James Baquet

The time, once again, is the Hundred Years’ War, which gave us The Blind Charge at Crecy (1346), The Combat of the Thirty (1351), and other such stirring stories. A week or so after that battle at Crecy, at the conclusion of the same campaign, the English settled in for what turned out to be an 11-month siege of the French port town of Calais, just 100 kilometers or so north of Crecy.

King Edward III of England (after whom the first, or “Edwardian phase” of the Hundred Years’ War was named) had landed some 10,000 men in Normandy in July of that year. After marauding their way through northern France, and emerging victorious at Crecy, they made several unsuccessful attempts to breach the well-fortified walls of Calais, which boasted a double moat, as well as a strong citadel with its own separate moat. The English attacked both by land and by sea, but their navy could not stop the French from bringing in fresh supplies from the seaward side until April 1347, when the English navy was able to block the harbor entrance and cut off the flow of supplies.

So ensconced were the English that the camp they established to the west of Calais, dubbed “Nouville” or New Town, had two market days each week! Provisions were brought in not only from England and Wales across the Channel, but also from Flanders — the border of which was under 60 kilometers to the northeast, the Flemish being English allies.

Jean de Vienne, commander of the town forces, wrote to the French king Philip VI on June 25, describing his predicament. On July 17, Philip marched toward Calais with 15,000-20,000 men, but wisely did an about-face when confronted by a combined English and Flemish force of 50,000.

Jean de Vienne capitulated to the English on Aug. 3. This gave the English an important strategic base — directly across the English Channel from their own port at Dover — from which to conduct the remainder of the Hundred Years’ War, which ended in 1453. The English maintained their position even beyond that, however; the French did not recapture Calais until the 1558 Siege of Calais, during the Italian War of 1551-1559.

Vocabulary:

Which word or phrase above means:

1. strongly built place within a fortified city

2. break through

3. supplies

4. surrendered, gave up

5. difficult or dangerous situation

6. settled securely

7. exciting, moving

8. wide trench around a fortification, usually filled with water

9. turned around (and went back)

10. named or nicknamed