The village of Crécy in northern France was the site for the defeat of the French under Philip VI by the archers of the English king, Edward III. Edward’s raiding army, anxious to avoid pitched battle, was trapped by a numerically superior French force. The English bowmen dug pits to impede advancing cavalry, while the knights dismounted and formed three supporting divisions, their right commanded by Edward’s son and heir, Edward the Black Prince. Over 1,500 of the French died, including the cream of the nobility, as against some 40 English dead. Edward was able to march north and besiege Calais. This was a decisive English victory at the outset of the Hundred Years War.