Angry Planet - How a Medieval Battle Invented English Pride and Made the Longbow a Legend

Episode Date: December 5, 2017

On a Summer day in 1346, a small army of upstart British peasants cut the heart out of the French aristocracy. That’s the story anyway.The Battle of Crécy was one of the most important of the Hundred Years War. A British army led by Edward III faced an overwhelming French force backed by Genoese crossbowmen. The French outnumbered the British two to one, had the initiative, and attacked in its own territory.The British won, killed hundreds of French nobles, and showed the world a new way to go to war. This week on War College, David Crowther—host of The History of England Podcast—walks us through the battle. The truth, as always, is more complicated than the legend but no less fascinating.You can listen to The History of England on iTunes, Stitcher, or follow it directly on Crowther’s website. If you like the series, consider supporting him on Patreon.You can listen to War College on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. You can reach us on our new Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/warcollegepodcast/; and on Twitter: @War_College.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Love this podcast. Support this show through the ACAST supporter feature. It's up to you how much you give, and there's no regular commitment. Just click the link in the show description to support now. The lightly armed archers run forward. They stick knives through the eye holes of the former men's arms. They gather up the arrows. They go back to the line. They wait. The French are astounding. The French keep coming. Wave after wave of cavalry charge is mown down. by the long bow. You're listening to War College, a weekly podcast that brings you the stories from behind the front lines. Here are your hosts, Matthew Galt and Jason Fields. Hello and welcome to War College. I'm Jason Fields.

And I'm Matthew Galt. History is filled with improbable victories. The Greeks over the Persians, the Maccabees over the Seleucid Greeks, the Giants over the Patriots in the Super Bowl. twice. One battle that stands out over the centuries is the British victory over the French at Crancy. David Crowther of the History of England podcast joins us to tell the story, and we'll be talking about England's secret weapon, the longbow. So welcome, David.

Hi, thanks for inviting me on the show. So can we start off by talking about the lead-up to this battle? Who were the major characters and what were they fighting for? Okay, so the central character in the story actually is a chap called Edward III and he's a fascinating character. He's a very, he's almost a quintessentially medieval chivalric figure. As a young man, his father, Edward II, was a very unsuccessful king, light cutting hedges and digging ditches, which was, you know, it's a nice personal characteristic but not brilliant in kings.

So he was killed, actually. And he died in a, he was killed by a chat called Roger Mortimer in a beautiful castle called Barkley Castle in the west of England in a rather painful way, which probably won't inflict on you. But if you want the details, let me know. Oh, actually, if I might interrupt, because both do we do want the details. And also, what year are we talking about? Okay, so, no, you're going to get me on dates. But my memory is, if I get it wrong, don't shoot me for it or don't treat me like every second. we're talking 1327.

Okay, thank you. And Edward the second is killed invisibly. Now, if you're going to kill somebody invisibly, this is not like a bomb-making course or something like that. You know, forgive me for giving out tips to people. But one of the ways it could have been that he was smothered by a pillow. The more popular interpretation is they had a red hot poker shoved up his backside. You did say he did want the details.

Now I regret saying that. Yes, okay. there you go. No, you shouldn't regret it. There's a lot of great details in this story, and we want all of the gory ones. All of the gory ones. Then it shall be, then it shall be so. So Edward I 2nd is killed and Roger Mortimer actually takes up with Edward II's wife, Isabella, and Edward the third's mother. At the age of 18, Edward III, he's had enough with this because, you know, Roger Mortimer is essentially ruling England in his name while keeping him away from power. So one evening, him and a bunch of mates gather outside Nottingham Castle. There are tunnels under Nottingham

