"The battle was "fierce and terrible," reports Froissart, "for battles on sea are more dangerous and fiercer than battles by land, for on the sea there is no recoiling or fleeing." Under the archers' attack the French were driven from the decks and, pursued by ill-luck and error, were engulfed in defeat.No one dared tell the outcome of the battle to Philip VI until his jester was thrust forward and said, "Oh, the cowardly English, the cowardly English!" and on being asked why, replied, "They did not jump overboard like our brave Frenchmen." The King evidently got the point. The fish drank so much French blood, it was said afterward, that if God had given them the power of speech they would have spoken in French."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Jean Froissart, Chroniques (1369â1400), quoted by Barbara W. Tuchman, A Distant Mirror (1978), on the sea fight at Sluys in 1340
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hundred_Years'_War
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Related Quotes
"You, men of England, who have no right to this Kingdom of France, the King of Heaven orders and notifies you through âŠ"
"In the XXI. yere, whan Kyng Philip of Frauns was fled thus cowardly fro the sege of Caleys, thei of the same town offâŠ"
"Christine de Pizan argued passionately for the need to resolve the conflict, stating that 'Every kingdom divided in iâŠ"
"âPoitiers and Cressy tell, When most their pride did swell, Under our swords they fell: No less our skill is Than wheâŠ"
"The most lasting and significant consequences of the war should be sought, perhaps, in the sphere of national psycholâŠ"
"Throughout history, security as much as status has been an obstacle to summitry. In 1419 France was in turmoil from wâŠ"
"War without fire is worth nothingâlike sausages without mustard."
"They sey that owre sovereyn lorde is above his lawys to his pleysewr, and he may make it and breke it as hym lyst, wiâŠ"
"The law servyth of nowght ellys in thes days but for to do wrong, for nothyng is sped almost but false maters by coulâŠ"
"We wyll that all men knowe we blame not all the lordys, ne all tho that is about the kyngs person, ne all jentyllmen âŠ"