long-bow proved its worth. After a brief contest the crossbowmen, completely outmatched, were driven back with enormous loss. Thereupon the first line of French knights behind them charged down upon the “faint-hearted rabble” of their own fugitives, and soon the first two lines of the French were a mere mob of horse and foot struggling with each other. The archers did not neglect the opportunity, and shot coolly and rapidly into the helpless target in front of them. The second attack was made by another large body of knights which had arrived, and served but to increase the number of the casualties, though here and there a few charged up to the English line and fell near it, among them the blind king of Bohemia, who with a party of devoted knights penetrated, and was killed amongst, the ranks of the prince of Wales’s men-at-arms. The battle was now one long series of desperate but ill-conducted charges, a fresh onslaught being made as each new corps of troops appeared on the scene. The English archers on the flanks of the two first line battles had been wheeled up, the centres of dismounted men-at-arms held back, so that the whole line resembled a “herse” or harrow with three points formed by the archers (see sketch). Each successive body of the French sought to come to close quarters with the men-at-arms, and exposed themselves therefore at short range to the arrows on either flank. Under these circumstances there could be but one issue of the battle. Though sixteen distinct attacks were made, and the fighting lasted until long after dark, no impression was made on the English line. At one moment the prince was so far in danger that his barons sent to the king for aid. Even then Edward was not disquieted and he sent a mere handful of knights to the prince’s battle, saying, “Let the boy win his spurs.” The left battle of the English, hitherto somewhat to the rear, moved up into line with the prince, and the French attack slackened. By midnight the army of France was practically annihilated; 1542 men of gentle blood were left dead on the field and counted by Edward’s heralds, the losses of the remainder are unknown. Some fifty of the victors fell in the battle. The story that the Black Prince adopted from the fallen king of Bohemia the crest and motto now borne by the princes of Wales lacks foundation (see John, King of Bohemia). A memorial to the French and their allies was erected, by public subscription in France, Luxemburg and Bohemia, in 1905.
See H. B. George, Battles of English History (London, 1895), and C. W. C. Oman, A History of the Art of War; The Middle Ages (London, 1898).
CREDENCE, or Credence Table, a small side-table, originally an article of furniture placed near the high table in royal or noble houses, at which the ceremony of the praegustatio, Italian credenziare, the “assay” or tasting of food and drink for poisons
was performed by an official of the household, the praegustator or credentiarius as he was called in Medieval Latin. Both the ceremony and the table were known as credentia (Lat. credere, to believe, trust), Ital. credenza, Fr. crédence. After the need for the
ceremony had disappeared the name still survived, and the table developed a back and several shelves for the display of plate, and gradually merged into the buffet (q.v.). It is, however, as an article of ecclesiastical furniture that the credence table is most familiar. It takes the form of a small table of wood or stone,
sometimes fixed and sometimes merely a shelf above or near the piscina. It usually stands on the south or Epistle side of the altar, and on it are placed, in the Roman Catholic Church, the cruets containing the wine and water, the chalice, the candlesticks to be carried by the acolytes, and other objects to be used in the
ceremony of the Mass. The use of such a table, to which earlier the name of paratorium or oblationarium was given, appears to have come into use when the personal presentation of the oblations at the Mass became obsolete. When the pope celebrates Mass a special credence table on the Gospel side of the altar is
used, and the ceremony of tasting for poison in the unconsecrated elements is still observed. In some churches in England the old credence tables still exist, as at the church of St Cross near Winchester, where there is a fine stone 15th-century example; more frequent are examples of the stone shelf near the piscina. There are some carved wooden ones surviving, one type being with a semicircular top and three legs placed in a triangle with a lower shelf. The formal use of the credence table for the unconsecrated elements and the holy vessels before the celebration has been revived in the English Church.
CREDENTIALS (lettres de créance), a document which ambassadors, ministers plenipotentiary, and chargés d’affaires
hand to the government to which they are accredited, for the purpose, chiefly, of communicating to the latter the envoy’s
diplomatic rank. It also contains a request that full credence be accorded to his official statements. Until his credentials have been presented and found in proper order, an envoy receives no official recognition. The credentials of an ambassador or minister plenipotentiary are signed by the chief of the state, those of a chargé d’affaires by the foreign minister.
CREDI, LORENZO DI (1459–1537), Italian artist, whose surname was Barducci, was born at Florence. He was the least gifted of three artists who began life as journeymen with Andrea del Verrocchio. Though he was the companion and friend of Leonardo da Vinci and Perugino, and closely allied in style to both, he had neither the genius of the one nor the facility of the
other. We admire in Da Vinci’s heads a heavenly contentment and smile, in his technical execution great gloss and smoothness of finish. Credi’s faces disclose a smiling beatitude; his pigments
have the polish of enamel. But Da Vinci imparted life to his creations and modulation to his colours, and these are qualities which hardly existed in Credi. Perugino displayed a well-known
form of tenderness in heads, moulded on the models of the old Umbrian school. Peculiarities of movement and attitude become stereotyped in his compositions; but when put on his mettle, he could still exhibit power, passion, pathos. Credi often repeated himself in Perugino’s way; but being of a pious and resigned spirit, he generally embodied in his pictures a feeling
which is yielding and gentle to the verge of coldness. Credi had a respectable local practice at Florence. He was consulted on most
occasions when the opinion of his profession was required on public grounds, e.g. in 1491 as to the fronting, and in 1498 as to
the lantern of the Florentine cathedral, in 1504 as to the place
due to Michelangelo’s “David.” He never painted frescoes; at
rare intervals only he produced large ecclesiastical pictures. The
greater part of his time was spent on easel pieces, upon which he
expended minute and patient labour. But he worked with such
industry that numbers of his Madonnas exist in European
galleries. The best of his altar-pieces is that which represents the
Virgin and Child with Saints in the cathedral of Pistoia. A fine
example of his easel rounds is in the gallery of Mainz. Credi
rivalled Fra Bartolommeo in his attachment to Savonarola; but
he felt no inclination for the retirement of a monastery. Still, in
his old age, and after he had outlived the perils of the siege of Florence (1527), he withdrew on an annuity into the hospital of Santa Maria Nuova, where he died. The National Gallery, London, has two pictures of the Virgin and Child by him.
CREDIT (Lat. credere, to believe), in a general sense, belief or
trust. The word is used also to express the repute which a person
has, or the estimation in which he is held. In a commercial sense
credit is the promise to pay at a future time for valuable consideration
in the present: hence, a reputation of solvency and
ability to make such payments is also termed credit. In book-keeping
credit is the side of the account on which payments are
entered; hence, sometimes, the payments themselves.
The part which credit plays in the production and exchange of wealth is discussed in all economic text-books, but special reference may be made to K. Knies, Geld und Kredit (1873–1879), and H. D. Macleod, Theory of Credit (1889–1891). See also Hartley Withers, The Meaning of Money (1909).
CRÉDIT FONCIER, in France, an institution for advancing money on mortgage of real securities. Due to a great extent to the initiative of the economist L. Wolowski, it was created by virtue of a governmental decree of the 28th of February 1852. This decree empowered the issue of loans at a low rate of interest, secured by mortgage bonds, extending over a long period, and repayable by annuities, including instalments of capital. On its inception it had a capital of 25,000,000 francs and took the title
