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• 1 2016-10-17T07:33:54-07:00 The Battle of Crecy, Picardie 24 French Inability to Prepare Ultimately Leading to Their Downfall google_maps 2016-11-09T14:09:16-08:00 HTML July 22, 2012 The Battle of Crecy Standard Youtube License HTML 49.734989, 2.498640 Celestialfilms Much of the reason the French lost the Battle of Crecy to the English was through their own fault due to lack of preparation and foresight to leading up to the battle. The most blatant example of this fault is seen through the crossbow vs longbow argument. While the French stuck to the time old practice of using the crossbow for battle, the English moved toward the future and used the longbow. The longbow allowed the English to fire arrows upon the French more often, more powerfully, and at greater distances. But those weren't the only advantages of the longbow. According to Henri De Wailly and his book Crecy 1346: Anatomy of Battle, another failure that resulted in the French lack of preparation was their inability to deal with the weather conditions of the battle. Wailly mentions that while it rained during the battle, the English were able to de-string their bows to keep them from getting damaged, but the French did not do the same with their crossbows. So when the time came for battle not only were the crossbows ineffective against the English, but most of them weren't even working. The English then used this obvious lack of preparedness to turn public favor away from the French and towards the English, as is seen in The Crecy Poem. The poem, written about a year after the actual battle, attempts to attribute the English victory to having God on their side. This can be seen in lines 252-253 of the poem "These raged too proudly against God; These puffed up kings through arrogance fell." If done successfully, this would convince the public to support the British victory much more than if the English simply tried to rule through force. 
  
  The French town of Picardie, and many others like Picardie, could act as an explanation for the French failure to prep for the English. The background for the Battle of Crecy was who would be the rightful successor of Charles IV? Either Edward III of England or Philip VI of France. While the French people backed Philip, Edward soon declared himself the true king of France. Edward then invaded France and set about pillaging small towns, such as Picardie. Philip avoided confrontation for as long as he could, but the continued ransacking of French towns, prompted Philip to execute a hasty and unprepared battle plan against the English, which resulted in the Battle of Crecy.