Philip also set himself in motion on Saturday, the 26th of August, and, after having heard mass, marched out from Abbeville with all his barons.  “There was so great a throng of men-at-arms there,” says Froissart, “that it were a marvel to think on, and the king rode mighty gently to wait for all his folk.”  When they were two leagues from Abbeville, one of them that were with him said, “Sir, it were well to put your lines in order of battle, and to send three or four of your knights to ride forward and observe the enemy and in what condition they be.”  So four knights pushed forward to within sight of the English, and, returning immediately to the king, whom they could not approach without breaking the host that encompassed him, they said by the mouth of one of them, “Know, sir, that the English be halted, well and regularly, in three lines of battle, and show no sign of meaning to fly, but await your coming.  For my part, my counsel is that you halt all your men, and rest them in the fields throughout this day.  Before the hindermost can come up, and before your lines of battle are set in order, it will be late; your men will be tired and in disarray; and you will find the enemy cool and fresh.  To-morrow morning you will be better able to dispose your men and determine in what quarter it will be expedient to attack the enemy.  Sure may you be that they will await you.”  This counsel was well pleasing to the King of France, and he commanded that thus it should be.  “The two marshals rode one to the front and the other to the rear with orders to the bannerets, ’Halt, banners, by command of the king, in the name of God and St. Denis!’ At this order those who were foremost halted, but not those who were hindermost, continuing to ride forward and saying that they would not halt until they were as much to the front as the foremost were.  Neither the king nor his marshals could get the mastery of their men, for there was so goodly a number of great lords that each was minded to show his own might.  There was, besides, in the fields, so goodly a number of common people that all the roads between Abbeville and Crecy were covered with them; and when these folk thought themselves near the enemy, they drew their swords, shouting, ‘Death! death!’ And not a soul did they see.”

“When the English saw the French approaching, they rose up in fine order and ranged themselves in their lines of battle, that of the Prince of Wales right in front, and the Earls of Northampton and Arundel, who commanded the second, took up their place on the wing, right orderly and all ready to support the prince, if need should be.  Well, the lords, kings, dukes, counts, and barons of the French came not up all together, but one in front and another behind, without plan or orderliness.  When King Philip arrived at the spot where the English were thus halted, and saw them, the blood boiled within him, for he hated them, and he said to his marshals, ’Let our Genoese pass