St. George for England
Page 20
King Edward shouted to his knights, "Let those who love me follow me,"and spurred his horse into the water. Behind him followed his mostvaliant knights, and Walter riding close to the Prince of Wales was oneof the foremost.
The French resisted valiantly and a desperate battle took place on thenarrow ford, but the impetuosity of the English prevailed, and stepby step they drove the French back to the other side of the river. Thewhole army poured after their leaders, and the French were soon entirelyrouted and fled, leaving two thousand men-at-arms dead on the field.
King Edward, having now freed himself from the difficulties which hadencompassed him on the other side of the river, prepared to choose aground to give battle to the whole French army.
Louis had advanced slowly, feeling confident that the English would beunable to cross the river, and that he should catch them hemmed in byit. His mortification and surprise on finding, when he approached LaBlanche Tache, that twelve thousand men had been insufficient to holda ford by which but twelve could cross abreast, and that his enemy hadescaped from his grasp, were great. The tide had now risen again, and hewas obliged to march on to Abbeville and cross the river there.
King Edward now advanced into the Forest of Cressy.
Hugh de le Spencer, with a considerable force, was despatched to Crotoy,which he carried by assault after a severe conflict, in which fourthousand of the French men-at-arms were slain. The capture of this cityremoved all danger of want from the army, for large stores of wine andmeal were found there, and Sir Hugh at once sent off a supply to thetired army in the field.
The possession of Crotoy and the mouth of the Somme would have nowrendered it easy for the English monarch to have transported his troopsto England, and to have returned triumphant after the accomplishment ofhis extraordinary and most successful march through France. The army,however, was elated by the many great successes it had won, he was nowin Ponthieu, which was one of his own fiefs, and he determined to make astand in spite of the immense superiority of the enemy.
Next morning, then--Friday the 25th of August, 1346--he despatched theEarl of Warwick with Godfrey of Harcourt and Lord Cobham, to examine theground and choose a site for a battle.
The plan of the fight was drawn out by the king and his councillors,and the king yielded to the Black Prince the chief place of danger andhonour placing with him the Earl of Warwick, Sir John Chandos, and manyof his best knights.
The ground which had been chosen for the battle was an irregular slopebetween the forest of Cressy and the river Maie near the little villageof Canchy. The slope looked towards the south and east, from whichquarters the enemy was expected to arrive, and some slight defences wereadded to the natural advantages of the ground.
On the night of the 25th all the principal leaders of the British hostwere entertained by King Edward. Next morning, Mass was celebrated,and the king, the prince, and many knights and nobles received theSacrament, after which the trumpet sounded, and the army marched totake up its position. Its numbers are variously estimated, but the bestaccount puts it at about 30,000 men which, considering that 32,000 hadcrossed the Channel to La Hogue, is probably about the force which wouldhave been present allowing that 2000 had fallen in the various actionsor had died from disease.
The division of the Black Prince consisted of 800 men-at-arms, 4000archers, and 6000 Welsh foot. The archers, as usual, were placed infront, supported by the light troops of Wales and the men-at-arms; onhis left was the second division, commanded by the Earls of Arundel andNorthampton; its extreme left rested on Canchy and the river, and it wasfurther protected by a deep ditch; this corps was about 7000 strong.
The king himself took up his position on a knoll of rising groundsurmounted by a windmill, and 12,000 men under his personal command wereplaced here in reserve.
In the rear of the Prince's division an enclosure of stakes was formed;in this, guarded by a small body of archers, were ranged the wagonsand baggage of the army, together with all the horses, the king havingdetermined that the knights and men-at-arms on his side should fight onfoot.
When the army had taken up its position, the king, mounted on asmall palfrey, with a white staff in his hand, rode from rank to rankexhorting his soldiers to do their duty gallantly. It was nearly noonbefore he had passed through all the lines, and permission wasthen given to the soldiers to fall out from their ranks and to takerefreshments while waiting for the coming of the enemy. This wasaccordingly done, the men eating and drinking at their ease and lyingdown in their ranks on the soft grass with their steel caps and theirbows or pikes beside them.
In the meantime the French had, on their side, been preparing for thebattle. Phillip had crossed the Somme at Abbeyville late on Thursdayafternoon, and remained there next day marshalling the largereinforcements which were hourly arriving. His force now considerablyexceeded 100,000 men, the number with which he had marched from Amiensthree days previously.
Friday was the festival of St. Louis, and that evening Phillip gave asplendid banquet to the whole of the nobles of his army.
On the following morning the king, accompanied by his brother the Countd'Alencon, the old King of Bohemia and his son, the King of Rome, theDuke of Lorraine, the Count of Blois, the Count of Flanders, and agreat number of other feudal princes, heard Mass at the Abbey, and thenmarched with his great army towards Cressy. He moved but slowly in orderto give time to all the forces scattered over the neighbourhood to comeup, and four knights, headed by one of the King of Bohemia's officers,went forward to reconnoitre the English position. They approached withina very short distance of the English lines and gained a very exactknowledge of the position, the English taking no measures to interruptthe reconnaissance. They returned with the information they hadgathered, and the leader of the party, Le Moyne de Basele, one of themost judicious officers of his time, strongly advised the king to halthis troops, pointing out that as it was evident the English were readyto give battle, and as they were fresh and vigorous while the Frenchwere wearied and hungry, it would be better to encamp and give battlethe next morning.
Phillip saw the wisdom of the advice and ordered his two marshals theLord of St. Venant and Charles de Montmorency to command a halt. Theyinstantly spurred off, one to the front and the other to the rear,commanding the leaders to halt their banners. Those in advance at onceobeyed, but those behind still pressed on, declaring that they would nothalt until they were in the front line. All wanted to be first, in orderto obtain their share of the honour and glory of defeating the English.Those in front, seeing the others still coming on, again pressedforward, and thus, in spite of the efforts of the king and his marshals,the French nobles with their followers pressed forward in confusion,until, passing through a small wood, they found themselves suddenly inthe presence of the English army.