."

Contrast the excellent and accurate little map in the first-rate
manual which Mr Barnard published twelve years ago from the
Clarendon Press. The whole of this book is to be most highly
recommended. I believe that this map, the only doubtful features of
which are the angular formation of the English Archers and the
concentration of the French rear upon the Roman road, is from the
pencil of Mr Oman.

V

THE ACTION

King Edward, upon that Saturday morning before he had yet caught sight of
the French, of whose advance his scouts informed him, rode on a little
horse slowly up and down the ranks encouraging his army, as it sat and lay
at rest, with shield and helm and bow upon the grass before each man,
along the crest of the slight hill.

In his hand the King bore a white wand and no weapon, and this visitation
of his lasted until nearly ten o'clock. His last orders were that all his
men should eat and drink heartily, and he himself conveyed that order to
his own division, which lay behind the main line. He had organised the
defence upon a very simple pattern.

That battalion which was called the First Battalion consisted of 1200
men-at-arms, that is, fully armoured knights upon horseback, with 4000
Archers and 4000 Welshmen. They occupied that turn or shoulder of the
slope which runs round from the town of Crecy itself into the beginning
of the Val aux Clercs, and were under the nominal command of the lad the
Prince of Wales. But at his side the real orderers of that force were
Warwick and Oxford. Such was the English right.

Next, in the centre, and back from the first battalion, was the line of
English Archers. It was very carefully organised, with the object of a
purely defensive action. Small pits were dug before each man's station,
and this infantry was arranged in "harrow" formation, much as trees are
planted in an orchard in _quincunx_, so that any five of them formed a
figure somewhat like the five in a pack of cards. It is evident that this
formation, if the men were sufficiently dispersed, as they were, gave the
freest play to their missiles, all of which could be shot through the
intervals; and when we remember the rate of fire, three to one of the
cross-bow, we shall understand how formidable was this infantry, and how
well able it was to break any cavalry charge prepared by nothing more than
the shots of the Genoese. All the tradition and sentiment of medi