Crécy

by Griff Hosker

  These were shepherds and farmers. They were peasants who did not have the weapons to follow the Oriflamme! I kicked Megs hard and rode for the shadow that was in the blackberry bush. The Frenchman was not a warrior and instead of standing his ground and waiting for me to pass so that he could have a free strike at me, he stepped out and slashed at us with his billhook. I jinked Megs to the side and hacked into his neck. It was when he died that the rest attacked. There were at least sixty of them and many had been hiding in ditches and on the ground. Ned and Jack had my men send arrows into those who were further from us and that allowed those who rode with me to use their swords against unarmoured peasants wielding primitive and home-made polearms, daggers and, at best, hunting bows with hunting arrows. One such arrow hit my gambeson, but it did not penetrate. I leaned from my saddle to take the head of a farmer who had a short sword. I actually felt sorry for the peasants, but the army needed to eat and we needed this flock. Even as I hacked a peasant in the shoulder, I wondered how the other archers could have lost men for while we were outnumbered my men had the gauge of these men. Perhaps the others had ridden in blindly for Ned and Jack directed the rain of arrows so that the men we struck and killed were unsupported and, by the time we had reached the sheep, the resistance was no longer there.

  I turned and shouted, “Ned, have the sheep collected and drive them back. We will pursue these men!”

  “Aye, Captain!

  My men and I rode for two miles hewing and hacking at men who were terrified and desperate to escape us. It was not cruelty for if we did not kill them then they would come back, and they would kill us. We had two armies seeking us and if the local population joined them then all of us might die!

  It was when we reached Poix, which lay south of the Somme, that we heard that the French army, now so great that accurate numbers were hard to estimate, was gathered at Amiens and they would deny us the crossing of the Somme. The fleet would be at Le Crotoy, north of the Somme and we pushed on, desperately hoping that the fleet would be there and could come south of the river and take us off the beach at St. Valery! If they did not, then we would be trapped against the sea with nowhere to go. King Edward wanted a battle but on our terms!

  We moved quickly over the next four days as we had a narrower corridor to forage. The French did as they had done on the Seine and every bridge was destroyed. They had emptied the land south of the river and waited for us on the north bank while keeping their swords in the backs of our rearguard, the King. We had kept the bones of the goat and Michael made a stew which gradually became a soup. He added flavour by gathering wild greens, garlic and herbs as we travelled north and west. He was now an integral part of the company and I could not think of one who did not like him. He had an endearing quality which made all men take to him. I wondered what I would do when and if we ever returned to England. I did not want him as a servant for there was no dignity in that.

  We were camped at Acheux which was just a few miles from St. Valery where we hoped to spy and signal the fleet when I spoke with him about his future. “When we get to England, Michael, you will have the pay you have earned with us. What would you?”

  He shrugged, “I know not, Captain. Those months I spent chained in that byre, whipped so often I could barely feel it, made me just want to die. I think when you opened the door it felt like I was born again but as a youth! What did you do when you were my age?”

  “I told you that first night when I sewed your clothes, I was an apprentice tailor. Had I not met Captain Philip then by now I might be a master tailor!”

  He laughed, “Somehow, Captain, I cannot see that. You are a born soldier. Everyone knows that and I have followed the army long enough to recognise it too. It is not just that you are an archer, Robin tells me all the time of your quick thinking and your skill with all weapons.” I shrugged for I was unused to praise and did not know how to handle it. Michael suddenly pounced, “That is it, Captain! Make me your apprentice!”

  I shook my head, “You are too old to be trained as an archer.” I tapped his chest, “This needs to be much bigger.”

  “I know but I mean training to be a soldier. You have skills with weapons, and I can not only cook but also keep weapons sharp. I could be useful to you.”

  There are times in a man’s life when events happen which seem to be decided by some supernatural power. Our discovery of Michael had been an accident, or had it? I was planning a different future and now I saw a plan. If I was to become a man at arms, then I would need my own men with me. I could use the raw clay that was Michael to become the first. I nodded, “Very well but if the day comes that you tire of my grumpy ways then tell me and we shall part. I will have no man beholden to me because of a promise he made when he was young. There will be no indenture papers. It is your word and mine which will bind us!”

