The Hundred Years' War: The Battle of Crécy, 1346

In the turbulent year of 1346 during the Hundred Years' War, the Battle of Crécy unfolded in northern France. Here, King Edward III of England faced off against King Philip VI of France in a momentous clash. The English, having carved a path of destruction through France, found themselves on a strategic hillside near Crécy-en-Ponthieu. Despite being vastly outnumbered, they prepared for the inevitable battle.
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🧾 Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
📚 Sources:
Written by House of History
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🖼 Photos, paintings and imagery: Public Domain, Wikicommons
🧾Machinima: Total War, Creative Assembly
#HouseofHistory #History

[@month32]

Let's hire Pavese Crossbowmen... Now, let us send them forward WITHOUT their shields! Genius!

[@chrismac2234]

They didn't. They were being pushed forwards. Tbh you'd be better of watching Mike Loades programme about it. These videos are repeatedly wrong. I kind of study for a living (doing my ba)

[@chrismac2234]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/h57Edpyvj7CXZrcsi=3JNA_LwGb1fVTgdt For you buddy. Actual historical evidence included. By far the best as it takes the actual topography into account

[@wilsontheconqueror8101]

The Story of Blind King John is an amazing heroic chivalry in action!

[@spamhonx56]

It's certainly an excellent example of what happens when you buy into the storybook idea of chivalry too much- a bunch of dead knights protecting a man who had no business on the front lines.

[@UKMonkey]

@@spamhonx56 At the same time - nothing better than a leader who will share the same fate as his men. Can you imagine any leader now doing ANYTHING even close to this?

[@waynescoble7072]

Act of utter suicidality if you ask me.

[@DrKarmo]

Another great video, HoH! The hundred years war is really an interesting conflict. This style is good but I'm glad you guys are gonna do the squares and rectangles combination (i thought this was a HistoryMarche video at first lol)

[@Harrier_DuBois]

Great video, lots of info and maps here really paint a vivid picture.

[@christopherthrawn1333]

Excellent work here Sir and your Team

[@janlindtner305]

Another fine lecture. A nice calm narrator with a bit of annoying background noise; but like other lectures manageable, historical background knowledge and well done.👍👍👍

[@johnhammond4214]

What a great and informative video - Thank You!

[@bettylaselli2048]

Great vídeo! Thanks for sharing ❤

[@HoH]

Thanks for watching!

[@slehar]

Great presentation!

[@KHK001]

Amazing as always HOH!

[@brokenbridge6316]

I enjoyed this video. Nice job.

[@polishadamtv]

Ty 4 another video

[@parhi3m]

great video as usual! i would love to see an animated battle of Plataea at 479 BC

[@davidwallace3871]

I’m looking forward to your take on the 100 years war.

[@IWS107]

Great Video. When is the next video on the Prussian/Austrian war coming out?

[@cmoney581]

Great video! Would love to learn more about the Black Prince, he seems like a badass

[@MHG571]

Great video and i love that you use MTW2 that i love so much the best Medieval Turn based with real time battles and you can find a tone of awesome mods and campaigns have a nice weekend!👏👏

[@dupplinmuir113]

The English deliberately lured the French to the battlefield by staying just ahead of them, so that Philip was tricked into thinking that he was the hunter while he was actually the hunted.

[@cjsmithdo]

Thanks!

[@davidcunningham2074]

very good video

[@alexanderboev]

Good job! I think the map at the end is of a period 50 years later

[@osvaldocaraballo7721]

Im a History Professor, And I love your Videos

[@HoH]

Happy to hear that!

[@frederikbeckers8923]

Nice video, can you make a series about the Meiji Restoration era and the Russo-Japanese war?

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

Huge fan HoH! One lf englands greatest victories agaisnt france! Edward III and his heir the black prince really shined! Please do the battle of poitiers someday!🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤❤

[@seymourskinner2533]

Geebus that’s hard to read.

[@charlesjohnson6777]

Awesome 👌

[@christopherf8912]

I like how it’s now basically doctrine that a single line through an army unit means it’s cavalry

[@angelostriandos6659]

Nice video.