Castle. They creep in through the castle. They appear suddenly in Roger's, Roger and Isabella's private apartments, and they capture Roger. One of Roger's mate tries to escape by crawling down the loo, because in those days, of course, the loo's hung over the moat. So if he could squeeze down the toilet, he could get into the moat. Again, too much detail here. Anyway, not a good, not a good position to be caught in with a head down a toilet. He's captured. Roger Mortimer is executed publicly. Edward III takes control. His mother, he treats with great honor and, you know, she's given a palace in the, in the countryside. So Edward III is a, he's a go-getter. This is not a man to be pushed around. But he doesn't carry that bitterness with him. He creates a court around

him. And I think one of the attractive things about this is he builds a court around him, which is a shining example throughout Christendom of the chivalric ideal. And if you ever get time to read an original source book, Jean Foisars Chronicles are a fantastic read. So that's one thing. Edward III is out to prove his name. England, meanwhile, has an ancient claim to France, so to the French monarchy, it's pretty tangential, but there are, if in France you're not allowed to trace the line through women. So the Selic law means that you can't trace a dissent through women. If you could, actually Edward would have a better claim to the throne of France than with the current incumbent Philip. That's always the thought of the reason, the reasoning for this

for this war that breaks out. In actual fact, it's a bit more complicated than that. In the run-up to 1337, which is essentially the time when Edward III stands in Flanders and the Market Square in Ghent, I think it is, and declares that he is claiming the threat of France. The French king Philip, he wants Gascany. Gascone is in southwestern France.

It's owned by the Kings of England. Actually, it descends from, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and actually it should have been held without making homage to the French King. But in 1259, a chap called Henry III gives the rights to the French King to pay homage for this area. Philip King Philip wants it back. So he's after it. And the actual fact, he confiscates it from England, just confiscates it, doesn't listen to any argument and says, I'm taking it back, you no longer own it, away you go. He also cuts off access to Flanders. Now, Flanders, The Flanders, Belgium, the low countries is the centre of the cloth trade.

English wealth is massively based on wool, and Flanders is their market. They can't access Flanders, they die. In addition, France makes an alliance with the Scots. The Scots love sticking a knife through the English backs whenever they get the opportunity. They've done it before several times. So this is a threat to Edward. So in actual fact, the reasons to the war, part of it is about Edward's claim, you know, desire for glory. But there are real reasons why he's actually forced into war.

Sorry, I've rattled on. You need to get used to just interrupting me. Look, David, shut up. We need to ask you a question now. You're boring. Be quiet. I'll be quiet. I'm not bored at all.

And I am wrapped. So please continue, sir. That I think is the background. You've got Edward III who's desperate to prove himself, defines himself by the chivalric idea. He also marries Philippa of Hainaut. Hainault is in the low countries, again, you know, very rich area. And that brings with him some amazing characters like Walter Manny, who's this kind of, I don't know, he's kind of like this mad warrior who charges into battle shouting Manny at every available

opportunity. He brings with those warriors with her. And she's this, you know, renowned. queen in the classic medieval model of queenship. Her job is to be, to adorn the court, to be the model of grace and elegance, but also to intercede with the king to make him

give mercy to the people that he's beaten and defeated, which happens at Calais in 47. So you've got this amazing court. A court of many talents. I could go on about the captains that walk through this story. So he decides he's going to take it to France. He stands in the market square in Ghent.

He raises a new flag, which is the English coat of arms, quartered with the French Flaude Lee, and he claims the kingship of France, and it's on. So a quick question about the matchup between these two foes. England reputation as cool, damp, and slightly more hospitable than Iceland. I've been there a few times, so I think of it as slightly better than that.

But if we can compare that with France, I mean, who are the foes who are setting up against each other? So by this stage, England is a small damp island off the coast of Europe. It's not quite an irrelevance in strategic terms, but traditionally, of course, Germany, and the Holy Roman Empire has been the leading nation in Christendom, and still, of course, incredibly important.

But France has really assumed that mantle. They are seen and consider themselves to be the leading nation in Christendom. Their university at Paris is famed for its theological expertise. The Pope throughout the conflict, actually. This is not me just carrying a chip on my shoulder, The Pope constantly favours the French because they are his, you know, almost the Pope's sword arm, as it were. Philip himself refers to the Pope as his special friend. So they are at, you know, they are the most powerful, the most renowned, culturally, militarily country in Europe.

