Battle of Crécy The Battle of Crécy ( occasionally written in English as the " Battle of Cressy " ) took place on 26 August 1346 near Crécy in northern France . It was one of the most important battles of the Hundred Years ' War because of the combination of new weapons and tactics used . The English knights knew the importance of being willing to fight dismounted elbow to elbow with the pikeman and archers , a procedure which was learned from the earlier Saxons and also by their battles with the Scots from whom they learned tactical flexibility and the adaptation to difficult terrain . All of these factors made Edward III ' s army powerful , even when outnumbered by the French forces . Background . The Battle of Sluys on 24 June 1340 , the first great battle of the Hundred Years ' War , involved infantry fighting each other aboard ships moored side by side . The French , accompanied by Genoese troops , lost the battle , giving the English the freedom of the seas . In the years following Sluys , Edward attempted to invade France through Flanders , but failed due to financial difficulties and unstable alliances . Six years later , Edward planned a different route , and put into action a massive raid through Normandy , winning victories at Caen on 26 July and the Battle of Blanchetaque on 24 August . A French plan to trap the English force between the Seine and the Somme Rivers failed ; the English escape led to the Battle of Crécy , one of the major battles of the war . Prelude . The English army landed at Saint - Vaast - la - Hougue on 12 July 1346 . Resistance to the landing was light , in part because a contingent of five hundred Genoese crossbowmen had withdrawn from the French forces only a few days previously due to a lack of pay . After approximately six days , the English army began their march through the Cherbourg peninsula with considerable pillaging as they advanced . On 26 July the English took the town of Caen ; Count d ' Eu and other French nobles were captured . Edward then took Lisieux ; but when the English neared Rouen , they found the French had destroyed the bridges . Edward proceeded along the Seine . At Poissy , the English repaired the bridge and crossed the river . Edward III ' s army left Poissy and marched north , estimates were that they covered several miles per day and met only slight resistance by the French allies of King John ' s army . Edward was separated from his Flemish allies by the destroyed bridges . He received word of a tidal crossing across a shallow part of the Somme . The Meauz chronicle states that the entire army crossed in one hour . The French tried but could not follow as the tide had begun to rise and were forced to retreat to Abbeville on or about 25 August . The English army finally reached the forest of Crécy which was deep and long . They took to a small hill north of Crécy - en - Ponthieu . Just a short distance away was Wadicourt , which provided protection for their left flank . The right flank was close to an area beyond which was the River Maye . The location of the wagons and baggage carts is conjecture . The formation was described as three - dimensional . Estimates are that the English had , by this time , traveled approximately and rested the day before the battle . The French army did not rest , putting them at a disadvantage . The English army was divided into three divisions . The vanguard were led by Edward , the Prince of Wales , the central division by the King of England , Edward III and the rearguard by the William de Bohun , Earl of Northampton . Size of forces . The size of the forces are not known exactly . Some historians have agreed on estimates of around 10 , 000 – 15 , 000 on the English side and 20 , 000 – 25 , 000 on the French side . The size and composition of the English army is considered to be more exact , since there are administrative and financial documents that recorded the organization and transportation of the army that crossed the English Channel . The much higher figures given by contemporary chroniclers such as Jean Froissart ( 100 , 000 ) and Richard Wynkeley ( 80 , 000 ) have been described by historians as quite exaggerated and " unacceptable " , going by the extant war treasury records for 1340 . The English force consisted of around 2 , 700 – 2 , 800 men - at - arms , heavily armed and armored men that included the English King and various nobles with their retinues as well as lower - ranking knights and other contingents . Accompanying them were around 11 , 000 – 12 , 000 other troops . The estimated composition of these varies somewhat ; according to Clifford Rogers there were 2 , 300 Welsh spearmen , 7 , 000 Welsh and English foot archers and 3 , 250 mounted archers and hobelar s ( light cavalry ) ; Andrew Ayton puts his estimate at around 3 , 000 mounted