Chronicles

After the truce ends, the English at first repel a French invasion of Aquitaine. However, under the French commander the Duke of Normandy, the French manage to besiege the English-held castle of Aiguillon. Edward III left England to lead the forces to relieve Aquitaine in person. “There must have been four thousand men-at-arms and ten thousand archers, without counting the Irish and Welsh who followed his army on foot…” (69).

Under the advice of Sir Godfrey of Harcourt, a pro-English nobleman who had to flee France, Edward III decides to invade Normandy because it is a wealthy region and relatively undefended since the Duke of Normandy had taken his forces to Aquitaine. “So was the good, fat land of Normandy ravaged and burnt, plundered and pillaged by the English…” (72). Outraged, Charles VI called on his ally the King of Bohemia (modern-day Czech Republic) and the King of Bohemia’s son Charles of Bohemia, who was King of Germany and Holy Roman Emperor. Also, he summoned a great number of nobles and knights from across France.

While Philip VI took a long time to gather his forces, Edward III devastated Normandy. Since the populace never faced warfare before, Edward III’s forces faced little resistance and took the wealthy town of Saint-Lô. Next, Edward III targeted Caen, which had expensive supplies of cloth and rich abbeys to plunder. The citizens of Caen insisted on marching out to fight the English. “They seemed ready to risk their lives courageously and to put up a good defense” (74).

The English take Caen by being able to cross the river without using the defensible bridge. In the town, the townspeople killed “several hundred” (76) English soldiers by pelting them with bricks and stones. Enraged, Edward III planned initially to destroy the town and massacre the population. Godfrey of Harcourt convinced Edward III not to slaughter the people of the town on the purely practical grounds that doing so would require street fighting that would exhaust the army. Instead, the soldiers are forbidden from starting fires or killing or raping the citizens, though Edward III’s men still coerced many citizens out of their possessions. Still, Froissart admits “there were many ugly cases of murder and pillage, of arson and robbery, for in an army such as the King of England was leading it was impossible that there should not be plenty of bad characters and criminals without conscience” (77).

The English got near Paris, which alarmed the people of the city, forcing Philip VI to reassure them. Philip VI left Paris with his army and followed Edward III. To elude the French, Edward III had to cross the River Seine. A French groom named Goblin Agace told Edward III about a ford he could easily cross instead of a bridge at the heavily fortified town of Abbeville. Although nearly caught by the French forces, Edward III managed to cross the river and defeat a French force pursuing them.

Finally, Edward III decided to fight Philip VI near the town of Crècy, even though his forces “were only an eighth of those of the King of France” (83). One of Philip VI’s scouts argued that, since the English are ready for battle, the French army should rest for the night before confronting them. However, the nobles leading the army were eager for battle, so the army kept marching and fought the English “in no kind of order” (76) while the English were drawn up in three divisions with “perfect discipline” (76). The battle started with the English archers, who devastated the Genoese soldiers in front, so much so Philip VI ordered his warriors to fight their way through the Genoese themselves.

The battle went badly for the French, although Froissart also states there were a “vast number of fine knights and excellent knights who were with the King of France” (90). Charles of Bohemia left the battle when he saw it was going badly, and the King of Bohemia was killed in the fighting. When the French managed to put up a strong fight against the division led by Edward III’s son, the Prince of Wales, some of the nobles fighting alongside the Prince of Wales sent a request for reinforcements to Edward III. Still, Edward III declined, instead ordering them “to let the boy win his spurs” (92).

The end of the battle was a disaster for the French. “It must be said that fearful losses had been inflicted on the French and the kingdom of France was greatly weakened by the death of so many of her brave nobility” (93). Froissart blames the Welsh and Cornish in the army for killing many of the wounded nobles, who normally would have been taken prisoner, on the battlefield. Afterward, the English defeated another force led by the Archbishop of Rouen, who mistook the English for Philip VI’s army. Afterward, Edward III had the bodies of all nobles buried with the proper ceremonies.