Battle of Crécy: took place on August 26, 1346, in northern France.  This battle is considered by historians to be the beginning of the end of chivalry in warfare.  This is because many rules of chivalry were either ignored or outright broken by the English.

Edward III led an army about 14,000 strong against Philip VI of France’s army of 75,000.  England depended heavily upon masses of Longbowmen against the heavily armored knights of France.  At the beginning of the battle, the French knights (against their king’s command) charged at the English.

However, to get to the English the French knights had to ride over the Genoese crossbowmen that they hired.  What had actually happened was the crossbowmen misjudged the distance and shot too early.  The English longbowmen counter-attacked; and with their greater rate of fire and mobility (they occupied the high-ground).  The crossbowmen ran in retreat.  The French knights then ran a cavalry charge through their Genoese allies to get at the English.  By the time the French cavalry reached the hill below where the English longbowmen were located the knights were tired.  They had to get off their horse in order to climb the muddy hill to get at the English.  As the French climbed the hill they were absolutely cut down by the longbowmen; moreover, the English used cannon and halbidiers to strike at the French from a distance.  During the battle it is estimated that as much as 1/3 of the nobility of France was killed.

The Code of Chivalry Violated
The Battle of Crécy is considered by many historians as the end of chivalry in warfare.  This was because the English killed many of the prisoners and wounded that they captured.  This was against the “rules”, in that, English longbowmen (who were basically just peasants) actually stabbed wounded knights to death.  This was against the rules because if a knight was off his horse he was considered to be “undefeatable”.  An infantryman could not attack the horseless knight because they lacked the necessary status.

Also, at Crécy the first real use of cannon (see above) on a European battlefield appeared.  Knights were critical of the use of cannon because these new weapons were considered cowardly and uncivilized.  They were cowardly because people of lower rank were able to cut down people of higher rank from a distance.  Moreover, cannon were considerd “uncivilized” because these weapons killed the enemy indiscriminantly.  Before the introduction of the cannon (or other types of firearms) battle was glorious and beautiful, i.e. A knight would search the field of battle for another knight of similar rank to fight, etc.

Aftermath
English casualties at the Battle of Crécy were light; however, thousands of French died in the conflict.  Charles lost many of his best knights, with Charles himself escaping wounded from the field.  After the French left the field, the English looked through the wounded French to see who was worth taking prisoner for ransom. Those knights who were too severely wounded to be easily carried off the field were dispatched with misericordias (mercy-givers).

These were long daggers which were inserted through the unprotected underarms and into the heart, or through visor slits and into the brain. This was against the chivalric codes of warfare, since peasants were killing knights; knights were also dying from anonymous arrow shots rather than face to face in combat with peers.

This battle established the military supremacy of the English longbow over the French combination of crossbow and armoured knights and was to alter significantly the way in which war was conducted for a considerable period of time thereafter.  After the Battle of Crécy, Edward III went on to besiege the city of Calais, which surrendered to him after eleven months, giving the English a base in northern France. The next major battle in the Hundred Years War, the Battle of Poitiers in 1356, would see another defeat for the French, under very similar conditions

Watch the video to learn more about the Battle of Crécy.