England, as I say, small down place up the coast of England, of Europe, threatened by the Scots. constant and very bad relationships now between the Scots and the English, which means the English constantly have to look behind them. Broadly, that's entirely an English fault. And so this complete mismatch, in fact, I think France has something like four times the population, as does England. So it's a complete mismatch. You know, nobody gives the English any chance. And indeed, when this conflict starts off, the theatre of war is not in the South West. in Gaskin, it's actually in the north. It's in Flanders. It's in northern France. It's in Brittany, actually, which is another autonomous, not yet tied to the French throne.

And it's rubbish. You know, Edward III's first campaigns in in 38 and 39 are an absolute, you know, complete waste of time. He doesn't get defeated necessarily, but he gets nowhere. He has a strategy, Edward. He says, look, we're small and puny and we're. will get pummeled by the French unless we get some mates. So he goes and finds himself some friends, the Holy Roman Empire, emperor in particular. And the Holy Roman Emperor takes lots of money,

money that Edward III can ill afford. And then does absolutely nothing for it. So when the chips are down, he says, do you're going in now? Well, I'll join you. I'll be right there. You know, don't wait for me, but, you know, I'll be right there. And then it's nowhere.

Year after year, Edward does this. And by 1340, he's pretty much broke. He's heavily in debt. He's got nowhere. And the other impressive thing about Edward, he just will not accept that this is not going to happen. In 1340, he wins a naval battle at a place called, off a place called Slois, off the low country, which was, again, an absolute mismatch. and his whole court beg him not to go. They say, you cannot do this.

The French Navy is far bigger. They've got some Genoese galleys there as well. You're going to get, you're going to get gubed. And he says, you can stay. Those of you who are afraid can stay. I will go. And the King of England goes. And on the water, he risks everything.

And he gives them a kicking. And actually, this is one of the first signs that the Longbow is a decisive weapon, Because naval battles in those days, they were like land battles at sea. You floated alongside your opponent's ship, and you tried to board them, and you had a land battle, essentially. Anyway, I'm rattling on. You might want me to stop, but... Well, let's get to the central battle that we want to talk about today. Yeah, tell us about Cressy, why was it important and kind of set that up for us.

Okay, so I've given you the context there of failure, essentially, apart from the Sloyce, 1340, he is beset by failure. Eventually, he gives up on the Holy Roman Empire because that's, you know, that's absolutely rubbish. He has a strategy then. He says, what I'm going to do is I'm going to take war to France. He actually writes a letter to the Pope. And he says the best way to avoid the inconveniences of war is to pursue it away from one's own country. So his idea, and this is actually a general idea at the time in European warfare, is that, you prove to your opponent's people that their lord is incapable of defending them and you ruin their economic means of wealth. This is called the chivalce. So the idea is you get your army and you

march through the countryside on a 20 mile wide front and you burn and destroy everything in your way. That's what he's going to do. He's going to land in northern France. He's going to march through northern France. He's going to join up with an army that's going to come from Flanders, with whom he's allied, and then he's going to take on the French. And with Flanders, maybe he can do it. And we should state here that this is not how things were done at the time, correct? This was a new idea. The Chivalves is a reasonably accepted way of doing it. The strategy that Edward adopts is actually reasonably accepted at the time. The tactics is where I think Edward is going to be innovative.

So he sets off and the French gather an army, Philip gathers an army and he chases him. And you have this great story of this march through France with the English trying to stay one step ahead of the French so they can hook up with the army from Flanders and then maybe they'd have a chance. And they're kind of cross the rivers and the French are trying to trap them against the French. the rivers and it looks as though they're trapped. And then late one night, Edward finds a Yorkshireman in the depth of France. This is his last chance. He's going to be trapped by the French king.

His army is much smaller before he can reach the army of Flanders. And he finds a little Ford at Blanche Tack. And actually it's the very same ford that Henry V years later will also meet up with. And he manages to cross it, gets away, but still the French are right behind him. gets across the river and then he hears terrible news. The army of Flanders isn't coming. Once again, he's been let down. His allies are not going to come.

