According to one estimate French casualties included eleven princes, 1,200 knights and 12,000 soldiers killed. During one of these attacks Edward’s son The Black Prince came under direct attack, but his father refused to send help, claiming he needed to ‘win his spurs’.Īfter nightfall Philip VI, himself wounded, ordered the retreat. The English and Welsh archers and men-at-arms held them off not just once, but 16 times in total. ![]() Philip VI, after commenting on the uselessness of his archers, sent forward his cavalry who charged through and over his own crossbowmen. It is also reported that rain had adversely affected the bowstrings of the crossbows. With a firing rate of three – five volleys per minute they were however no match for the English and Welsh longbow men who could fire ten – twelve arrows in the same amount of time. The French first sent out the mercenary Genoese crossbowmen, numbering between 6000 and 12,000 men. One of these divisions was commanded by Edward’s sixteen year old son Edward the Black Prince. The English took a defensive position in three divisions on ground that sloped downwards, with the archers on the flanks. Edward’s forces were continually tracked by a much larger French army, until they finally arrived at Crécy in 1346 with a force of 8,000. Battle of CrécyĪfter landing with some 12,000 men, including 7,000 archers and taking Caen in Normandy, Edward III moved northwards. It was perhaps due this continual state of war that so many historical records survive which raise the longbow to legendary status first at Crécy and Poitiers, and then at Agincourt. It is however during Edward III’s reign when more documented evidence confirms the important role that the longbow has played in both English and Welsh history.Įdward III’s reign was of course dominated by the Hundred Years War which actually lasted from 1337-1453. ![]() With the conquest of Wales complete, Welsh conscripts were incorporated into the English army for Edward’s campaigns further north into Scotland.Īlthough King Edward I, ‘ The Hammer of the Celts’, is normally regarded as the man responsible for adding the might of the longbow to the English armoury of the day, the actual evidence for this is vague, although he did ban all sports but archery on Sundays, to make sure Englishmen practised with the longbow. During the Anglo-Norman invasion of Wales, it is said that the ‘Welsh bowmen took a heavy toll on the invaders’. The Welsh however, do appear to have been the first to develop the tactical use of the longbow into the deadliest weapon of its day. It is thought that even earlier finds have been uncovered in Scandinavia. Although generally attributed to the Welsh, longbows have in fact been around at least since Neolithic times: one made of yew and wrapped in leather was found in Somerset in 1961. The longbow as we recognise it today, measuring around the height of a man, made its first major appearance towards the end of the Middle Ages.
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