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The young Prince of Wales (he was not more than CHAP. thirteen) nominally commanding the first, but under the guardianship of the Earl of Warwick and Geoffrey of Harcourt. The second line was commanded by the Earls of Northampton and Arundel. The third kept round the king, who took post near a windmill on a height. Froissart gives but 800 men-at-arms and 2000 archers, or less, to each division. The king, on a small palfrey, a white baton in his hand, accompanied by his two marshals, went from rank to rank, and encouraged his men.

Four knights whom the King of France had sent to reconnoitre the English, returned with an account of how they were drawn up. They advised Philip not to attack that day, after a fatiguing march of four leagues. The king thought the advice good, and was desirous of conforming to it: he therefore gave orders that those in front should halt, and wait till the others came up. But as those in the rear advanced, the vanguard, not liking to be outstripped, moved on again, and the whole of the French army in confusion thus came in presence of the English. The latter were not prepared to take advantage of the confusion, the knights being dismounted and the king determined on fighting a defensive battle. When the King of France saw the English, his blood stirred, says Froissart, his purposes of deferring the battle were forgotten, and he ordered the Genoese to advance. These archers now pleaded fatigue, and declared that, after the march, they were not prepared for great exploits. A shower of rain, which fell at the same time, damped at once their courage and the strings of their cross-bows. They came forward, however, with three shouts, firing their arbaletes. It was only at the third shout that the English replied by a volley of arrows, which fell thicker, quicker, and more fatal than those of the Genoese, the archers firing three times for one of the Italian cross-bowmen. The English at the same time made use of bombards, sending

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forth iron shot, according to Villani, "which seemed
like God's thunder to shake the earth." The Chronicle
of St. Denis attributed to the fire of these pieces of
artillery (the earliest used in battle) the discomfiture
of the Genoese. Villani also says, that they were
pressed upon by the horse of the Duc d'Alençon. The
king, seeing their hesitation, called out to his men "to
kill the ribalds." The inconsiderate order was obeyed,
and the French were thus employed in slaughtering
their own crossbowmen whilst the English arrows rained
upon them in their confusion. The knights in their
heavy armour, instead of being able to charge in order
upon the English line, were entangled and mixed up
with the Genoese archers, whilst the Irish and Welsh
soldiers from the English ranks crept in amongst them,
and slew the French knights with their knives.
body of them succeeded, nevertheless, in getting free
of the press, and in charging through the English
archers upon the men-at-arms round the Prince of
Wales. It was then that those in guard of the Prince
sent to his sire for aid. But Edward, who saw the
fight and its probable results, first asked, was his son
slain, or wounded, or fallen? Being told that the Black
Prince was in none of these conditions, but fighting
valiantly, Edward replied: "Then don't send to me
for aid, for I am determined that the boy shall this day
win his spurs; and the honour of this battle shall be his,
as well as of those who are around him." The Counts of
Alençon and Flanders were amongst those who were
able to reach the Prince of Wales' line, and Philip was
anxious to join them; but the English archers had re-
closed their ranks, and cut off the retreat of the knights
who had ventured so far. The Counts of Alençon and
Flanders were slain. Louis de Blois, the king's nephew,
and the Duke of Lorraine, with the Counts of St. Pol,
Auxerre, and Harcourt, perished. The blind King of
Bohemia charged between two knights, to whom he

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was tied with thongs, and perished with them. His CHAP. crest and plumes were found on the field, and brought to the Prince of Wales, and ever after worn by him. According to Villani, some of the English mounted their horses towards the close of the battle, and, charging the French, completed their rout and confusion. Jean of Hainault stood by the French king, who had but few nobles round him, and about sixty followers. He furnished him with a fresh horse when the one the monarch rode was shot with an arrow, and at last forced him to retreat, telling Philip, "There was no use in flinging himself away; that what was lost one day might be recovered another." The king rode first to the castle of La Broye. When asked who knocked? he replied, "The hard fortune of France." Philip took but a cup of refreshment, and then rode all night till he reached Amiens.

