by simply unstringing their bows until the weather improved. The crossbowmen did not have their pavises which were still in the baggage train. Frightened and confused, the Genoese crossbowmen retreated with heavy losses, some of them killed by the French cavalry, who thought they were cowards.

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Seeing the feeble result of the crossbowmen, the French cavalry charged, organized in rows. However the slope and man-made obstacles disrupted the charge. At the same time, the longbowmen fired a curtain of arrows on the knights. The French attack could not break the English formation, even after 16 attempts, and they took frightful losses. 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 consequently proved himself to be a good soldier.

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At nightfall, Philip VI, himself wounded, ordered retreat. The result was a humiliating defeat for France.

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