[@Josian-ps7fb]

Great video, really interesting and well done.🙂👍 Now, how about covering Bouvines someday, or Patay? In KZbin history channels, concerning this war, there are so many videos about English victories, and so few about French ones, that obviously the kings of England won the war... didn't they?🙂

[@ranica47]

Excellent point. Have looked for those battles to see how the war concluded (with French victory!) on other well known channels but they seem to be only an afterthought.

[@HoH]

Great suggestions!

[@mohammedsaysrashid3587]

Another wonderful historical coverage of an episode of 💯 years wars between French and British .shared by an excellent ( House of History) channel. Thank you for sharing. Another time, an English long bow architectures 🏹 proved theirs supermarcy on battlefields..

[@billy9534]

It was France vs British is was vs England mate

[@Palimbacchius]

There were no 'British' before the 17th century.

[@eugeneclasby518]

Supermarcy??

[@John-nb6ep]

Wasn't this the first battle to have a cannon used?

[@Frater_Maven]

How about covering some preColumbian wars/campaigns fought in North, Central and South America? Inca conquest of the Andes, Aztec conquer of the Valley of Mexico, Commanche conquest of the Southern Plains. Or perhaps the rarely talked about Catholic vs. Catholic Hussite wars? Jan Ziskâ's perfect record as a medieval European Battlefield commander is an impressive accomplishment. Especially when one considers that for the first 7 years he lead his predominantly Czech forces against the Holy Roman Empire to victory after victory using his brilliant wagon fort tactics all with only one eye. . . Then he lost the other and STILL led the Hussite forces to an incredible spree of victory after victory whilst being completely blind for another seven years. Later he passed away setting the record as the only known battlefield commander of the middle ages to die with a perfect battlefield record. The surviving veterans who fought under Ziskâ took up the name "The Orphans", considering Jan Ziskâ to have been as a father to each of them. He remains a big time national hero to the Czechs.

[@kingjester6609]

May I please have the name of the first music played in this vedio?

[@MM22966]

One of the more memorable instances of "Tactical Sausage Grinder""

[@paladinbob1236]

when your only tactic is charge...and charge again after you have lost your missile troops...then its really a predictable one trick pony, that can be planned for :) i remember i make up a brand new scenario[6/7 player-for mtw2] to represent agricourt with the same predictability of events, with the french having tons of heavy foot and french knights and the english having a variety of some heavy foot , longbowmen and assorted spearmen, with the only rule that the french could'nt run/charge their troops[to represent the mud] and the results were perhaps close to the battle..the french did loss a significant number of troops,but did reach the mainbattle line, but got bogged down without that power of maneuverability of the horse[with the rule].....with perhaps a comparable result to the real battle[perhaps a bit more english dead perhaps-wink] which is a nice battle for medieval totalwar2 :)

[@guidance6769]

You forgot to mention That Philip Took an arrow to the face-I kinda respect it

[@joeshmoe8345]

Great

[@MadaughtaUcheetah]

I could never lose a battle like this

[@thibaultsardet7399]

On Total War, surely.

[@donizetebelinato2808]

Modern historian Joseph Dahmus includes the Battle of Crécy in his Seven Decisive Battles of the Middle Ages.

[@HistoricalWeapons]

Please cover more Chinese history. These hundred year battles have been talked a hundred times

[@HoH]

Any suggestions with decent source material?

[@jotaro2690]

I hope you complete the austro prussian war

[@CaptainSeato]

What if the French accepted the English king and there was no Hundred Years' War (or at least, not a war between the English & French, but a unified force expanding outward)?

[@Palimbacchius]

What if the French *had* accepted the English king and there *had been* no Hundred Years' War ...

[@robert-surcouf]

Why would they accept if he's not the rightful king ? Edward never had any legitimacy because if you don't count the salic law and men can inherit by their mother, the real king should be Philippe 5 grandson, Philippe of Burgundy and all the lancastrian kings will be usurper.

[@christopherstmarin]

I noticed the French Calvary was held up by archers? How is that possible? Heavily armoured knights charging archers and the archers hold the line

[@RYD3R74]

entrenched, just look up any vid that explains this battle terrain and detail. It was leadership fault.

[@Skrine15]

Unarmored horses versus arrows

[@angelostriandos6659]

The pronunciation of Hainaut is [ ɛˈnɔ].