On the following day, Sunday, a thick fog covered the country. Edward sent out 400 lancers and a number of archers to learn what had become of the French. This strong reconnoitring party fell in with the militia of Rouen and Beauvais, who were marching in haste to join the army of Philip. The English instantly attacked them, slaughtering 7000; but for the fog not one would have escaped. The Archbishop of Rouen and the Grand Prior of the Hospitallers were also encountered and killed. Froissart says, that more persons perished on the Sunday than on the day of battle. The heralds and clerks that Edward sent to number the dead made up a list of 11 princes, 80 knights bearing banners, 1200 knights without that distinction, and 30,000 men. The bodies of the nobles were brought by Edward's order to Montreuil. The body of the King of Bohemia was sent to his son.

Although the moral effects of the day of Crecy must have been immense, Edward was not in a position to follow up the natural results of so great a victory. His army was too small to admit of his returning on his

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CHAP steps, marching to Paris, or besieging a great city. It was not with 4000 knights that he could hope to conquer France. He therefore determined to continue his retreat, placing himself in communication with the sea, and thus provide for the security of his prisoners and his booty. As his victory gave him a lesser opinion of the French, he resolved to complete their subjugation at a future opportunity, and for this purpose he wished to have a French port in the vicinity of his own shores, instead of being obliged to sail to Brittany or the Gironde. He therefore marched by Boulogne to Calais, and sat down before the latter place.

The defeat of Crecy is attributed by several modern French writers to the indiscipline and incapacity of the nobles and the inherent defects of feudalism. His want of command over his host was, however, in part owing to the unskilfulness and headlong chivalry of Philip of Valois, in part to the circumstance of the French army having been hastily collected in a few days. Its very numbers proved an obstruction and an embarrassment. Feudalism, indeed, was on the decline: when it was in its vigour, its chiefs brought their retainers, that is, the peasant population of the country, into the field, maintaining discipline amongst them, restraining and encouraging them, and, in fact, acting the part of leaders and officers; but now the knight came alone in his panoply, or with one or two attendants. The infantry, whether archers or pikemen, formed corps completely apart from the nobles, and receiving the king's pay. At a later period the nobles came to act as officers to these corps of infantry, constituting a regular army; but this change had not yet been accomplished. Feudalism was in a transitional, a perishing, and an unnatural state; and the nobles, reduced to act as soldiers of a corps, without support and without discipline, displayed, indeed, their wonted courage; but for military skill there was neither room nor opportunity.

This was the fault not of feudalism, but of the court legislation, which might have been improvement and progress in one respect, but was decadence and disorganisation in a military point of view. Had feudalism still survived, Edward could not have marched across the country, and pillaged it from one end to the other. Fortunate, indeed, was it for France that its sole enemy was England, with its scant population; had it been a horde of Moguls or Turks, they would have swept over the country without resistance, and totally subdued it. There were elements of military strength both in the towns and in the peasantry. Had the town militia been kept up, they would have formed an infantry as formidable as that of Flanders; but, as has been before described, the kings of France dispensed with the town levies, and took money instead, with which the refuse of the population was enlisted. And although in the engagement with the English at Crecy the towns themselves did send armed contingents, it was only to perish, so unused were they to arms, to discipline, to precaution, or command. Missiles at that time were becoming of the first importance in war. The records of Rymer show what pains the English king took to raise and exercise his bowmen from the hardiest districts, and to supply them with the best weapons. Instead of taking such care, any the King of France procured his crossbowmen from the Genoese fleet. In England feudalism had also lost much of its power, and its rigour had been mitigated by laws which secured to all classes their rights; but, in order to enforce those laws, it had not been found necessary to destroy the local powers of the proprietor of the soil and to supersede him by royal bailiffs sent down from a court of legists. The gentry preserved their influence, the peasantry their respect; and the links remained between noble and peasant, knight and archer, which made Edward's little army at Crecy fight as one man, whilst that of Philip was a

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