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Crécy

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About this book

Reconstructing a medieval battle means working with incomplete records, and Hilaire Belloc makes that problem part of his account of Crécy in 1346. This short military history moves from political circumstances and the campaign to the battlefield's terrain and the action itself. Belloc compares chronicles, surviving monuments and local traditions, then uses distances, river crossings, weapons and ground conditions to test what the evidence can support.

Belloc follows Edward III's army to Boismont, where the widening marshes of the Somme and an approaching French force threaten its escape. A local prisoner, Gobin Agache, agrees to show the army a ford in return for gold and freedom for himself and companions. Such episodes give the study both movement and a close attention to practical constraints.

About the author

Hilaire Belloc

Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc was a French-English writer and political activist. Belloc was considered one of the most versatile authors of the 20th century, producing essays on history, politics and economics as well as poetry, travelogues and satire. His Catholicism had a strong effect on his works.