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Yes there were cannons at crecy, but they played no role in the battle. Artillery in the 15th century (in the later battle) was largely immobile in tactical terms - thus it could not move with the armies particularly when moving relatively fast as occured in this campaign. It was not until the 1520's that it became critical in mobile battles, Pavia being one of the first such.
As an aside its remarkable how few artillery pieces were in use even as late as the napoleonic era (350 years later). In 1800 individual french ships could carry 120 cannon. It was rare for an army to have that manny (and of smaller caliber) in that era. Not until modern metalurgy came into its own and rail/motor transport was artillery decisive.
Although the book is quite long,it is a real "page turner" It takes you into the period and let's you 'see' the players. It has quite a bit about the life of peasants, not just the aristocrats. IMO Barbara Tuchman is one of the best history writers of all time. She researches all her books and also visits the sight where they take place. Her books on WW1, "Proud Tower" and "The Guns of August " are excellent. And going off topic..her " March of Folly" should be read by anyone interested in history Amazon.com: The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam…
While I haven't read any of these books myself - just reviews of books in newspapers and magazines, I wanted to point out that there is a fair amount of disagreement about what took place. For example, here is one I read a few months ago: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/25/wo...agincourt.html
New research calls into question the traditional account of the battle according to which many thousands of knights charged the vastly outnumbered English. There is a good chance that numbers on the French side might have been inflated.
Quote:
But Agincourt’s status as perhaps the greatest victory against overwhelming odds in military history — and a keystone of the English self-image — has been called into doubt by a group of historians in Britain and France who have painstakingly combed an array of military and tax records from that time and now take a skeptical view of the figures handed down by medieval chroniclers.
The historians have concluded that the English could not have been outnumbered by more than about two to one. And depending on how the math is carried out, Henry may well have faced something closer to an even fight, said Anne Curry, a professor at the University of Southampton who is leading the study.
Anyway, the point is any one book on the subject is probably going to be incomplete.
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