[@eball2k9]

Italian wars of the medieval era please no one ever covers this

[@notthefbi7932]

So how are the Austrians doing.....🤔 Another great video 😁👍

[@scfan7231]

Do you have a piece of the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania? After all, it is in a sense a predecessor (or intermediate step) of modern day Ukraine. We should know more about them, as much as we know about the Russian Empire.

[@MCorpReview]

Graphics and voice reminds me of bazbattles 😅

[@OhioDan]

The Fredericksburg of France basically.

[@beepboop204]

[@Jason-fm4my]

Why does Edward ask for money if he just sacked Caen?

[@Armistitium]

👍

[@bl1754]

It's just like agincourt. Did the medieval french only have one strategy?

[@Josian-ps7fb]

Of course. That's why England won the war, isn't it? There are so few videos about French victories that obviously France only had a small handful, only when they were very lucky...

[@thibaultsardet7399]

Medieval era was not limited to HYW you know.

[@Pikt567]

Battle from podul înalt

[@dana696danass6]

Far be it that the King of Bohemia should run away. Instead, take me to the place where the noise of the battle is the loudest. The Lord will be with us. Nothing to fear. Just take good care of my son...... last recorded words of john of bohemia

[@AdityaSingh-iz5zs]

Plantagenet cool

[@Cahirable]

There is a very, very important feature of the battlefield that makes this account invalid and shows you haven't read the single most important work on Crécy ("The Battle of Crécy 1346", ed. Andrew Ayton and Sir Philip Preston) or Livingston and DeVries' "The Battle of Crécy: A Casebook", which has the primary sources in translation and several useful chapters of scholarship (also sadly a bad attempt to relocate the battlefield). I wish KZbinrs would actually do some real research and not just read Wikipedia.

[@MadaughtaUcheetah]

Europe lucky I wasn’t born in the 1300s💀🙏

[@ivvan497]

I find numbers of dead reported in these medieval battles by the contemporary chroniclers much too overexaggerated. It's always like 400 dead on one side and 10000 on the other. It just makes no sense. I think they just made up numbers based on their own interpretation of the battle. Usually, casualties in battles were actually quite low. And I find it even more improbable that the french who were charging and on the offense take so much casualties. Especially when you consider that most casualties happened after the formation was broken and cavalry was sent to chase the routed enemies. The english were defending here and didn't pursue retreating french. Unless many died due to the crush as recently seen in south korea where many were stuck in a mob.

[@paulharper6464]

Ancient and medieval battles often had a large discrepancy in casualties between the victors and vanquished. They usually ended in massacres of the fleeing side and prisoners were often slaughtered unless there was the prospect of a ransom

[@ivvan497]

@@paulharper6464 yes but english didnt pursue the retreating french

[@paulharper6464]

@@ivvan497They sort of did between the French attacks. The ground in front of them was strewn with wounded and disabled French. They moved forward to retrieve arrows, take prisoners and dispatch the wounded. They also killed a large number of french infantry at the end of the battle.

[@leeboy26]

The bohemian King, being blind, deserves all the respect he could garner.

[@Nobody28265]

Jan Zizka gang

[@NR-rv8rz]

Great video. Would love to see you do the British hoards of Boudicca v's the remnants of the occupying Romans.

[@ranica47]

*hordes. A hoard is something you possess, perhaps jealously, like treasure, or, in the modern day, something you can't throw out like plastic bags or magazines. A horde is a massive amount of soldiery.

[@NR-rv8rz]

Congratalations, you have one the intrernet by esteblishing your spalling supramacy . . . in the KZbin coments secton. @@ranica47

[@Thomas_Name]

I would love to see the Romans crushing the british revolt. It was amusing how they raped all those british women.

[@myleshubert3540]

that many French dead and 40-300 English. That can't be possible in my opinion that many horses alone would kill over 300 men .. I can't understand it.....

[@MDP1702]

Probably underreporting, but you also have to keep in mind that the horses were hindered due to the English being on a crest, mud and potentially injured/killed by archer fire. English knights also made up (part of) the frontline, so probably decently armoured to be able to take blows. And considering how chaotic these repeated charges and melee seemed to be, it could be that there were a lot of friendly "fire" incidents, especially with mounted horses trampling over their allied unhorsed knights etc.

