Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-07-14
BRITISH BATTLING OVER
HISTORIC FRENCH SOIL
Picardy the Scene Of Two Of Eng.
lands Greatest Triumphs
at Arms.

TT historical associations inspire to
brave deeds, the British forces in their
offensive against the Germans along the
Somme river should be heartened to OK
traordinary acts of valor by the
Picardy." says today's war geography
bulletin Of the National Geographic So
ciety.
This ancient province Of France, now
divided into four departments-the
Somme. Disc. Pas-de-Calais and Aisne
has two battlefields whose very
names quicken the pulse OF English
men, for 1t was at Crecy that the Black
Prince won his spurs. and at Agincourt
that Henry v. commanding his yeomen
with their cloth-yard bows. utterly
airy.
"Picardy Is a treasured name in ro-
mantle literature and in French history.
1t has a literature of its own in the
twelfth century and its soldiers were
among the most valiant in France,
being known as the Gascons of the
north.
Province Natural battle-ground.
ground for the French and English dur
ing the hundred years war. for its
shores extend along the North sea and
the English channel, from the River IA,
above Calais, to point below Dieppe.
Fifteen miles north of Abbeville one
of the principal cities of Picardy, Is
Crecy. where until late in the nine
teenth century there still stood the old
windmill from which Edward III of
England in 1346 watched his beloved
son. the first Prince of Wales, at that
time only sixteen years Of age. triumph
over Philip of Valois. On this occa-
sion the English were outnumbered
four to one. and they wrought terri
BILE havoc among the enemy. the losses
OF the vanquished being variously esti-
mated at from 10000 to 10000. One of
those who fell in this fight was the
chivralrous John, King of Bohemia,
who although blind, led heroic charge
OF his French ally Some historians
trace the Prince of Wales crest of three
diem q serve), to this battle. the Black
Prince adopting them from the fallen
John in memory OF the event
Less than twenty miles northeast of
archers. nearly seventy years later,
after letting fly their clouds of arrows
against the heavily armored mobiles, at
tackled them with hatchets as they
HeIplcS5ly IN muQ. Five
thousand Frenchmen of noble birth, In
Guiding their commander, d'Albert. con-
stable of France, fell in this battle,
while the estimate Of English losses
was astonishingly low. some chron-
iclers giving only thirteen men at arms
and hundred footsoldiers.
Named for Ancient Tribes,
Several towns of Picardy-Amiens,
Scissors and Beauvais-owe their
names to the ancient tribes which in
habited this section. known as Belgica
Secunda, when the Romans maintained
armed camps along the valley of the
Somme. In the third century Chris
tianity was introduced, and ST. Quen-
tin, from whom the important town
twenty miles east of Peronne gets its
| name, was martyred at that time
"Picardy was the heart of Merovin-
| gian France in the fifth century, for
Clovis named scissors as his capital
while Charlemagne designated Noyans
as the principal city. and the lesser
Carolingians in turn similarly honored
Laon.
by the treaty Of Arras in 1875 the
royal towns of the Somme valley were
coded to Burgundy. but forty-two years
later. after the death of Charles the
Bold. Louis XII regained them. During
| It's brief eras OF peace the province
thrived as a center of the weaving in
| dustry, Flemish Immigrants having in.
| troduced the art"