The Battle of Crecy was a royal butt whipping of the French by an English army led by King Edward III.  You have to credit the French knights with foolish bravery as they rode into a blizzard of arrows fired by English longbowmen.  None of the frontal charges came close to breaking the English line and yet they kept coming.  There is no question who the bravest knight on the field that day was.  King John of Bohemia was born on August 10, 1296.  He was the eldest son of the Holy Roman Emperor Henry VII.  At age 14, he was married and crowned King of Bohemia.  He spent the next two decades on campaigns against his enemies and to acquire more territory.  At age 39, he was blinded by opthalmia.  (The same disease that blinded Hannibal in one eye.)  Despite his handicap, he remained a vigorous ruler.  He allied with French King Philip VI during the Hundred Years War.  His death was one of the most famous of the Middle Ages.  When John learned that the French attacks at Crecy were failing, he became determined to turn the tide himself.  According to historian Jean Froissart, John insisted on riding into battle.  “I require you to bring me so far forward, that I may strike one stroke with my sword.”  His body guard tied all their and his bridles together and rode forward.  When they reached the English, he swung his sword a few times before being killed.  He and his retainers were found in a line of dead horses and knights.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_of_Bohemia

https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-king-of-Bohemia


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