ounted in "capital units" from one-sixth to one-eighth of
Edward's army, and, counting all fighting men against all fighting men,
perhaps much the same proportion. There was sharp fighting, but it was
defeated, principally through the action of the Archers. In Godemard's
command was a very considerable body of Genoese cross-bowmen. As we shall
see when we come to the Battle of Crecy itself, this arm was gravely
inferior in rapidity of fire, and possibly in range, to the English
long-bow. The latter weapon could deliver three to the cross-bow's one,
and to this, coupled with the discipline of the English column, the
success must be ascribed. Grave as was the balance of numbers against the
French side, equal armament and equal discipline should have enabled it to
prevail. The holding of a _tete de pont_ with a smaller number properly
deployed should always be possible against a larger column compelled to
debouch from a narrow line, especially a line of such difficulty as a ford
across a broad stream.

The action was a picturesque one, and the sight presented to a spectator
watching it from the heights behind Godemard's command must have been a
picture vivid and well framed. One hundred mounted and armoured knights,
carefully chosen, led the way across the ford. They were met actually in
the water itself by mounted men advancing on to the causeway from
Godemard's side, and the twin banners of Edward's two marshals and the
cries of "God and St George!" with which the English vanguard met the
enemy rose for a few moments from a confused melee of men and horses
struggling in the stream. But the issue was decided by the comparative
strength of missile weapons, and not by the sword. The Genoese
cross-bowmen behind the French knights, and upon either side of their
rear, shot into the English mounted ranks with some success, when the
Archers of Edward, who were just behind the knights, and seem to have
deployed somewhat over the marshy land on either side of the ford,
returned their fire with that superiority of the long-bow which helped to
decide this campaign. It was the regular fire of the Archers, the weight
and the rapidity of it, which finally threw the supporting infantry of the
French command into confusion, and permitted the mounted head of the
English column to force its way over the landward end of the ford and
through the now isolated body of French knights. Once the bank was gained,
the English head of the column in i