THE GREAT BATTLES

OF

THE BRITISH ARMY.

A.D. 1066-1346.

"The trumpets sounded, and the field began."-SPENSER.

WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR had not long been seated on the throne of England, ere he conveyed native English troops to the continent to fight against the French king or his own rebellious subjects in Normandy and Poictou. These troops immediately secured high praise for their steadiness and fidelity, and gallantry in battle.

The sons of the Conqueror made a still more frequent and more extensive use of English troops. On one occasion, when William II., surnamed Rufus, was under the necessity of proclaiming his ban of war in the old Saxon form,-" Let every man that is not a man of nothing, whether he live in burgh or out of burgh, leave his house and come," - thirty thousand stout Englishmen repaired to the place appointed for the muster. In the year 1091, when the Red King went into Normandy, his army consisted chiefly of unmixed native English, who were already acquiring the reputation of being the best foot soldiers in Europe. For a long time they appear to have been employed exclusively as infantry.

At a very early period the English, serving under their Norman princes or feudal lords, made their name and

B

prowess known in distant wars. When Duke Robert, brother of William II. and Henry I., repaired to the Holy Land with the Crusaders, who captured Jerusalem on the 15th of July 1099, a great number of English and some Irish followed his standard, and gained honour in fighting with the turbaned Saracens. Afterwards, at the battle of Tenche- Bray, where Duke Robert and his brother Henry I. fought against each other for the continental dominions of the family, the king owed his decisive victory to his English army. "This battle," observes old John Speed, "was fought, and Normandy won, upon Saturday, being the vigil of St. Michael, even the same day forty years that William the Bastard set foot on England's shore for his conquest; God so disposing it (saith Malmsbury) that Normandy should be subjected to England that very day wherein England was subdued to Normandy."

Without leaving their own island, the English, in those days, could have abundance of fighting, for Wales continued unsubdued until the time of Edward I., and with Scotland we were almost continually at war until the accession of James I. These circumstances kept up the use of arms, and the habit and spirit of war, in large portions of the population.

During the incessant wars of Henry II. on the continent, English bowmen and other English infantry always formed a considerable portion of his armies, and, with scarcely an exception, those armies defeated the French, and marched from victory to victory.

Under the lion-hearted Richard I., hosts of English were again fighting in Palestine, foremost in every assault, and distinguished in every battle. Their blue eyes, fair complexions, and ruddy cheeks, are noticed by all the foreign chroniclers who wrote on the Crusades. More than six hundred years before Napoleon Bonaparte was foiled at the siege of Acre by British valour and skill, the English signalized themselves under the same old walls and ramparts, and an English army was halted within sight of Jerusalem, after having fought and won the great battle of Jaffa.

Throughout the 12th and 13th centuries the English fully establish their reputation as one of the bravest, most warEurope. Whatever may have been the evils

like

of the feudal system, as compared, not with the worse state of things which preceded it, but with the improved systems of government which have followed it, there is abundant evidence to prove that the English commonalty lived on more friendly terms with their barons, were far less oppressed, and infinitely better fed than any people on the continent of Europe. Hence, in a great measure, their spirit and alacrity in battle, and that superior muscular strength which almost invariably gave our infantry the victory.

Under that thorough warrior Edward I., the English were again engaged in Syria and Palestine, distinguishing themselves by many feats of arms, and adding to the glory of the national name. In 1274, after Edward's return from the Holy Land, these steady English crossbowmen saved his life, and defeated the French infantry, and their horse besides, in the so-called "Little War of Chalons." During the same reign, besides sustaining innumerable combats in Wales and in Scotland, the English fought in the Netherlands, on some of the same ground which four centuries afterwards was the scene of the sieges and victories of the great Duke of Marlborough.

But it was under Edward III., whose long reign extended from the year 1327 to the year 1377, that our armies were spread far over the continent, and that the nation was famed by almost fabulous or incredible victories. The rivalry between England and France never allowed any long duration of tranquillity,

"For deadly hate, so long and deeply rooted,

Could not abide to hear the name of peace." *

Pretexts for a declaration of war were never wanting in either country. But in the year 1335, Edward III. claimed the French throne by right of inheritance, proclaiming the French king Philip VI. (who was then aiding the Scots) as a usurper and traitor, and went over to the Low Countries to attack France from that frontier. As long as Edward fought with foreign mercenaries, and from the side of Flanders, he was unsuccessful; but he soon changed both his troops and his field of action.

* Drayton. "The Barons' Wars."

CRECY.

A. D. 1346. Saturday, August 26.

IN 1346, Edward collected a fine army, consisting solely of English, Welsh, and Irish, and landed with them on the coast of Normandy, near Cape la Hogue, about the middle of July. That province was defenceless, for Edward's attack had been expected to fall upon the south. In the latter direction, the Duke of Normandy had fallen upon the gallant Earl of Derby, and was endeavouring, with the flower of the French army, to drive the English from Guienne. One of Edward's principal objects was to create an alarm which should draw the French out of that province; he also intended, by crossing the Seine, to join his allies, the Flemings, who had already passed the French frontier.

Having taken Carenton, St. Lo, and Caen, and plundered the country, he marched to the left bank of the Seine, intending to cross that river at Rouen; but, when he got opposite that town, he found that Philip was there before him, that the bridge of boats was removed, and that a French army, in numbers far superior to his own, occupied the right bank.

The English then ascended the river towards Paris, by the left bank, the French manoeuvring along the right, breaking down all the bridges, and preventing the enemy from passing the river. Edward burned the villages, sacked the towns of Vernon and Nantes, and at last came to Poissy, within sixteen miles of Paris.

Here there was a good bridge, but it had been partially destroyed by order of Philip, who was as anxious to keep his enemy on the left bank as Edward was to get to the right.

The English marched from Poissy to St. Germain, which

they burned to the ground: by seizing some boats on the river they were enabled to do still further mischief; and St. Cloud, Bourg-la-Reine, and Neuilly, were reduced to ashes. Still, however, Edward's situation was critical; he was separated from his auxiliaries, and Philip was reinforced daily.

Having examined the bridge at Poissy, Edward struck his tents, and advanced as if he would attack Paris, and his van really penetrated to the suburbs of that capital. The bold movement obliged the French to march over to the opposite bank; this was what Edward wanted: he then wheeled round, cleared the remains of the bridge of Poissy by means of his bowmen, repaired it, and crossed to the right bank, with little loss. From the Seine he rapidly continued his way towards the river Somme, burning the suburbs of Beauvais, and plundering the town of Pois. Philip now determined to prevent his crossing the Somme : by rapid movements he reached Amiens on that river, and sent detachments along the right bank to destroy the bridges and guard every ford. The English attempted to pass at Pont St. Remi, Long, and Pequigny, but failed at each place.

Meanwhile, Philip, who had now 100,000 men, divided his force; and while one division was posted on the right bank to prevent the passage of the English, he marched with the other along the left, to drive them towards the river and the sea. So close was he upon his enemy, that he entered Airaines, where Edward had slept, only two hours after his departure. That evening, the English reached Oisemont, near the coast, where they found themselves cooped up between the sea, the Somme, and the division of the French army with Philip, which was six times more numerous than their whole force. The marshals of the army were again sent to see whether there were any ford, but they again reported that they could find none. Edward then assembled all his prisoners, and promised liberty and a rich reward to any one of them that could show him where he, his army and waggons, might cross without danger.

A common fellow, whose name was Gobin Agace, told him that there was a place, a little lower down, called Blanche Taque, or white spot, which was fordable at the ebb