|
The Battle of Crécy took place on August 26, 1346, near Crécy-en-Ponthieu, in the Somme département of northern France and was one of the defining combats of arms of the Hundred Years' War. Because of new weapons and tactics used, the battle is seen by many historians as the beginning of the end of chivalry. Battle of Crecy, engraving from Cyclopaedia of Universial History, 1885 This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ...
A map of Europe in the 1430s, at the height of the Hundred Years War The Hundred Years War was a 116-year-long armed conflict between the Kingdom of England and France, beginning in 1337 and ending in 1453. ...
August 26 is the 238th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (239th in leap years). ...
Events Foundation of the University of Valladolid Foundation of Pembroke College, University of Cambridge August 26 Battle of Crecy after which Edward the Black Prince honored the bravery of John I, Count of Luxemburg and King of Bohemia also known as John the BLIND! who was killed in the fighting...
The Burghers of Calais, by Rodin, with Calais Hotel de Ville behind Location within France Calais is a city in northern France, located at 50°57N 1°52E. It is in the département of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sous-préfecture. ...
Royal motto: Dieu et mon droit (French: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population - Total (2001) - Density Ranked 1st UK 49,138,831 377/km² Religion...
Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377) was one of the most successful English kings of medieval times. ...
Philip VI of Valois (French: Philippe VI de Valois; 1293–August 22, 1350) was the King of France from 1328 to his death. ...
A map of Europe in the 1430s, at the height of the Hundred Years War The Hundred Years War was a 116-year-long armed conflict between the Kingdom of England and France, beginning in 1337 and ending in 1453. ...
The Battle of Sluys was a naval battle fought on Saturday, 24 June 1340. ...
Siege of Calais Conflict Hundred Years War Date Place Calais, France Result English victory The Siege of Calais in northern France began in 1346, towards the beginning of what would later be called the Hundred Years War. ...
Battle of Poitiers Conflict Hundred Years War Date September 19, 1356 Place Near Maupertuis, 3km south of Poitiers, France Result Decisive English victory The Battle of Poitiers was fought between England and France on September 19, 1356, resulting in the second of the three great English victories of the Hundred...
The Battle of Auray took place on September 29, 1364 at the French town of Auray. ...
The Battle of Agincourt was fought on October 25, 1415, Saint Crispins Day, in northern France as part of the Hundred Years War between the slightly outnumbered army of King Henry V of England (previously wrongly thought highly outnumbered, see below) and that of Charles VI of France, the...
At the time of the Siege of Rouen (July 1418 - January 1419), the city had a population of 70,000, making it one of the leading cities in France, and its capture crucial to the Normandy campaign during the Hundred Years War. ...
The Battle of Cravant was an encounter fought on July 31, 1423, during the Hundred Years War between English and French forces, a victory for the English and their Burgundian allies. ...
The Siege of Orléans was the first French victory of Joan of Arc during the Hundred Years War and a turning point in that war between France and England. ...
Battle of Patay Conflict Hundred Years War Date 18 June 1429 Place South of Patay, slightly north of Orleans Result Catastrophic English defeat {{Campaignbox {{{campaign}}} }} After the Seige of Orleans and its relief by Joan of Arc, the French recaptured every English stronghold in the Loire valley. ...
The Battle of Formigny (April 15, 1450) was a clash of the Hundred Years War. ...
The Battle of Castillon was the last battle fought between the French and the English during the Hundred Years War. ...
August 26 is the 238th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (239th in leap years). ...
Events Foundation of the University of Valladolid Foundation of Pembroke College, University of Cambridge August 26 Battle of Crecy after which Edward the Black Prince honored the bravery of John I, Count of Luxemburg and King of Bohemia also known as John the BLIND! who was killed in the fighting...
Crécy-en-Ponthieu is a small village in France, souch of Calais. ...
Somme is a French département named after the Somme River. ...
A map of Europe in the 1430s, at the height of the Hundred Years War The Hundred Years War was a 116-year-long armed conflict between the Kingdom of England and France, beginning in 1337 and ending in 1453. ...