  “Aye, Captain, and I am your man.”

  It was one of the best decisions I ever made.

  The next day I was with the advance party and I had taken Michael with me. I had decided to begin his training immediately. Prince Edward also rode just ahead of us and, as we neared St. Valery, we all stared north to Le Crotoy across the Somme estuary. We gazed on an empty sea. The Count was with the Prince as well as the rest of Prince Edward’s advisers. We dismounted and Ned and Jack joined us.

  “Well, Captain, that is us buggered and no mistake!”

  I smiled at Ned’s colourful language.

  Jack nodded his agreement, “Aye, with the French crossing the river at Abbeville and no crossings over the Somme we have to fight the French, and this does not look like a good place to fight them. I heard the French vanguard is closing with the baggage!”

  Michael frowned and said, “What do you mean, Jack, no crossings?”

  I think Jack thought that Michael might be like Rafe and a little simple, “The bridges, they are all destroyed.”

  Michael nodded, “But not the tidal ford at Blanchetaque.”

  His words gave me hope, “What? Speak!”

  He pointed upstream, “At Blanchetaque there is a ford which can be crossed at low tide. You will get your feet wet, but it can be crossed.”

  “How do you know?”

  “When we came back from the north, we came this way for it was the shortest way home.”

  I ran to the Prince. “My lord!”

  Count Godfrey glared at me and the Prince snapped, “We are busy, archer!”

  “My lord, there is a crossing of the Somme just a couple of miles east of here. We can cross at low tide.”

  The Prince turned on the Count, “Well?”

  He shrugged, “I have heard of it, but I know not where it is.”

  I said, “Prince Edward, we can ride along the river and the boy we rescued knows the place for he crossed there.”

  Sir John Chandos smiled, “Prince Edward, it is a better choice than the one we face here. Your father needs to bring the French to battle but it is not here that he would choose.”

  “Very well, Sir John, ride to my father and tell him this news. We will follow the archers to this ford at Blanchetaque and hope that the boy is right!”

  The Prince and his household flanked Michael and me as we led the vanguard along the swampy ground to the ford. That it was a ford became obvious when we saw a force of over three thousand Frenchmen guarding the northern bank. The Prince clapped Michael on the shoulders and then gave him a golden coin, “Well done!” Then he turned to me, “I want every archer in the river to clear the other bank! I can see the tide is still high but by the time my father is here with the baggage then I want us to command the far bank!”

  I whipped Megs’ head around and rode back to the archers. I was still just a vintenar and I told the four captains what the Prince intended. Captain William was the most senior archer and he nodded. “Every archer dismount and line up on the riverbank. Tell them that they will get their feet wet!”

  I gathered my men and I took off my boots. There was little point in ruining a good
pair of boots and being barefoot would give me a more secure stance. As we waited for the entire company of archers to assemble we all organised our bags of arrows and strung our bows. As some were still with King Edward and the Earl of Northampton we just had three thousand archers but, as I looked across the river, I saw that the majority of those who faced us, whilst they had shields had little mail. If they made a defence using the shields, then they would be packed into a solid block and the defence that presented was an illusion. The shields they had could not protect their whole body and as the French man at arms we had hit at Elbeuf had discovered, arrows in the legs were equally deadly!

  Captain William led us into the water. It was icy and my feet immediately began to numb; that would pass. We all held our bows high. The tide was receding which meant we could steadily work our way across the ford as we cleared the bank. The French did as I had anticipated and locked shields so that we were presented by a wall of wood topped with helmets. Less than half of the French appeared to be warriors. They were the ones with good helmets and larger shields. There was a sprinkling of mail amongst them. The rest were peasants with smaller round or square shields and spears. Some had older helmets or leather caps. As soon as the order was given then three thousand arrows soared into the sky and even while they were in the air another three thousand followed and by the time the first flights had plunged into wood and flesh a third flight was on its way.

