"Danes at Crecy" Topic

Hey guys.
I just checked something out on Wikipedia, it says that some Danes were at Crecy.
First I ever heard of this. Is it true?
This isnt my period or main field of expertise.

If its true, what were we talking here. A couple of Princes helping out family, a small band of knights just entdebted to Edward, Mercanries, A unit or two.. Did Edward have a militray alliance with the Danes?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crecy

If you want to see for yourself, its in the little box in the corner. under COMBATANTS.

I was under the impression they were mercenary "freelances" that fought for Edward for pay and loot. I'll have to search my sources for any info I can find…

Damon.

Much obliged to you.

Never heard of "Danes" in any HYW battle. But hey, if you use mercenaries at all, some of them will come from anywhere. Why they would get particular mention is beyond me.

I suspect that you might find people from all over wetern Europe in one army or the other. But not many in number and not groups.

Hmm, see, i figured they might be guys from all over just there for the booty or personal reasons. But the wiki thing had them listed under combatants as if to suggest they were in ther in a large/ significant numbe or in an official capacity.

One thought that came to mind on the way home tonight is that the "Danes" may in fact refer to Germans. Ed III made several alliances with German magnates, and recruited a few German knights into his armies…

Damon.,

Hmm.. The Holy Roman Empire is also listed under combatants.. I find it interesting as I thought Edwards army was mostly Anglo Welsh with some Flemings.

Its Wikipedia you muppets : )

It probably also lists the Liebstandarte SS as participating.

Righto, you might want to check again now!

I have removed the reference to Danes and corrected it by adding the two New Zealand mercencary bands that I believe were operating in Europe at that time.

Maoris. they got EVERYWHERE.

And of course there is the lttle moot point that the "English" were themselves of (partly) Danish heritage…

Sorry. I'll get my coat.

But yeah, as others have said about Wikipedia: A ten year old with a whim of fancy (fantasy) could have put that on there. Be VERRRRRY careful with any information you "learn" from Wiki. It has it's uses (as a means to "get started" on a subject for instance) but always be aware of the potential source of the information.

On Wiki, anyone and everyone, young or old, informed or utterly ignorant, can contribute at will. Whole volumes could have been written by people using little more than a Hollywood movie or computer game as the source of their "knowledge". If even that. Worse still, anyone who IS an authority on a subject can have his work edited by said ignorants. Consequently WIKI information is sadly often far less reliable than it could be.

For all that there is still quite a lot of informative stuff on WIKI, but being able to recognise the reliable entry amongst the complete nonsense is an art form in itself. Unless you already have knowledge on the subject in hand it can be difficult sometimes to tell one from the other. Wiki all too often sells a pack of whimsy, balony and outright lies to the world and calls it the "truth". Lord knows how many people on the planet have been led astray by it's entries.

With this in mind, with anything you read on Wiki, always ALWAYS cross reference and double check it from other sources.