archers and hobelars , 5 , 000 foot archers and an additional 3 , 500 other troops . Jonathon Sumption believes the force was somewhat smaller , based on calculations of the carrying capacity of the transport fleet that was assembled to ferry the army to the continent . Based on this , he has put his estimate at around 7 , 000 – 10 , 000 . French financial records from the Crécy campaign are lost , so the estimates are less certain , although there is consensus that it was considerably larger than the English . There were around 12 , 000 mounted men - at - arms , several thousand Genoese crossbowmen and " large , [ al ] though [ an ] indeterminate number of common infantry " . Several historians have accepted the figure of 6 , 000 Genoese mercenary crossbowmen . The figure has been questioned by Schnerb as unlikely based on estimates on the number of available crossbowmen in all of France ( 2 , 000 ) in 1340 , only a few years previously . That the city - states of northern Italy , or Genoa on its own , could have put several thousand mercenary crossbowmen at the disposal of the French king is described by Schnerb as " doubtful " . The contingent of common infantry soldiers are not known with any certainty , except that it was considerable and in the thousands . Nobles and men at arms at the battle . The young Prince of Wales had with him the Earl of Warwick , and the Earl of Oxford , Sir Godfrey de Harcourt , the Lord Raynold Cobham , Lord Thomas Holland , Lord Stafford , Lord Mauley , the Lord De La Warr , Sir John Chandos , Lord Bartholomew Burgherst , Lord Robert Neville , Lord Thomas Clifford , the Lord Bourchier and the Lord Latimer . In this first division , about eight hundred men - at - arms , two thousand archers , and a thousand Welshmen . They advanced in regular order to their ground , each lord under his banner and pennon , in the centre of his men . In the second division were the Earl of Arundel , the Lords Roos , Willoughby , Basset , St Albans , Sir Lewis Tufton , Lord Multon and the Lord Lascels . Sir Thomas Felton , a member of the Order of the Garter , fought at the battles of Crécy and Poitiers . Others included Sir Richard Fitz - Simon , Sir Miles Stapleton , the Earl of Northampton , the Earl Bowden , Sir John Sully and Sir Richard Pembrugge ( Pembroke ) . In front of the French army were the Moisne of Basle , the Monk of Bazeilles , the lords of Beaujen and Noyles and Louis of Spain . The French army was led by Phillip VI , surrounding him were the Counts of Alençon , Flanders , Blois , the Duke of Lorraine , Jean de Hainaut and de Montmorency , and a gathering of the lords Moisne of Blasle related the location and formation of the English forces . Battle . The King of England decided they would go no farther and would wait for the enemy . He sent his best men to choose the exact site of the battle . It is also said that he chose this time to knight his son , Edward . The men had carried with them much food and wine from their prior victories and were allowed to prepare their weaponry and to rest before the battle . The French had no time to rest , a disadvantage in that the men were tired and the crossbowmen ' s equipment was still wet . As in previous battles against the Scots , Edward III dispersed his forces in an area of flat agricultural land , choosing high ground surrounded by natural obstacles on the flanks . The king installed himself and his staff in a windmill on a small hill that protected the rear , where he could direct the battle . In a strong defensive position , the English King ordered that everybody fight on foot and deployed the army in three divisions ; one commanded by his sixteen - year - old son , Edward , the Prince of Wales and known as the Black Prince . The longbowmen were deployed in a " V - formation " along the crest of the hill . In the period of waiting that followed , the English built a system of ditches , pits and caltrop s to maim and bring down the enemy cavalry . The admonitions of the Earl Bowden were largely underestimated . His analysis of the effect of the archers was visually illustrated . Forcing the knights to fight on foot had several advantages : it prevented them from starting a premature charge , it ensured protection for the archers should the French manage to close the distance , it also ensured that the archers and supporting infantry stayed on the battlefield rather than running at the first opportunity ( a common occurrence in medieval warfare ) . Froissart ' s account . The French army , commanded by Philip VI was unrested and commenced fighting immediately after their arrival , rather than gathering their strength for a battle the next day . Philip stationed his crossbowmen , under Ottone Doria , in the front line , with the cavalry at the back . The French even left