The logical thing to do that point is to pick up his skirts and leg it for the nearest port, which he could have done. So does he do that? No. Absolutely right. Little pastor next time, if he wouldn't mind. Would he do that?

No. So he turns at a place called Kressy, and he says, right, we're going to do this. I've spent close to 10 years here. This is now 1346. I've spent close to 10 years. I've got no money. I owe 300,000 pounds, which was a massive amount in those days. We're going to fight. We're going to do this. He's innovative, very innovative in his tactics is Edward. Actually, he's one of the first kings to use, he uses a type of cannon. Actually, they don't pay a very decisive role in the battle at all, but he's got cannon at Cressie.

not very much, not often talked about. They shoot arrows, actually, I think, with gunpowder, set up on a cart. So he's always looking for the modern, the innovative angle. Now, the way you fought those days, it was all about your mounted, it heavy cavalry. Usually, socially, because it's expensive to get yourself multiple war horses and armor and all the rest of it. So usually those guys were much higher up in the social. structure, nobility, certainly.

Those are the crucial thing. Now, the French army would have some foot soldiers, they would have particularly crossbowmen. They hired Genoese crossbowman. But they're almost like, you know, you know, in Star Trek, do you want to Star Trek? You're a Star Trek fan? Oh, yes. I try a minute.

You know, in the original Star Trek, sometimes it took security guys with them in red tops, yes? Do you remember that? Now, whenever the red shirts, you know, whenever the red shirts went onto the planet, you knew they were going to die. They were just cannon fodder. This is pretty much what the French men had the French foot soldiers were. Nobody cared about the foot soldiers. So I'm going to try not to rub it on too much.

But there's a lovely battle in 1217 at Lincoln where one nobleman dies, a chap called the Count of Perch. And everybody's gutted, but a nobleman has actually been killed in a battle. Nobody cares how many foot soldiers, ordinary folk get killed. In fact, slaughter them as much as you can. But nobody kills a nobleman, one because it's not done. And secondly, because you sell them. You know, you ransom. So the point is battles are won by heavy cavalry,

an unbeatable charge, lance-leveled, the good old traditional medieval thing. And your foot soldiers are there to soften the enemy up by shooting at them or actually getting amongst them or the cavalry breaks up your enemy and then the foot soldiers come in when their defence lesson finishes them off. So that's the way battle was done.

Shivery was built around that. Edward says we're not going to do that. It doesn't sound like shepard. It's right. There's a lovely discussion there to be had. I must have about what chivalry actually means it in practice. It has something to do with horse, right? It has, that is absolutely true.

Yes, it does come from the word for horse chivalry. But chivalry is very clearly a two-brained thing. You know, it's for the rich. It's not for the, not really not for the poor. Anyway, so Edward says we're not going to do that. I'm not going to play this game. First of all, our men at arms, our nobility is going to get off their horses, and they're going to stand on the ground.

They're going to be dismounted. All his men at arms are dismounted. And that's, you know, that's demeaning almost. That's not the way it was done. Secondly, he's not going to, the friendship plan of attack is you send you a crossbowman forward. They have a go first. They see who they can pick off. Your foot soldiers are then held in reserve once the posh guys have done their job.

These elements in a way don't work together. Edward III isn't having that either. Archers and men at arms are together as a unit. Actually, we still don't really know how. the British the English line of battle was set up. Some people say the archers were in small formations in between the traditional three battles of men at arms, center, left and right wings. Other people say they were entirely on the wing. So there's still a lot of debate about that, but they work together. They work as a as one army rather than these disconnected groups.

The third thing is he's not going to go out in a blaze of glory, charging down the enemy, showing who's got, you know, who's the, who's the, who's got the, who's got the greatest cajones here. He's going to sit there and he's going to let them come to them. And throughout the hundred years war, actually, the vast majority of battles are won, that are won by the English, are won on the defensive. It's very rare for them that they win a battle where they actually attack. She's a bit cowardly, isn't it? I mean, it's a bit feeble. You're disappointed, I can tell.