  “Forward!”

  As we marched a little further across the ford, I saw the damage that we had done. The mailed warriors had survived largely intact for we were using war arrows and not bodkins, but the peasantry had been halved.

  “Halt!”

  When we loosed this time, we were so much closer that the arrows took a greater toll and after three more flights the French broke. Prince Edward had two hundred hobelars and the lightly armoured men had their horses swim the deeper part of the channel to chase the French from the field. We tramped back to our horses and mounted. I donned my buskins. Even before the ford was visible the archers were able to cross for we could swim the deep part. When we reached the northern bank, we found the French camp and the supplies they had left. As we were the first ones across, we had food and drink! We had our reward for a soaking.

  It took an hour, that is all, for the whole army to cross the ford. The last wagons across, the ones carrying the carpenters, the gunners and their eight crude cannons and gunpowder as well as the wood, found the water was up to the top of the wheels for the tide had turned but they made it and we saw King Philip’s vanguard as it neared the now impassable Somme. Their only option was to return to Abbeville and cross the river at the bridge there. That was more than twelve miles away. We had gained more than a day and that meant King Edward had time to choose somewhere to fight the French. We were starving and we were exhausted but if the King could find somewhere to fight then we had a chance.

  Battle of Crécy

  Author’s map

  Chapter 13

  We still had enough daylight to march north and when we saw the piece of higher ground and the long wood close to the village of Crécy-en-Ponthieu, then even Rafe the Dull knew that we had found a place to give battle. For archers it was perfect. There were woods close to a river and high ground so that we could loose our arrows over men at arms. The four villages and hamlets we saw would channel the French towards us for the main road from Abbeville passed along the river. We even found food for the French had not thought we would get this far and although the village was empty for the people had fled, they had not had enough time to take all of their food away. The village was within a mile or so of the three small hamlets, Fontaine, Wadicourt and Estrées where we found some animals and some food there too. We made camp and we waited. The wagon and horse park were on the reverse slope between the river and Wadicourt. King Edward used some of his mounted archers to head towards Abbeville to see where the French were while the rest of us were sent across the shallow River Maye to the wood of Crécy to cut down saplings and branches to make stakes. If we were to fight a battle, then we had to slow down the enemy and make them bleed before they got to us.

  We had just gathered our wood, recrossed the river, and darkness had fallen when the archer scouts returned. They reported to the King and then spoke to us for we were all camped together.

  “The French King is at Abbeville! We will not see them tonight and if they come tomorrow it will not be until noon!”

  Jack asked the archer, “And how many are there?”

  He grinned, “Let us just say that I hope the King has thirty thousand arrows for he shall need that number and then some! We may have to use our swords and bodkins tomorrow!”

  With disease, dysentery and desertions I estimated that we had, perhaps, fourteen thousand men. We, the archers, were the largest contingent, there were five thousand of us but three and a half thousand of the men who would face the French were just spearmen without any mail and three thousand were hobelars. The French would have at least eight thousand men at arms and knights not to mention more crossbowmen than we had archers. It would not be an easy fight. Besides, they would have twenty thousand men mustered from the lands of Picardy and Artois. The night before the battle I gave Michael his first real lessons in becoming a warrior. He now had a short sword and a brigandine we had captured for him. There was also a helmet we had found which needed an arming cap but would serve him. We even had a shield taken from one of the men at arms from Elbeuf. We had scratched out the design. One day he would paint his own design upon it.

  “You will stand behind me and use my body and that shield for protection.”

  “Will I not need to fetch arrows?”

  “No, for we will have all that we need with us. We will each have two war bags and by each stake, there will be another four sheaves of arrows. If any of my men are hit, then go to them and tend them but use your shield for protection. If you survive tomorrow, then you will be well on your way to becoming a warrior.”

  I think he looked disappointed as though he expected to have to do something more glorious!