Woman under the Safeguard of Knighthood, allegorical Scene. ...
Significance
Crécy was a battle in which a much smaller English army of approximately 12,000, commanded by Edward III of England, was heavily outnumbered by Philip VI of France's force of between 30,000 and 40,000, was victorious as a direct consequence of superior weaponry and tactics. It was a battle where the effectiveness of the Welsh longbow, used en masse, was proven against armored knights. The French knights, in plate armour, were famously cut down by the bodkin arrows as they charged the English position up a hill. The result was that the flower of the French nobility died, perhaps as many as a third (the actual number for each army varies considerably according to the source used). Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377) was one of the most successful English kings of medieval times. ...
Philip VI of Valois (French: Philippe VI de Valois; 1293–August 22, 1350) was the King of France from 1328 to his death. ...
The longbow (or English longbow, or Welsh longbow, see below) was a type of bow about 2. ...
The battle is seen by many historians as the beginning of the end of chivalry, because during the course of the battle many of the prisoners and wounded were dispatched contrary to chivalric codes of warfare, and the illustrious noble cavalry was no longer undefeatable by infantry. The site of the battle is preserved and nowadays can be overlooked from a special viewing tower. Woman under the Safeguard of Knighthood, allegorical Scene. ...
Background The Battle of Sluys was the first great battle of the Hundred Years' War, on June 23, 1340. After this battle, Edward attempted to invade France through Flanders, yet failed. 6 years later, Edward attacked Normandy, and the number of easy victories that followed culminated in the Battle of Crécy, the second great battle of the war. The Battle of Sluys was a naval battle fought on Saturday, 24 June 1340. ...
A map of Europe in the 1430s, at the height of the Hundred Years War The Hundred Years War was a 116-year-long armed conflict between the Kingdom of England and France, beginning in 1337 and ending in 1453. ...
June 23 is the 174th day of the year (175th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 191 days remaining. ...
Events January 26 - King France June 24 - The Battle of Sluys is fought between the naval fleets of the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of France. ...
English dispositions As in the previous battles against the Scottish, Edward III chose to place his forces in an area of flat agricultural terrain, surrounded by natural obstacles in the flanks. The king placed himself and his staff in a windmill at the small hill that protected the rear, where he could control the course of the battle. Edward III King of England Edward III (13 November 1312–21 June 1377) was one of the most successful English Kings of medieval times. ...
In a strongly defensive position, Edward III ordered that everybody should fight on foot and distributed the army between three groups. His sixteen-year-old son, Edward, the Black Prince, was to command one of them. The army's secret weapon, the longbowmen recruited from his Welsh dominions made up of peasants who could speak neither French nor English, were arrayed in a V-formation along the crest of the hill. In the period of waiting time that followed, the English built a system of ditches, pits and caltrops to maim and bring down the enemy cavalry. Edward III King of England Edward III (13 November 1312–21 June 1377) was one of the most successful English Kings of medieval times. ...
Edward the Black Prince - illustration from Cassells History of England circa 1902 Effigy on the Black Princes tomb in Canterbury Cathedral Edward of Woodstock, Prince of Wales, known as the Black Prince (June 15, 1330 – June 8, 1376) was the eldest son of King Edward III of England...
The longbow (or English longbow, or Welsh longbow, see below) was a type of bow about 2. ...
National motto: Cymru am byth (Welsh: Wales for ever) Waless location within the UK Official languages English(100%), Welsh(20. ...
Caltrop with hollow spikes to puncture self-sealing rubber tires Contemporary caltrop improvised from large nails welded together. ...
An army unit consisting of mounted soldiers is commonly known as cavalry. ...
The battle The French army, commanded by Philip VI, was much more disorganized, due to an excess of confidence on the part of his noble knights. Roughly, Philip stationed his Genoese mercenary crossbowmen in the front line, with the cavalry in the back. Alternate uses, see Genoa (disambiguation). ...
