Crécy 1346: The French Knights Charged Through Their Own Crossbowmen

In August 1346, King Edward III's army was trapped deep in France, with a far larger French army close behind. Edward escaped across a tidal ford on the Somme, chose a hillside near the village of Crécy, and waited. By morning, the flower of French knighthood lay dead in the valley below. ▶ The 60-second version:    • Crécy 1346 in Under a Minute   ▶ Watch next: Starving, Sick and Outnumbered: How Henry V Won at Agincourt (1415)    • Starving, Sick and Outnumbered: How Henry ...   ▶ Playlist:    • Great Battles of History   This animated documentary tells the full story: Edward's claim to the French crown, the landing in Normandy, the sack of Caen, the broken bridges and the race north, the crossing at Blanchetaque, the English position at Crécy, the late and disordered French arrival, the Genoese crossbowmen, the French knights charging through their own men, the blind King John of Bohemia, the night of the dead, and the siege of Calais. Chapters 0:00 Cold open 0:30 Title 0:36 1. A Crown Across the Sea 1:42 2. The Landing 2:29 3. The Sack of Caen 3:09 4. The Broken Bridges 3:47 5. The Race North 4:23 6. The White Ford 5:15 7. The Ground at Crécy 6:16 8. The French Arrive 7:08 9. The Crossbowmen 8:04 10. Through Their Own Men 9:01 11. The Blind King 10:03 12. Into the Night 10:46 13. Counting the Dead 11:32 14. Calais 12:36 Outro A note on the history: army sizes, the role of the rain, whether cannon were used, and famous lines like "let the boy win his spurs" are debated or come from a single chronicler, and the video says so where it matters. Sources include Jean Froissart, Jean le Bel, Geoffrey le Baker, and modern historians including Jonathan Sumption, Clifford J. Rogers, Andrew Ayton and Philip Preston, and Kelly DeVries. Which battle should we cover next? Tell us in the comments. Subscribe to Drawn Through Time for animated history: @DrawnThroughTimes #BattleOfCrecy #HundredYearsWar #Longbow