[@Roggay47]

That's probably because that number only account for knights deaths. Common soldier dead were probably not counted on the english side.

[@Pikt567]

48000 moldavians vs 120000 ottomans

[@personnelente]

It is cultural bias which gives more importance to battles of the Hundred Years War with temporary English victories and very little to French victories with larger significance. The English won this battle and several others, but lost the war. The battles of Formigny and Castillon ended the war, and were therefor much more important. Castillon was not only a French victory, but it was the first major battle where gunpowder weapons were the deciding factor. It changed warfare.

[@robert-surcouf]

Formigny and Castillon were the final nails in the coffin but if we talk about a battle impact, Cocherel or Baugé were more relevant. Cocherel was the biggest Plantagenet defeat since Saint Omer in 1340 and if Valois had lost the battle, Charles 5 will never be crowned and Charles the bad could become the new king and Edward 3 puppet. Baugé was a butchery for the Lancasters with Thomas of Lancaster being killed, meaning Henry 5 was forced to come back in France where he will caught illness and died soon after.

[@54032Zepol]

Ooohhhh so close France! Better luck next time!

[@Pikt567]

1475

[@kaloyanradkov8962]

Those were not Longbowmen, those were English Arquebusiers ... but keep up using M2TW - you are getting better!

[@c7ss16]

brother use 1212AD mod for Attila total war for good footage well done

[@HoH]

Thanks for the advice! I'm new to using that footage

[@alexfilma16]

One of the best mods ever made. As a nerd for medieval history I’m in heaven whenever I play it haha.

[@c7ss16]

you welcome bro @@HoH

[@HoH]

I bought Attila, but the game itself is too dark and the sun reflection on units' armour looks... off. Do you have any suggestions for mods I can try out to improve the quality?

[@c7ss16]

Medieval Kingdoms 1212AD the mod itself changes a lot in the game also you can make some adjustment to your screen capture software @@HoH

[@epickzalpha8273]

a

[@taijutsu2110]

if it were the mongols , they would sent cracktroops to the weakly defended line and strike the king ... french noble but futile...

[@iseeyou5061]

More shouting man thumbnail haha. This one is more subdued though.

[@shaifunnessa7816]

Maratha empire Shivaji Maharaj biography please make video

[@unitor699industries]

the english were always the better strategists french always amateurs

[@TheFrenchscot]

recall me who won the war?

[@FuckfreysLuvfamily]

It would be interesting to see Great revolt of 1173 - 74 from you.

[@shaifunnessa7816]

Indian Shivaji Maharaj biography please make video

[@charlesjohnson6777]

We all know hills are bad im not going upon for sure they could have flanked its a shame 😢so many knights died for a botched assault

[@TheFrenchscot]

What a surprise, a 15525545564615th video about Crécy. Next Agincourt.

[@HoH]

I don't think there are that many.

[@Yellow-kp9gs]

If your being fair you would realise that crecy was a major turning point and ultimately every channel that covers the Hundred Years’ War ultimately gets to the french victories anyway lol.

[@TheFrenchscot]

@@Yellow-kp9gs i never said that Crécy was not important. It was just about stating a fact. Ultimately, french victories, even the ones of the second phase of the war are way less treated than the english ones from the first phase. Some might say that it's due to the spectacular victories against odds, but modern estimates for Agincourt, for example, tend to underline that the numbers on each side where not as greatly different as stated by english chronicles. Orléans, Castillon or Patay are at least as impressive and determining as Crécy or Agincourt which were part of the early phase of the conflicts.

[@TheFrenchscot]

@@HoH hi! Not that many, but in general far more treated than french victories frol the 2nd phase that ended the conflict. I appreciate your work and adress you many thanks, don't get me wrong. I can also understand that a british feels more inclined to talk about Crécy than Patay.

[@billbobagoda4389]

@@HoH Yeah you're right. There should be more.

[@rubenheymans1988]

please stop using this horrible medieval total war footage, it just looks bad and will look even worse in the future

[@alexfilma16]

No it won’t. Medieval 2 never dies.

[@salsaniggas8544]

Make crimean war battles