CHAP. 



VII.] 



DECLINE OF FEUDALISM. 



215 



won 



men under the command of King John in person. The 

 English army under the Black Prince was only 8,000 

 strong ; but skill in generalship was beginning to be 

 understood, and the English prince, it seems to us, proved 

 in this action that he was the ablest tactician of his age. 

 His measures were well conceived and skilfully carried 

 into execution, and give greater proofs of scientific 

 ability than are found in any previous battle of the 

 middle ages. 



He drew up his army on a hill in a strong position, 

 broken up by hedges, vines, and bushes, and difficult of 

 approach, the only avenue leading to it being a defile 

 between hedges. This defile he lined with numbers of 

 archers and in rear of it, drew up his men-at-arms, on 

 foot, with the remainder of his archers on the flanks in 

 triangular masses. His horses and baggage were parked 

 and secured by an entrenchment in the rear, as was done 

 ten years before at Crecy. 



The French army was drawn up in three lines, in rear 

 of each other. Their attack was made by three hundred 

 of their best horsemen, followed by a number of gen- 

 darmes on foot : the intention being to carry the defile 

 by a rush, and under cover of the horsemen, push through 

 a large body of heavy armed troops on foot, who were to 

 attack the English dismounted men-at-arms. As the 

 Black Prince had entrenched and defended his position 

 by obstacles, it is probable that the plan of attack 

 adopted by the French was the only direct one open to 

 them, for the ground was evidently unfitted for horsemen. ' 



The result was "sastrous, through the efforts of the 

 bowmen who lineu the defile. They poured in tiieir 

 deadly arrows at the closest range, and with fearful force, 

 and the narrow road was soon filled with the dead and 

 dying horses, and men falling in heaps, under the pitiless 

 volleys of the English shafts. A few succeeded in clear- 

 ing the defile, only to be killed or captured on emerging. 



The dismounted gendarmes, unable to clear the narrow 

 passage before them, disheartened by the carnage taking 

 place in front of them, and harassed by the arrows that 



^ Froissart, ch. 16L 