No, I actually. They won. Exactly. Yes, I'm going to die. Indeed, it's the result of matters. So that's what he does. He lines up. Should I keep going, or do you want me to just stop rattling on and saying, you've got my mask special? No, no, no, no. That's what we're paying you for. You're supposed to rattle on.

Wait, wait, wait, you're paying me? Jason, you tipped our hands. We have no negotiating. Let's take this opportunity to pause for a word from our sponsors. you are listening to War College talking about the Battle of Cressy with David Crowther, the host of the History of England podcast.

Thank you, War College listeners. You are back on with David Crother, the host of the History of England podcast, and he was just about to tell us about the Battle of Cressy and all of its attendant horrors. Right, okay, so there we go. So he draws up.

The French Army, if you listen to the contemporary, chronicles, you know, they're all saying, well, the French got 100,000 versus, you know, well, there's Edward and his mum, you know. In fact, the difference is probably a lot less, but at Cressy and a Pwatee, actually, or at Angincourt, actually, probably the difference is nowhere near as much as we used to think. But it's probably at very least, actually, it's two to one. You've got to qualify that a little bit because quite a lot of the French soldiers were foot soldiers. It's really the men at arms. But even in the men at arm,

you know, these heavily armoured knights, or heavily armored, not necessarily knights, but heavily armored fighting men, it's still two to one, maybe more. Anyway, so Phillips's coming up. He's coming across the bridges. He knows that Edwards ahead of them, and he really wants to kill him, because Edward has burnt his way across northern France. He's insulted the flower of France. He's said to the world, this guy can't look after his own. Phillips nobles are regging him, And actually as he walks, as he rides along the road towards battle, the roads aligned with the French peasantry shouting kill, kill, kill. Everything in his ears is about crushing this impertinent, you know, irrelevant king who has dared to tweet the tale of the greatest nation in Christendom. His army is strung out for miles.

the foot soldiers are way, way behind the cavalry. And a bit like our friend Harold at Hastings, the clever thing would have been to wait that evening because he arrives, I think, late afternoon, if I remember correctly. Some of his professional advisors, his martial is saying, oh, well, well, okay, you know, hang on, put some slippers on, have a nice cup of tea, go into the table. tent, you know, in the morning, wake up, have your croissant, and then, you know, then let's do it.

But his nobles are saying, well, well, we're going to crush these guys. They are nobody. We are the, we are the flower of Christendom and we're going to give them a kicking. So rather than wait for his army, rather than wait for everybody to fall out, rather to take control, he just attacks. And the French, so he sends the Genoese cross women first forward. Sorry, do you want me to keep rattling Don't, do you want me to stop? No, no, no. I think it's important to note that, you know, he sent out the mercenaries first. Keep the nobleman in reserve. Paisers are at stun. So out they go, the Genoese, and the first problem hits them. That you notice I haven't mentioned Longbone yet. Longbone now gets, is worth a mensch because they find out that the range,

of the effective range of the long bow is longer than the range of the crossbow. And suddenly they're going forward. They're all ready to unleash their first round of bolts. And they're being hit, left, right and center by these crossbows. And of course, they're not heavily armed. And they're in chaos. They're milling around. They don't know what to do.

And Philip says, ah, you know, this lot, they're a complete waste of time. We're going to charge. We're going to get the big guys. We're going to do the good old traditional cavalry charge. The Genoese guys are in the way. So what do they do? Run over them? They run over them.

Exactly right. They run over them. Okay. I mean, they're just mercenaries. Yeah, they're exactly. They're all wearing red shirts. You know, get rid of them. Hold on.

This is the moment, I think, to ask you one kind of crucial question because I don't know that everybody is going to listen to this is going to be quite as geeky as we are. So what's a longbow? Can we just tell people exactly what a longbow is? So a long bow is, I mean, I think that's probably a technical conversation I'm probably not capable of having. But it's all about creating tension, of course. And many of the bows, the Mongols and all the rest of it would create that tension by combining wood with horn, for example. And it's create that counter stress. In the long bow, creates that tension simply by its size.

