Crécy, Battle of

An illustration in the chronicles of French poet and chronicler Jean Froissart (around 1400) featuring Edward the Black Prince, son of Edward III of England. The battle at the village of Crécy in 1346 is generally regarded as the first major outbreak of hostilities in the Hundred Years' War, yet it came after at least eight years of fairly vicious Anglo-French land skirmishes and naval combat. It was not until 1475 that English aspirations for French territory were in general laid aside.

A gilt copper effigy of Edward, ‘the Black Prince’, on his tomb in Canterbury Cathedral. Born in 1330, he died before his father (Edward III of England), in 1376.

First major battle of the Hundred Years' War, fought on 26 August 1346. Philip VI of France was defeated by Edward III of England at the village of Crécy-en-Ponthieu, now in Somme département, France, 18 km/11 mi northeast of Abbeville. The English archers played a crucial role in Edward's victory, which allowed him to besiege and take Calais.

Following a failed attack on Paris in early August, Edward was chased northward by superior French forces. His army had to fight across the ford of Blanchetaque on the river Somme before turning to fight some 8 km/5 mi north, in Ponthieu. He led some 10,000 men, including 2,000 men-at-arms, 5,000 archers and 3,000 infantry. Philip was said to have had 12,000 mounted men-at-arms, 6,000 Genoese crossbowmen, and perhaps 10,000 other infantry. However, he was unable to make effective use of his larger forces because they were strung out in a long line of march and difficult to deploy easily. First, the crossbowmen were outshot by the English, then a series of uncoordinated cavalry charges were flung against the defenders. Edward had disposed his archers and men-at-arms in mutually supportive battles that hurled back these attacks. Some 1,500 French knights were killed and Philip withdrew.