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This book follows on from the Crecy Casebook, a splendid collection of contemporary documents about Crecy, edited by Livingston and Kelly De Vries. Livingston was thus very familiar with the original sources about the battle, which put him in a very strong position to produce this new account of the campaign and battle. We get a good background history, explaining the English crown’s involvement in France, the main prior conflicts and what triggered Edward’s invasion. The initial campaign in Normandy is followed by his advance on Paris and then move north-east towards Flanders, before we reach Crecy itself.
The strongest part of the book is the section examining the traditional site of the battle. The author makes a very convincing case for that site being incorrect, looking at the known movements of the two armies, the actual sources for the battle location and the earliest known sources placing the battle on that traditional location. Even the layout of the traditional battlefield makes very little sense, not really fitting the accounts of the battle. Livingston looks at the earliest sources to place the battle here, and explains why and when the mistake was probably made.
The strongest feature of the book is the historical detective work that Livingston has carried out. He does a very good job of explaining which sources he had used, and in particular which sources are new or largely unused. One of the most useful is the Kitchen Roll for Edward, which provides a location for the site of his camp for every night of the campaign. Some are a little vague, especially when it comes to the Forest of Crecy, but these few examples come between much firmer locations, giving us a pretty good idea of where they can be. I like this approach, as it allows the reader to come to their own conclusions about some of the ideas being put forward.
One problem with the reconstruction of the battle is that many of the details suggested here need the alternative battle location to be correct. An early example is the fate of the Bohemian crossbow men, which in this reconstruction relies on them approaching the English lines from a particular direction, having taken a particular road. I found his arguments for the general area the battle was likely to have been fought in convincing, making very good use of sources that list Edward’s locations every night during the campaign, and the known locations of the French, along with their repective actions after the battle. The new area makes sense in a way that the traditional location really doesn’t. However that isn’t the same as saying it was fought on the exact site suggested.
Another problem is the author’s desire to overturn just about everything we know about the battle. This means that some of his alternatives are rather weak. Two examples spring to mind, both from the section on casualties. A significant number of sources give a figure of around 1,500 for knightly French dead, one gives 750, and instead of admitting that this one is probably wrong, the author suggests that maybe all the other sources have doubled the figures by giving the total number of spurs found. On the English side the sources suggest that no men of rank died, which the author struggles to believe. However he doesn’t then go on to produce any examples of men known to have died at the right time who might have been Crecy casualties. The English nobility was pretty well documented by this point, so one would expect some trace to have been left if someone significant had died – an inquisition post mortem, appearance of an heir or other memorial. However in both cases we are given the sources, so can make up our own mind.
I agree with many of his conclusions. It is clear that Edward wasn’t planned to fight at Crecy when he first landed in Normandy, and unlikely that he was even planning to fight in that general area. Having visited the area twice before and probably hunted in the Forest of Crecy he may have had a possible battlefield in mind as his army approached the area, but that isn’t the same. The argument against the traditional site of the battle is very strong, and the argument in favour of the general area suggested for the new site very strong. The use of a wagenburg by the English looks to be very well documented. The possibility that the Black Prince was briefly captured is interesting, and enough sources say that King Edward entered the battle to make that possible. Overall this is a well researched and well argued book that will deservedly shake up the debate over Crecy.
Part 1 – Before the Campaign, to 1346
1 – Roots of War, 1066-1308
2 – Isabella and the Two Edwards, 1308-30
3 – Wine, Wool and the March to War, 1202-1337
4 – The Hundred Years War Begins, 1337-46
Part 2 – The Crecy Campaign, 1346
5 – The Campaign Begins, 12-23 July
6 – The Sacking of Caen, 23-30 July
7 – The Lond Road to Paris, 30 July-16 August
8 – The Battle of Blanchetaque, 16-25 August
Part 3 – Reconstructing Crecy, 26 August 1346
9 – Reconstructing Battles
10 – The Armies Approach, 26 August
11 – Finding Crecy
12 – The Battle of Crecy, 26 August
13 – The Second Day, 27 August
Author: Michael Livingston
Edition: Hardcover
Pages: 355
Publisher: Osprey
Year: 2022