The Battle of Crécy, 1346: How the English Longbow changed warfare forever

By Princess Charlotte (Medieval Warfare Expert)

If medieval warfare had a moment when everyone realised the old rules no longer applied, it happened on a hillside in northern France on the 26th August, 1346. When we mention the Battle of Crécy we really should be talking about a French victory that looked pretty inevitable when the two armies met.

The English army, led by King Edward III had other ideas.

King Edward III's English army was tired, outnumbered and deep inside enemy territory. The French army was far larger, wealthier and commanded by King Philip VI himself. On paper, the result looked ominous. There was no other result possible, there were 30,000 French (with home advantage) against somewhere between 9,000 and 12,000 English and Welsh soldiers with - and here is the important part - the majority being armed longbowmen.

How did the French lose? Well, the English chose their ground carefully, taking up a strong defensive position on rising land near the village of Crécy. The French arrived late in the day after a long march. Rather than waiting until morning, they attacked immediately. It was a huge mistake.

The battle is often remembered as 'the longbow battle'. English archers could shoot rapidly and accurately over long distances (300 yards!), creating a deadly storm of arrows, with longbowmen able to launch between 5 and 12 arrows every minute.

The English stood their ground. The French launched attack after attack in poor coordination. Cavalry, infantry and crossbowmen struggled to work together. Thousands of French soldiers died from English arrows. They could not break the English army and the English couldn't miss their targets. It was a massacre.

Among the dead was John of Bohemia, a blind king in his fifties who insisted on joining the battle despite being unable to see. Famously, his knights tied their horses together and rode into combat at his side. It remains one of the most extraordinary stories of medieval chivalry.

Crécy was the perfect showcase for how the English longbow became the most feared weapon across European battlefields and had rewritten the rules of medieval warfare.

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