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even before they came into contact. But the English - sheltcring behind or within a thicket of sharpened stakes, and capable of creating an arrow storni of tens of thousands of shafts in the nioments before contact - did not break, and the results were disastrous. Horses would not impale themselves on a linę of stakes, and although a barrage of falling arrows would not have killed many riders, it would have injured numerous horses. Falling, panicking, baulking or swerving horses would disrupt the close-packed cavalry conrois formation; at Grecy there is evidence that horses simply lay down in another natural reaction when an animal is hurt but unable to flee. Once a charge was stopped or broken close to enemy infantry the advantage rapidly shifted to nimbie men on foot, who could attack the horses before turning on horsemen who had fallen to the ground.

French commanders reacted to these disasters rapidly, though the alter-natives they triecl did not always work. French men-at-arms dismounted to figlu just like their English foes, and after Poitiers their commanders often ordered them to advance on foot in what were intended to be arrow-proof formations.

This may first have been attempted at Nogent-sur-Seine in 1559, but even here the French tnen-at-arms were unable to tum the flanks of the opposing English archers, the battle only being won when French infantry brigands attacked from the rear. On the other hand, the initial French disasters did lead to a morę cautious approach compared to the overcon-ftdence of the early battles.

This was even reflected in popular songs, one of which was in the form of advice for the king: ‘O Philippe ... morę yaluable than iron, better than force used artfully, is prudence, superior to armies, enabling you to bring back spoils from the enemy. ’

French armies learned to avoid major confrontations and instead conducted a

23

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