behind the pavises , the big wooden shields that were the only means of defence for the crossbowmen , in the wooden carts in the rear along with the other infantry . Both decisions proved to be costly mistakes . Froissart , the French chronicler , gives an account of the action : The first attack was from the French crossbowmen , who launched a series of volleys with the purpose of disorganizing and frightening the English infantry . This was accompanied by the sound of musical instruments , brought by Philip VI for use as scare tactics . The crossbowmen proved completely useless ; with a shooting rate of around 1 – 2 bolts per minute , they were no match for the longbowmen , who could shoot five or six arrows in the same amount of time , and also had superior range due to their bows and higher elevation . Furthermore , the crossbowmen ' s weapons were damaged by the brief thunderstorm that had preceded the battle , while the longbowmen had unstrung their bows until the rain stopped – Froissart relates that they did not withdraw their bows from their covers or sheaths until the first volley from the Genoese failed : " Les archers anglois découvrent leurs arcs , qu ' ils avoient tenus dans leur étui pendant la pluie " . The crossbowmen also did not have their pavises , which would have provided some cover for the men during the long reloading procedure , but they remained in the baggage train . Under the hail of English arrows , the crossbowmen suffered heavy losses and were unable to approach the English lines to where their crossbows would have been more effective . Their commanders , including Doria , died trying to rally their men . Frustrated and confused , the crossbowmen retreated . The knights and nobles , upon seeing the mercenaries routed , hacked them down as they came back to their lines . De Venette ' s version . French chronicler Jean de Venette ' s account differs slightly . He places the time and day of the battle on " Saint Louis ' s Day , 1346 , at the end of the ninth hour " . He mentions the failure of the Genoese crossbows to function ; he then states they were useless because they were wet and not given time to dry out . He also states that the French King ordered the massacre of the crossbowmen because of what he perceived as cowardice . De Venette blames this and the further disorder and confusion of the French on the " undue haste " of the French King . He describes the English longbowmen ' s arrows as " rain coming from heaven and the skyies which were formerly bright , suddenly darkened " . By the time this contretemps ended , several volleys of longbow arrows had already fallen among the French . At this the French knights decided it was time to charge , and they ran over the retreating mercenaries in an unorganized way . At this point the mercenaries cut the strings of their crossbows , presumably to indicate surrender . The English and Welsh longbowmen continued shooting as the knights and men - at - arms advanced , and the French fell along the way . The English cavalrymen were just behind the footsoldiers - another important difference from the French . The French cavalry was composed only of nobles . Ribaldis , a type of cannon , were first mentioned during preparations for the battle between 1345 and 1346 . Similar weapons appeared at the Siege of Calais in the same year , although it was not until the 1380s that the " ribaudekin " was mounted on wheels . The use of firearms is only mentioned in one contemporary account of the battle , that of Giovanni Villani ( d . 1348 ) . Villani did travel abroad during much of the early 14th century , yet he had returned to his home in Florence at the time of the Battle of Crécy , so his information was likely second - hand , if not third - or fourth - hand . His account also conflicts with almost all of the other contemporary chronicles of this time on the events of the battle , specifically the use of firearms . In one of the later versions of his chronicle , Froissart does mention guns being used in the battle , but by that time firearms had become more common in warfare . His earlier versions fail to include any mention of firearms . So while they were perhaps employed , their possible effect on the battle should be viewed critically . Froissart writes that English cannon made " two or three discharges on the Genoese " , which is taken to mean individual shots by two or three guns because of the time necessary to reload such early , simple artillery . These were believed to shoot large arrows and primitive grapeshot . The Florentine Giovanni Villani , agreed that they were destructive on the field , although he also indicated that the guns continued to fire upon French cavalry later in the battle : With the crossbowmen neutralized , the French cavalry charged again in organized