So it's six foot long. It's made of heart of you. and in order to fire a long bow effectively requires years and years of training. English Franklin's, as they were called, which is kind of the smart peasantry, who form the basis of these longbowmen. They train and they use the long bow from a very early age, smaller, the larger and larger bows the older they get and they're constantly practicing. And in fact, you can see that some of these longbowmen, actually it twists their spine.

The strain of pulling this, the draw weight required, actually twist their spine over their lives. So, though, you have different types of arrow that you use with your long bow. So you might use an armor, you know, an armor piercing arrow, or you might use a very sort of traditional arrow-headed type that will stick in and won't be able to get out. We won't have quite the puncture force. The signs, if anybody had been watching, the signs that the longbow was a viciously effective weapon have been there. So in 1138, as long ago as 200 years ago, the English beat the Scots at a battle called the Battle of the Standard. It's the longbow that does the damage there. The Scots in that battle are relatively lightly armored, have little defense against.

the longbow. So the signs are all there. There's an amazing battle. 1341, the Battle of Mouclet, where a very small number of Englishmen hold off a much, much larger France, French force. The battle of just a few months before Cressy, the Battle of Saint-Pont-Deleon, where the similar things happen. So the signs were there, actually. If Philip had chosen to see it, all the signs were there, that Longbow was a viciously effective weapon. I've over-answered, haven't I? again. No, I think that's wonderful. And I also want to note that I think you kind of touched on this, but for a few generations before this, citizens in citizens, I use the term loosely, in England, had been lightly encouraged to always be practicing with the bow. Is that correct?

Yes, it is. I mean, I think there's a certain amount of, what's the word? Yeah, the exaggeration that goes on. So by Henry the 8th time, when really the Longbow, of course, was moving out of becoming less effect, well, when the gun powder was taking over, there is a law requiring people to shoot at butts for a certain amount of time every day. I'm not sure how much coercion there was, to be honest, but it was an integral part of people's lives. A nation was organized around providing these men for their armies. Yes, so it's part of the weft and warp of the military system. Of course, these days, things had changed a lot since, you know, traditional feudal days.

And these, by the time Edward comes to the throne, armies are gathered in a very different way that they used to be. By the time of Edward I actually in the late 13th century, what happens is Edward contracts a number of captains and those captains they go into their their localities it might be their tenants and they put together a a force of varying sizes you know the largest ones are several hundred the smallest ones are just a few people and it's those captains actually who bring the army to to edward um to the series of contracted captains affected them all right excellent let's get back to those dead genoese so they've been moaned down a hacked pieces out of the way and then the french charge Now, here's one of the myths.

I mean, I think one of the things you asked me was about myths of these 100 years war. And one of the myths of the longbow is that it was, you know, an unstoppable engine of war that was lethal. There are a few things about that. One is it's not necessarily the weapon itself, or certainly not entirely. It's the way that it was used in an organized way with large companies of men all shooting together at the same time, all in a very disciplined way in a defensive formation that integrated longbow with men at arms. That's point number one, which is not the long bow on itself. That would be far too simple.

The second thing is that the long bow was not, even on its own account, is not that brutal, uninfallible weapon. So the longboat itself is often not very effective against very heavily armed men at arms. So in a few years' time, we'll have a second amazing victory, that of Poitiers. And the French have learnt by Poitiers. They learn from the Cressee, and they dismount and they walk towards the English lines. And there are probably something like 10,000 arrows being shot at them. in a constant hail and yet they get to the line.

In actual fact, armour was very effective against Longbow. But what they couldn't, what the longbow was absolutely effective against was broken bodies of men, poor lightly armed and lightly armoured men, but horses in particular.

Horses were massively vulnerable. And so the French attack on horse because that's their idiom. And the horses die in thousands. And the horses fall the battlefield is a mess. Second waves coming, can't get over these dead horses, and the screaming horses, dying men.

