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MEDIEVAL KNIGHTS AND BOWMEN
THE BATTLE THE BA

OF CRÉCY

During the Hundred Years’ War—the series of conflicts fought
between the kings of France and England from 1337 to 1453— TTLE OF CRÉCY
the medieval knight’s dominance of the European battlefield
began to wane. At Crécy in 1346, mounted armored warriors
were shot down by common bowmen.

In medieval Europe, knights and According to chronicler Jean Froissart:
men-at-arms were a social and “The English archers advanced one
military elite, traditionally accorded step forward, and shot their arrows
pride of place on the battlefield. with such force and quickness, that
Battles were supposed to be won by it seemed as if it snowed.”
thundering charges in which nobles Overwhelmed by the mass of
showed their prowess at fighting on arrows, the Genoese fell back. But
horseback. In the course of wars with discipline on the French side was
the Scots in the early 14th century, poor. Their high-spirited noblemen
however, the English had learned the considered themselves the finest
effectiveness of a different set of knights in Europe, and they were
tactics. With knights and men-at- more concerned with seeking personal
arms deployed on foot in a primarily glory than obeying their king’s
defensive role, they used massed commands. Not waiting for orders,
archers equipped with fast-shooting they began a piecemeal charge
longbows to wreak havoc. through the ranks of the fleeing
Genoese. As the knights lumbered
LONGBOW IN THE ASCENDANT uphill, the longbow arrows brought
In 1346, King Edward III of England down horses and men, reducing the
landed in France with some 7,000 charge to floundering chaos. The
longbowmen, about 4,000 mounted firing of the handful of cannon was
knights and men-at-arms, and several barely noticed amid the devastation
thousand assorted foot soldiers. wrought by thousands of bowmen,
Edward also brought with him a few each shooting at least five arrows a
small cannon, some of the earliest minute. Edward’s infantry, armed with
gunpowder weapons to be used in spears and knives, rushed forward to
Europe. The king of France, Philip VI, finish off the unhorsed Frenchmen.
was able to field a much larger The English did not enjoy an easy
army—his knights and men-at-arms victory. The fighting continued
alone probably numbered 12,000. beyond nightfall, the rival knights
He intercepted Edward south of wielding their swords, maces, and war
Calais, forcing him to give battle. The hammers in close combat. Froissart
English king drew up his forces in a describes the French noblemen
defensive position on a ridge between gathering their surviving followers
Crécy and Wadicourt, dividing his around their individual banners to
dismounted knights and men-at-arms stage a gallant defense against the
into three divisions, or “battles.” advancing enemy. Eventually King
The encounter opened with a duel Philip fled the field, where more than
between Philip’s archers (Genoese a thousand of his knights lay dead.
mercenaries armed with crossbows) The superiority of massed longbows
and Edward’s longbowmen. The over armored knights was to be
Genoese advanced and shot their witnessed again at Poitiers in 1356
crossbow bolts to little effect. As and Agincourt in 1415—without,
they stopped to reload—a lengthy however, lessening the prestige or
process—the longbows responded. status of the mounted elite.