while the French were away at Abbeville. During the night Edward was made aware, either by an Englishman living locally or by a French captive, that just away, near the village of Saigneville, was a ford named Blanchetaque (so named for the white stones lining the river's bed). Edward immediately broke camp and moved his whole force toward the ford. Battle When the English arrived at the river they discovered that the French had defended the ford strongly. Guarding the far side of the crossing were 3,500 soldiers, including 500 men-at-arms and an unknown number of mercenary crossbowmen under Godemar du Fay, an experienced French general. A contemporary chronicler described this as an elite unit. The ford was wide and as it was only from the coast, it was strongly tidal, only passable for a few hours twice each day. When the English arrived at dawn, the tide was high and not expected to drop to crossable levels for several hours. The French force was drawn up in three lines along the sloping north bank, with the best soldiers, the 500 men-at-arms, positioned in the centre. At about 9a.m., a force of English longbowmen, led by Hugh, Baron Despenser, started across the ford, 12 abreast on the narrow causeway. They came under crossbow shot, but continued until the water was shallow enough for them to be able to reply. The numbers shooting from each side at this stage are not known, but the longbowmen had the advantages that those to the rear were able to send arrows over the heads of those in front of them, and that they could shoot three times faster than the crossbowmen. The English archery proved more effective than the French crossbow shot. As their crossbowmen were overcome, some French men-at-arms mounted and entered the river in an attempt to ride down the longbowmen. The English had their own force of mounted men-at-arms standing in the river behind their longbowmen, probably led by William, Earl of Northampton, and seeing the French mounting, they made their way through and around the ranks of archers and engaged the French on the water's edge in a disorderly mêlée. The opposing cavalry, having moved into contact at walking pace, suffered few casualties. The greater pressure of the English forced the mêlée onto the French bank of the river. The dismounted French men-at-arms were pushed back by the mass of