As the French charge falters and retreats, the lightly armed archers run forward, they stick knives to the eye holes of the fallen men's arms, they gather up their arrows, they go back to the line, they wait. The French are astounding. The French keep coming. Wave after wave of cavalry charge is more. moaned down by the long long bow but it's the horse it's the fact that they're on horseback

that is the real what really makes them vulnerable to the long bow not that the long bow can inevitably pierce armour so that's one of the myths there so nonetheless despite this slaughter the french reach the english lines and this is the other myth i think about cressy that it's all about the long bow well it isn't so you get this wonderful thing where the black prince, young black prince is 16 of the battle. It's his first battle and the king gives him command of the left wing. He puts his best man with him, the Earl of Warwick. He puts his best man with him to look after him.

But nonetheless, the black prince, 16 years old, is in command of one of the battles. And the fighting is fierce. The man against man, heavily armoured French have reached the English line and the English are much far fewer. And they are heavily pressed in the middle of the battle. the Earl of Warwick's in an absolute panic, you know, there's too many of them, they're going to be overwhelmed. He sends to Edward III and he says, look, send me more, send me the reserves. We've got to have help here, otherwise your son's going to be overwhelmed. Edward looks the guy in the eye and said, this is the time my son earns his spurs and he doesn't send them in.

I mean, you know, as a parenting technique, way out of date, way out of date. but of course it works the black prince holds the line and there the myth of the legend of the black prince is born a real chip off the old bomb eventually the French can't take any more they break they're milling around

and they don't know what to do the foot soldiers of course are still constantly arriving at the field of battle on the French side the French have had enough they don't want to charge again and so Edward says right mount up. This is it. Now's the time. The English Mount, men at the time, they charge the French, the French flee. And Christendom is in shock

that the finest nation in Christend, the most powerful, unbeatable army has been destroyed by this bunch of blokes from this irrelevant place off the coast. Blocks from Blaine. And what happened? What happened to a lot of those friends, knights. You know, you said that they, were they captured, was the norm, or did they all get stabbed in the eye? So as soon as the battle was over as a competitive event, and actual fact, throughout a battle like that, you would take your opposing number, your opposite number, captive as hostage. There's a lovely, actually, Poitier again, sorry, keep you on to Poitier,

but a Poitier, of course, the king, French king, is captured, and there's this lovely image of the French King John, which, you know, his son who will later kick the English out of France, surrounded by English knights, and nobody wants to kill him. And his son is saying, look, there, Dad, that one there. There's another one coming there.

There's another one coming there. And eventually he's overwhelmed. But nobody's going to kill these guys because they're worth a lot of money. So you take them captive, you say, right, he yields, sir, or whatever they do. And they yield up their sword and they give their, they give their, their pledge to their captor. And they're normally then allowed to go home, to raise the money, and very often they don't leave a hostage.

And that's an enormous, that is the way that money is made out of this, as much as, you know, the robbing and the stealing and the sacking of towns or whatever. So nobody would kill your opposing number. The other thing I think worth mentioning is, these guys know each other. You know, they're the English and the French lords. They're mates.

They're fighting in jousts together. They share the same culture. They share the same language largely. They are, it's almost like a game. It's not quite because it's a pretty deadly game. But it is almost like this is their job. This is what they're put on the planet for is to fight. There are three estates.

There are men who fight, the men who pray, the men who work, This is that what they do. They were all still speaking French at court, correct? They're still speaking French in court. In Edward III's time, you get the first hint of English as a national symbol. So there's a lovely moment when Edward III announces to the world that the French king is trying to destroy the English language. It's a famous quote because here's this in the argument about when does England become

a nation, you know, when does it think of itself as a nation rather than, you know, belonging to a particular lord? This is a, this is a quite a significant moment, because he talks about the English language being extinguished by the French. But at court, they're all speaking French. And as I say, they share the same culture. So they're kind of mates. They don't really want to kill each other because, you know, they get on. You know, when the fighting's ended, they're going to have a party. I exaggerate for a But certainly the thing that changes all that is the civil warning of the Wars of the Roses. That's the first time, really, where you get nobles being routinely killed and executed. And it's very unusual.

