Crecy

or Cressy, kres'si, a village in the northeastern part of France. It is noted for a famous battle, August 26, 1346, in which Edward III of England with an army of 40,000 men defeated the flower of the French chivalry. This battle is reputed as the first in which cannon were used by English troops, "which, with fire threw little iron balls to frighten the horses." This battle is significant also in that English yeomen armed with the bow gained a victory over gentlemen in armor. The battle of Crecy has been termed the death knell of feudalism--the beginning of the rise of the common people in England and France. Not only were 1,200 French knights left dead on the field of battle, but the usefulness of heavy armor--the possession, the dependence, and the defense of the wealthy and the noble--was past. "The churl had struck down the noble," says Green. In this battle the king's eldest son, Edward the Black Prince, of whom we hear in English history, won great renown for bravery. See Black Prince