  We were up before dawn and ate some of our food. We had enough for one more large meal and then we would be hungry again. However, just breaking our fast meant that men were happier with food in their bellies and they could face a battle better. We were then allocated our position. Prince Edward’s division was given the place of honour for we were closest to the village and the river and on the lowest patch of ground. It was the place the French would attack but Prince Edward had the largest division and the greatest number of archers. The Earl of Northampton and the Bishop of Durham were to our left and higher up the slope with their flank anchored in the houses of Wadicourt. The King was on the highest part of the slope and in reserve. While the one thousand Welsh spearmen and one thousand men at arms dug pits before our positions, we archers, all three thousand of us, rammed timbers into the ground facing the south-east and then we sharpened them. The stakes were hammered in alternatively and offset from the archer ahead so that while we could stand in the spaces a horseman mounted on a large horse would not be able to make a direct approach. They would have to slow to a walk and twist and turn. The gunners then placed their eight cannons so that they had a clear field to fire their noisy machines. The last time I had seen such weapons they had been firing at me! When that was done, we stood in our three divisions and we waited. Scouts returned to say that the French had left Abbeville and were marching along the road. It was eight miles from the start of the column to the end! It was obvious that they would not be here soon and so we finished off our food.

  Michael wondered at that, “Should we not save some food for after the battle?”

  Robin laughed, “If we are defeated then we will be running for our lives and trying to swim back to England and if we win then there will be horsemeat aplenty!”

  We ate well and then used old bowstrings and crudely fashioned hooks to lie in the sun and try to catch fish in the river. Ned just sl
ept for he was an old hand. Surprisingly a few small fish were caught, and they were cooked there and then. Jack said, “Times past I have eaten them raw!” My company then began a heated debate about who had had to eat the worst food. It was banter and it passed the time. More importantly, it told me that the men were in good spirits.

  When we saw, in the early afternoon, the French Royal Standard Bearer and another ten nobles ride up the road from Fontaine, the horn was sounded, and we left the river to take up our positions. I do not think that either before, or since, have I been so rested before a battle. We had to wake Ned up! Perhaps nature was on our side for, as we took our positions, the sun disappeared, and thick black clouds rolled in. I turned to my men, “Do not string your bow until the last moment, rain is on the way!”

  King Edward, on the same small white horse he had ridden at Caen, rode down our lines, exhorting us to deeds of great valour for England and to guard his honour! We all cheered, the men at arms and spearmen banged their weapons against their shields and so the tactic was effective for he had inspired us.

  The French nobles disappeared to be replaced, as the first drops of rain fell, by the French advance guard. They were Genoese crossbowmen and a few spearmen. As the Genoese formed their ranks the rain fell harder and then I saw the French men at arms appear. Unlike our men at arms, they had all retained their horses and within a short time, there were more mounted men at arms that we had in our whole army and I could see, trailing off in the distance, more banners arriving. The rain was bouncing as the Genoese tried to form ranks. Behind them, Blind King John of Bohemia and Count Charles of Alençon, King Philip's brother, formed the first battle. I estimated that there had to be over five thousand mailed horsemen preparing to charge us once the Genoese had weakened us.

  The Genoese began to advance and soon we would have to string our bows. However, before we did so our eight cannons belched fire and stones at the Italian mercenaries. I was not impressed by these new weapons for they were full of sound and fury yet seemed to achieve little. The French horses, however, were a little discomfited and some of the Genoese seemed reluctant to advance but as there were more than five thousand of them the few dozen who seemed reluctant to advance did not seem to have an effect. I studied the Genoese and saw that their weapons were strung already, and the rain would make them slack. They would not be able to send their bolts as far as on a dry day. I glanced behind me and saw that the sky was beginning to clear. I heard the Earl of Northampton’s archers ordered to string their bows. A few moments later Captain William ordered us to string our bows. The Genoese were still more than four hundred paces from us, and my men looked to me. I shook my head. When the Genoese were three hundred paces they began to slow and I said, quietly, “Right boys, string your bows!” My men did so efficiently.