Chapter 1: Toward Discovery This chapter tells the story of the battle as it is traditionally understood, seen through a recounting of my first visit to the area. In doing so, my initial reasons for doubting the traditional location are outlined in brief, followed by an introduction of the basic premise of the book: a re-examination of the sources and contexts of the Battle of Crécy, leading to the conclusion that we have greatly misunderstood its location, its action, and so much more about it. Chapter 2: A Field of Death Through the eyes of the historical figure of Colins of Beaumont, a French herald who wrote a powerful poem about his experience of the battle, we see the absolute devastation of the aftermath of the Battle of Crécy. The despair and the chaos on the French side, and the difficult (but often ignored) realities of identifying the dead-as well as the grim tasks of disposing of the remains-are revealed as a way to bring the reader to grip with the stark truths of medieval military conflicts. In addition, a number of fundamental medieval sources for our knowledge-and the biases from which they were composed-are introduced. Chapter 3: The Decision at Caen Starting with King Edward III at Caen, midway through the campaign that one month later would find him at Crécy, this chapter situates the reader to additional realities about the conduct of medieval warfare, while also providing a broad history of the Hundred Years War and the specific surrounds of Edward III''s campaign in France. The focus is not merely the simple understanding of Crécy as the culmination of a political struggle (i.e.

, Edward III claiming the French crown), but a more nuanced view of the battle as it is located at the crossroads of political, social, logistical, tactical, and economic forces. Chapter 4: The Long Road to Crécy The narrative now turns to the often-ignored French reaction to the English invasion. Through this lens we follow the English campaign forward from Caen to the field of Crécy. This chapter provides rich retellings of the reality of a medieval chevauchée , as well as a close look at the English army''s remarkable (the English would claim miraculous) crossings of two rivers mere hours before the French could catch them. The chapter thus brings the reader confidently through to the morning of August 26, 1346, a dawn that many Englishmen on the march with Edward III surely believed would be their last. Chapter 5: The King''s Kitchen and Napoleon''s Maps This chapter provides a more detailed and accessible look at the surprising story of how the traditional battlefield was recognized as false. It then traces, step by step, how an alternative location was established using the sum total of all the medieval sources, as well as Napoleonic maps, satellite imagery, and other modern technologies. It''s an adventure across libraries and manuscripts, searching for the forgotten place where thousands of men died.

Chapter 6: The Garden of the Genoese From libraries across Europe, the search for the battle site finally culminates in another visit to the northern French countryside. With a Napoleonic map in hand, we walk across fields under the summer sun, and we find the site marked as the Garden of the Genoese-a place that we have identified as the killing ground. A defensive ditch is soon identified, and the tactical decisions of the two sides at last come into stark clarity as the story of our sources falls into perfect line with the topography. Even a mysterious late-medieval reference to the site of the battle-long mistranslated in order to "support" the traditional site of Crécy-is at last explained. The site of the battle has been found. Chapter 7: Banners and Battle Returning to the figure of Colins of Beaumont (from chapter 2), we see the field on the day of the battle: the lines, the banners, and the heraldry that would ultimately be of such importance for his identification of the dead. Highlighted here is the fact that few battles of the period can lay claim to such an immediate international impact. There were, after all, five kings on the field that day.

King Philippe VI stood at the head of the French army, and with him were King John of Bohemia, perhaps the most famous knight in Christendom, though now grown old and effectively blind; as well as the monarchs of Majorca and (at least nominally) the Romans. Facing this assemblage was King Edward III of England, who has prepared the battlefield in ways that they cannot yet see. We remain with the French perspective, following the start of the battle as the Genoese crossbowmen are sent forward-and then a line of knights follows them into the sound of screaming. Though the battle would last for hours, we now know that with this single order the battle was almost assuredly lost. Chapter 8: Eight Helmets Sprang from Four From the English side we recognize how Edward has prepared his position. The French are charging into a trap that they cannot see. In gritty detail, following the medieval accounts of the battle and the latest scholarly theories of the actions upon the field, we witness the horror until the sun goes down, including the moving poetic accounts of newly discovered eyewitnesses, like that of a deeply traumatized Flemish soldier (the source for this chapter''s title). Also revealed is the previously unknown capture of the Black Prince on the field of battle.

Here the reader will follow the conflict as it unfolded not just from this personal level of conflict, but from a broader view of strategy. Chapter 9: One More Day of Blood In the morning mists, a second French army arrives, and battle occurs again. The chapter will pass through this attack-the existence of which has largely gone unnoted-in order to begin addressing the immediate aftermath of the battle. Among the points to be discussed are the wounds we now know were suffered by King John, King Edward''s rebuke of the Black Prince, and the tales of the Black Prince incorporating Bohemian imagery into the emblem and the motto of the Prince of Wales in order to honor the fallen king. Here we also take leave of Colins of Beaumont, as he disappears from history to leave behind only his poem. Chapter 10: The Siege of Calais The dead are buried and the field is left. Edward III presses on, at last receiving his reinforcements from the sea, and in confidence he besieges Calais. This chapter will provide a close look at this protracted engagement, concluding with the surrendering of this important city.

This moment, too, has its legends, as its pathos would be so perfectly captured in Auguste Rodin''s famous Burghers of Calais (1889). The capture of this fortified city would have enormous impact on the history of the Hundred Years war, though it effectively ended the Crécy Campaign. Chapter 11: The Battle That Made a War Beginning with a description and discussion of the Crécy Window in Gloucester Cathedral (ca 1350), this chapter will examine what, in the end, the Battle of Crécy truly accomplished, how the meeting of five kings on the fields of northern France changed history. For the French, the Italians, the Bohemians, and even some writers of the Low Countries, the immediate impact was to engage in attempts to rationalize or mourn the loss. Chroniclers often worked to assign blame-to the Genoese crossbowmen, to the weather, to the impetuous young knights-while poets endeavored to restore faith with the fallen and in those they''d left behind. In England and Wales, meanwhile, Crécy underwent an entirely different kind of mythologizing. Here, the Crécy campaign quickly entered into a popular legend, as letters from the field gave way to increasingly glorious chronicles, sermons, and laudatory poetry. The greater the image of the victory grew, the more thoroughly it laid a foundation for the national spirit that Henry V would call upon in 1415, as he attempted to recreate the perceived glory of Edward III''s campaign in his own invasion of France, which culminated in the Battle of Agincourt .

and may not be where everyone thinks it happened, either. But that, of course, is another story altogether.