Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1879-10-30
The Boy.Hero of Crecy.

1uC DVJ -hOIU VI OTeCys
The English army moved rapidly for
ward and northward toward Calais,
conquering everything on its way, till,
when in the neighborhood of Crecy, the
intelligence came that the French king,
Philip, with an army of one hundred
and twenty thousand men and all the
chivalry of France, had come in between
it and the sea. There was no retreat
possible. Edward had but thirty thou
sand to oppose this great host. They
were four to one. He was in a danger
Gus spot also; but after a time he sue
ceeGed in getting away to a good posi-
tion, and there he awaited the onset.
No one will doubt that he was anxious
enough, and yet what did he do? After
arranging his troops in battle order,
three battalions deep, he sent young Ed
ward his son to the very front with a
group OF his finest harons to take the
brunt of the terrible charge to come!
Edward made it point Of duty to
keep out of the battle altoget her. He
was nowhere to be seen. He went into
a windmill on a height near by, and
watched the fight through one of the
narrow windows in its upper story.
would not even put on his helmet.
That was the way the father stood by
his son-by showing absolute conf
dence in him, and denying himself all
the glory that might come from a great
and important battle. And the young
fellow was thousandfold nerved and
strengthened by knowing that his father
fully trusted in him.
| need not give the details of the bat
tie. 1t is sufficient to know that the
~Nf% ha al, ol1 i
with the utmost fury.
Among these was John, king of Bohe-
mia, who with mis- barons and knights
was not behindhand in the deadly en-
set; and yet this king was old and blind
He aco1tld have his stroke in the battle,
and he plunged into it with his
horse tied by its reins to one of his
knights on either side. A plume of
three ostrich feathers waved from his
helmet, and the chroniclers say he laid
about him well. After the battle he
and his two companions were found
dead, with their horses tied together.
But although the French were brave
they were not wise. For not only had
they brought on the fight with headlong
energy before they were prepared; but
they had allowed Edward to place him
self so that the afternoon sun, then near
its setting. blazed full in their eyes and
faces. Edwards army fought in the
shadow. The terrible English bowmen
sent their d .adly cloth-yard arrows so
thick and fast into the dazzled and
crowded ranks OF fifteen thousand
Genoese archers and the intermingled
men-at- arms, that the missiles filled the
air like snow. The Genoese were thrown
into confusion, and this spread through
out the whole French army. The French
king, with some ofhis dukes, flew foam
ing over the field, trying in vain to get
up in time to swell the onset upon the
English front.
But the onset had proved hard enough
as it was. The knights around the
young prince were frightened for his
safety. One OF them, Sir Thomas of
Norwich, was sent hack to Edward to
ask him to come to the assistance of the
prince.
:" Sir Thomas" said the king, " is my
son dead or unhorsed, or so wounded
that he cannot help himself?n
Not 50, my lord, thank God; but he
is fighting against great odds, and is
like to have need Of your help
:" Sir Thomas" replied the king, "re-
turn to them who sent you, and tell
them not to send for me, whatever
chance befall them, so long as my son is
alive, and tell them that bid them let
the lad win his spurs; for / wish, if
God so desire, that the day should be
his, and the honor thereof remain to him
and to those to whom | gave him in
charge"
And there he stayed in the windmill
till the battle was over. Soon the cry of
victory reached him as the French fled
in the darkness, leaving their dead strewn
upon the field. Now the young prince
appeared covered with all the glory that
his father had coveted for him, bearing
the ostrich plume which he had taken
from the dead king Of Bohemia. The
boy rode up with his visor raised-his
face was as fair as q girls, and glowed
under crown of golden hair. Ee bore
his trophy aloft, and when it was placed
as a knightly decoration above the crest
of his helmet, he little thought that the
triple tuft was to wave for more than
five hundred years, even to this day, on
England's front, for suchit does, and that,
next to the crown, there shall be no
badge SO proudly known as the three
feathers which nod above the coronet oi
the Prince of Wales. Albert Edward,
son of Queen Victoria, now wears il be-
cause Edward, the Prince ofWales, when
still in his teens. won it at Crecy. Tread
1OeH WGide1s i7a 81. Nicholas.