Capture of Calais

On August 26, 1346, the Battle of Crécy constituted one of the greatest defeats in French military history and a decisive turning point in the Hundred Years' War. This battle saw the army of Edward III of England (approximately 16,000 men: 4,000 cavalry, 7,000 archers, 5,000 infantrymen) inflict a crushing defeat on the French army of Philip VI of Valois (approximately 20,000 men: knights, infantrymen, French archers, and Genoese mercenaries). The battle took place on a hill near Crécy-en-Ponthieu, where Edward III carefully chose an advantageous defensive position. The English deployed in three defensive divisions, with the longbow-wielding archers forming 'wedges' between the divisions of men-at-arms, creating a deadly chessboard formation. The French, confident in their numerical superiority and in the tradition of the heavy cavalry charge, launched a series of disorganized and hasty assaults. The Genoese crossbowmen, exhausted by a forced march, were sent first but were quickly decimated by the English archers whose range and rate of fire were greater. Then the French knights charged in a disorderly manner, without coordination, and were massacred by volleys of arrows from English longbows before even reaching the English lines. The successive charges all failed, transforming the battlefield into a mass grave where thousands of French knights lay. French losses were catastrophic: several thousand dead, including many high-ranking nobles (the King of Bohemia, the Count of Alençon, the Count of Flanders, and many other great lords). English losses are minimal. This crushing defeat marks the end of the superiority of heavy chivalry and the advent of English tactical superiority based on archery and defense.

On July 26, 1340, a month after the disastrous naval defeat at Sluis, the French won an important land victory at Saint-Omer, somewhat restoring the French military image after the maritime disaster. The battle pitted the French army commanded by Eudes IV of Burgundy (around 15,000 men) against a numerically superior Flemish-English coalition force (around 20,000 men) led by Robert III of Artois, claimant to the county of Artois and ally of Edward III of England. Robert III of Artois, who had been banished from France by Philip VI and had taken refuge in England, tried to reconquer his stronghold by relying on the uprising of Flemish towns and English military support. He briefly besieged Saint-Omer, a strategic stronghold controlling the roads to northern France. However, instead of enduring a prolonged siege, the French defenders, reinforced by Burgundian and royal troops, launched an aggressive and coordinated sortie that completely surprised the besiegers. French heavy cavalry, supported by infantry, charged the poorly prepared and disorganized Flemish lines. The Flemish troops, mainly poorly disciplined communal militias poorly equipped for combat in the open countryside, quickly gave way under the shock of the French charge. The rout was total: thousands of Flemings were killed or captured, while the French suffered only light losses. Robert III of Artois himself was mortally wounded in the battle and died shortly afterwards, depriving Edward III of a valuable ally and a claimant to the earldom of Artois.

A small local battle in Saintonge: a French force attempts to intercept an English convoy returning from a raid, but falls into a well-prepared ambush.