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 3 to 5 volleys a minute, they were no match for the longbowmen, who could fire 10 to 12 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. Frightened and confused they retreated with heavy losses, some of them accidentally smashed by the French cavalry.
Seeing the feeble result of the crossbowmen, the French cavalry charged, organized in rows. However the slope and man made obstacles, disrupted the might of the charge. At the same time, the Welsh peasants discharged a curtain of arrows on the knights. The French attack could not break the English formation, even after several attempts, and they took frightful losses.
At nightfall, Philip VI, himself wounded, ordered retreat. The result was a humiliating defeat for France.
Map of the Battle of Crecy sketch of the battle of crecy File links The following pages link to this file: Battle of Crécy Categories: GFDL images ...
sketch of the battle of crecy File links The following pages link to this file: Battle of Crécy Categories: GFDL images ...
Casualties The losses were enormous: - French and Genoese casualties are estimated from 10,000 to 30,000. The most likely figure is 12,000. Of these, eleven were princes and 1200 were knights.
- English lost 150-250 men. (This is probably a low estimate, and quite unreliable.)
Among the dead were important nobles such as: John the Blind of Luxemburg (August 10, 1296 - August 26, 1346) was King of Bohemia and Count of Luxemburg. ...
The Lands of the Bohemian Crown (Czech Země koruny české, Latin Corona regni Bohemiae) (e. ...
Louis I (ruled 1322-1346) was Count of Flanders, Nevers and Rethel. ...
Rudolph (1320 - August 26, 1346, in the battle of Crecy) was Duke of Lorraine from 1329 to his death. ...
Aftermath After the French left the field, the Welsh and 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) which are long daggers inserted through the unprotected underarms and in to the heart. This was contrary to chivalric codes of warfare where peasants, such as the Welsh, would kill a knight, as were knights dying from anonymous arrows.
This battle established the military supremacy of the English/Welsh longbow over the French combination of crossbow and armored knights (due to significantly greater rate of fire and a longer range in the hands of a skilled user), and was to significantly alter the way in which war was conducted for a considerable period of time thereafter. After the Battle of Crécy, Edward III proceeded to besiege the city of Calais, which surrendered to him shortly afterwards, establishing the English dominion on northern France. The next major battle in the Hundred Years War, Poitiers in 1356, would return an equal utter defeat for the French, under very similar conditions. The longbow (or English longbow, or Welsh longbow, see below) was a type of bow about 2. ...
A crossbow is a type of weapon that fires projectiles called crossbow bolts or quarrels. ...
A statue of an armoured knight of the Middle Ages For the chess piece, see knight (chess). ...
The Burghers of Calais, by Rodin, with Calais Hotel de Ville behind Location within France Calais is a city in northern France, located at 50°57N 1°52E. It is in the département of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sous-préfecture. ...
Battle of Poitiers Conflict Hundred Years War Date September 19, 1356 Place Near Maupertuis, 3km south of Poitiers, France Result Decisive English victory The Battle of Poitiers was fought between England and France on September 19, 1356, resulting in the second of the three great English victories of the Hundred...
Events January 20 - Edward Balliol surrenders title as King of Scotland to Edward III of England September 19 - Battle of Poitiers The English defeat the French in the Hundred Years War, capturing the King John II of France in the process. ...
The prelude to the battle of Crécy is the subject of a poem by the 19th century English poet William Morris, The Eve of Crécy. Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ...
William Morris, socialist and innovator in the arts & crafts movement William Morris (March 24, 1834 – October 3, 1896) was one of the principal founders of the British Arts and Crafts Movement and is best known as a designer of wallpaper and patterned fabrics, a writer of poetry and fiction, and...
References - Jean Froissart, "The Battle of Crecy (1346)" (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/froissart1.html), from the Chronicle of Jean Froissart.
- Henri de Wailly, Crecy, 1346: Anatomy of a Battle, 1987, ISBN 0713719303
- Donald Kagan, The Western Heritage, Seventh Edition; From 1300, 2001, ISBN 0130277193
|
Feeds |
Contact