When Friday morning was come, the two armies got themselves in readiness, and heard mass, each lord among his own people, and at his own quarters: many took the sacrament and confessed themselves. We shall speak first of the English order of battle, which was drawn out on the plain, and formed three battalions of infantry. They placed their horses and baggage in a small wood behind them, and fortified it. the first battalion was commanded by the duke of Gueldres, the marquis of Nuys, the marquis of Blankenburg, sir John de Hainault, the Earls of Mons and Savines, the lord of Fauquemont, sir William du Fort, sir Arnold de Bacqueghen, and the Germans. There were twenty-two banners and sixty pennons; and the whole consisted of eight thousand good men.
The second battalion was under the duke of Brabant, with whom were the barons and knights of his country. First, the lord of Kus, the lord of Breda, the lord of Berques, the lord of Rodas, the lord of Vauselaire, the lord Broguinal, the lord d'Estonnevort, the lord of Wyten, the lord d'Elka, the lord of Cassebegne, sir Walter de Hautebergue, the three brothers De Harlebeque, sir John Fitifee, sir Giles de Cottreebe, sir Henry of Flanders, whom he had before occasion to mention, and several other barons and knights of Flanders, who were under the banner of the duke of Brabant; that is to say the lords of Hallain and Guiten, sir Hector Villains, sir John of Rhodes, sir Vauflart du Guistelles, sir William d'Estrates, sir Gossuin de la Muelle, and many more. The duke of Brabant had with him twenty-four banners and eighty pennons; the whole amounting to seven thousand men.
The third battalion, which was the greatest, was commanded by the king of England in person. With him were, his cousin, the earl of Derby, son of the earl of Lancaster, the bishop of Lincoln, the bishop of Durham, the earl of Salisbury, the earls of Northampton and Gloucester, the earl of Suffolk, sir Robert d'Artois, who was called the earl of Richmond, the earl of Hereford, sir Reginald Cobham, the lord Percy, the lord Roos, the lord Mowbray, sir Lewis and sir John Beauchamp, the lord Delaware, the lord Lincoln, the lord Basset, the lord Fitzwalter, sir Walter Manny, sir Hugh Hastings, sir John Lisle, and many others, whom I cannot name. The king created many knights; among whom was sir John Chandos(1) whose numerous acts of prowess are recorded in this book. The king had twenty-eight banners and ninety pennons; and there might be in his division about six thousand men at arms, and the same number of archers. He had formed on his wing another battalion, under the command of the earl of Warwick, the earl of Pembroke, the lord of Berkeley, the lord Molins, and some others, who were on horseback, to rally those that might be thrown into disorder, and to serve as a rear guard. When everything had been thus arranged, and each lord under his proper banner, as had been ordered by the marshals, the king mounted an ambling palfrey, and, attended by only sir Robert d'Artois, sir Reginald Cobham, and sir Walter Manny, rode along the line of his army, and right sweetly entreated the lords and their companions, that they would aid him to preserve his honour, which they all promised. He then returned to his own division, set himself in battle array as became him, and ordered that no one should advance before the banners of the marshals.
We will now speak of the king of France, as it has been related by those who were present. There were eleven score banners, four kings, six dukes, twenty-six earls, upwards of five thousand knights, and more than forty thousand common men. With Philip de Valois, king of France, were, the kings of Bohemia, of Navarre, and of Scotland; the dukes of Normandy, Brittany, Burgundy, Bourbon, Lorraine and Athens; the earls of Alençon (the king's brother,) of Hainault, of Flanders, of Blois, of Bar, of Forets, of Foix, of Armagnac, the earl dauphin of Auvergne, the earls of Longueville, of Estampes, of Vendôme, of Harcourt, of St. Pol, of Guines, of Boulogne, of Roussy, of Dammartin, of Valentinois, of Auxerre, of Sancerre, of Geneva, of Dreux; and from Gascony and Languedoc so many earls and viscounts, that it would take up too much time to name them. It was a fine site to see the banners and pennons flying in the plain, the barbed horses, the knights and esquires richly armed. The French were formed in three large battalions, each consisting of fifteen thousand men at arms, and twenty thousand men on foot.
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