I've got another hundred years before that happens. When the Longbow finally went out of style, what was it that had changed? Warfare changes significantly. So the first thing is that. that it's going back to that point that the longbow is a life's work. Whereas a gunpowder weapon, especially as it begins to get more sophisticated by the 16th century and later 15th century, any old Charlie can use.

So just in a numbers game and in a mass, you know, a weight of fire, it becomes impossible. So individually, actually, a longbow, I think somebody says this at one stage. I can't remember who, though, is more effective. But you can't get the numbers. So that changes. And that makes war much more, in a funny sort of way, much more democratic.

I mean, it may be the wrong word. But, you know, far more people getting involved. Armies grow in number because you can just get many more people on the battlefield with an effective weapon. Tactics change as well, of course. So you get the pike, the advent of the Spanish tertios, you get artillery on the field of battle, you get field artillery. So the whole set of tactics changes and the longbows just can't get the numbers. It isn't flexible enough, doesn't have the range that a superiority it used to have. And thus ended a period of history.

And there's ended a period of history, yes. Indeed. I think it's, I mean, I think one of the things, one of the other interesting things is how, how things change after, after Cressy, you know, what the French learn about it and what happens to the hundred years war. Because one of the remarkable things is how long it goes before the French actually realize that they're doing it all wrong. So you get a very famous Frenchman called Bertrand de Gisclay, who says, right, we're not going to fight, pitched by. battles anymore. We're bigger. We've got more economic resources and they refuse to fight, basically. They live in fortified towns and it's trench warfare. And, you know, over then,

Edward, there's this tragic end to Edward III's life where, you know, this great glorious king, this shining example of chivalry loses all the land that he's lost. He himself becomes mentally very frail. His wife, the beautiful Philippa of Hainault, this sort of, again, this model of queenship, she dies. He is duped by a mistress called

Alice Perez, who as he dies, actually steals the rings from his fingers and flees. Before that, though, he sees his son, the black prince, get very ill, change character, and die a year before he does. So there's this amazing story.

of this, you know, of glory to ashes, a glorious victory of his youth and this golden court turning to despair and defeat. It's an amazing story. That is a perfect ending for us because we try to end this show every week on a downer. And it's amazing how often we succeed. Every episode is Empire Strikes Back.

Well, I'm very bad, that, you know, all but unspennoned to me, I've given you the right end of depression and despair that you're looking for. David Crowther, the History of England podcast. Thank you so much for joining us. Lovely. Thank you for inviting me. It was great. Thank you, War College listeners. We hope you enjoyed this week's podcast as much as we did. It was an absolute blast to record. Just after we finished, though, David sent us an email.

It says, our interview stands on the brink of unleashing a storm of fury. not mention the key advantage of the longbow over crossbow. Its superior rate of fire, maybe up to six to one in the hands of an expert. David stressed that he was seeking penance for leaving out this critical fact and has promised that he will be walking naked through his local town while wearing ashes in penance for his crime. Seriously, that's what his email to us says. His podcast is The History of England. It is incredible. You can find it on ACAST and iTunes and wherever else find podcasts are distributed. We are War College.

It's a joint venture of me, Matthew Gulp, and Jason, Jason Fields. We take turns producing the show, and we co-host almost every episode. If you'd like to hear more from us, you can find us on Facebook at facebook.com forward slash war college podcast. Or on Twitter at war underscore college. And of course, just like the history of England, we are all. on ACAST and iTunes and Stitcher and everywhere else fine podcasts are distributed. We do appreciate your feedback and we read everything y'all send us. I just wanted to share a comment I got on Twitter from Dante Sandoval.

He said, Big fan of War College, thanks for covering the topics and stories I don't hear elsewhere. The value you and Jason Fields bring is that the topics are widely ignored but important. He then suggested we look into the South China Sea situation and see what China's ambitions are and plans are there. It's a topic we've covered before, but I think it's time to look at it again. There's been quite a few updates and movements there. Well, Dante, we're on it.

And thank you for listening.