rows . However , the slight slope and man - made obstacles disrupted the charge . At the same time , the longbowmen continued shooting volleys of arrows upon the knights . Each time , more men fell , blocking successive waves of advance . The French attack fought bravely but could not break the English formation , and after several attempts , they had suffered many casualties . Edward III ' s son , the Black Prince , came under attack , but his father refused to send help , saying that he wanted him to " win his spurs " . The prince subsequently proved himself to be an outstanding soldier . Philip himself was wounded , and at nightfall , ordered the French to retreat . Aftermath . The losses in the battle were highly asymmetrical . Contemporary sources provide total figures of losses for the French that are generally considered as exaggerated as those of the total size of the army , but convey the sense that casualties were immense . Although estimates vary , the English casualties in the battle were very light and perhaps only a tenth of those of the French army . An estimate by Geoffrey le Baker deemed credible by Michael Prestwich states that 4 , 000 French knights were killed . According to a count after the battle , the bodies of 1 , 542 French knights and squires were found in front of where the lines commanded by the Prince of Wales , Sumption assumes another " few hundred " men - at - arms were cut down in the pursuit . Ayton estimates that at least 2 , 000 French men - at - arms were killed , and notes that over 2 , 200 heraldic coats were taken from the field of battle as war booty by the English . Besides the superior defensive tactics of the English army , the heavy losses on the French side are explained by the high chivalric ideals held by knights at the time . Nobles would have " preferred the likelihood of death or capture to a dishonourable flight " , according to Ayton . No exact figures for losses among common soldiers are mentioned anywhere , but are considered to have been heavy as well . All contemporary sources give very low casualty figures for the English . Geoffrey le Baker gives among the highest estimates of around 300 English knights killed ; overall , the casualties were counted in tens rather than hundreds . While most historians consider the low English casualty figures to be improbably low , Rogers has argued that they are consistent with reports of casualties on the winning side in other medieval battles . The fighting style of the tight formations of foot soldiers , especially if they were heavily armored , generally meant very low casualties as long as they remained disciplined and kept in formation ; it was when armies broke and fled the field that serious losses were incurred , and would often result in markedly lopsided victories . The death of knights and other nobility in battle generally also left traces in records , but only two Englishmen killed have been identified : the squire Robert Brente and the newly created knight Aymer Rokesley . Two English knights were also taken prisoner , although it is unclear at what stage in the battle this happened . Fictional accounts . A fictional portrayal of the Battle of Crécy is included in the Ken Follett novel " World Without End " . The book describes the battle from an English knight ' s perspective , that of an archer , and from that of a neutral observer . This novel was made into a telefilm in 2012 and the Battle of Crécy is included , albeit in a very summarized form . Another depiction can be found in Warren Ellis ' & Raulo Caceres ' graphic novel " Crécy " , which frames the battle as a narration by a Suffolk archer ; or in Bernard Cornwell ' s fictional account of an archer in the Hundred Years ' War , " Harlequin " ( UK title ) , part of the Grail Quest novel series , or " The Archer ' s Tale " ( US title ) . The lead character Thomas of Hookton , is an English archer who fights in the battle . The battle appears in " The campaign of 1346 , as an historical drama " by Christopher Godmond . It is also portrayed in Ronald Welch ' s " Bowman of Crécy " . The protagonist , Edmund Beche , in P . C . Doherty ' s " The Death of a King " ( 1985 ) is present at the battle and describes it from the perspective of a bowman on the right flank near the village of Crécy . In G . A . Henty ' s historical fiction book , " St . George for England " the main character is present at the battles of Cressy and Poitiers . The battle is a crucial episode in the life of the hero Hugh de Cressi ( his name is apparently a coincidence ) , in the H . Rider Haggard novel " Red Eve " . The battle is described in some detail , including , for example the failure of the Genoese bowmen , attributed in the book , as above , to wet strings ; and also the merciless treatment of the French wounded .