Battle of Crecy, 26 August 1346

The first major English land victory of the Hundred Years War, the battle of Crecy established Edward III and his son, Edward the Black Prince, as military heros in England, and allowed Edward to besiege and capture Calais, the most important result of this campaign. The smaller English army held the higher ground, and repeated French attacks were repulsed, largely due to the English longbowmen, but not without severe hand to hand fighting, in which the Black Prince, then only 16, was involved. Perhaps as many as four thousand French noblemen were killed in the battle, and countless others captured, throwing the French war effort into disarray.
cover Crecy 1346 : Triumph of the Longbow, Dr David Nicolle, a recent and very good book on the battle
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How to cite this article: Rickard. J., (19 August 2000), Battle of Crecy, 26 August 1346, http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_crecy.html

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