Osprey Trade Editions : Crecy 1346

The Battle of Crecy was the first major land battle of the Hundred Years War. The French army, then considered the best in Europe, and their miscellaneous allies faced the English under King Edward III and the 'Black Prince', who as yet had no great military reputation. This book tells of how the Genoese crossbowmen were outshot by the English longbows and the charges of the French Knights were then forced back with appalling losses. Crecy is of special importance because it pitted large numbers of English longbowmen against a massed charge of armoured knights. This battle established the longbow as one of the most feared weapons of the medieval period. Text by David Nicolle with illustrations by Graham Turner.