1. Crécy
In 1346 Edward III led an English army across northern France while pressing his claim to the French crown. Pursued by the much larger host of Philip VI, the English chose their ground near Crécy-en-Ponthieu and prepared a defensive position built around dismounted men-at-arms and massed…
2. Poitiers
A decade after Crécy, Edward of Woodstock—the Black Prince—launched another destructive chevauchée through France. In September 1356 his smaller Anglo-Gascon army was intercepted near Poitiers by King John II of France, forcing a battle in which terrain, disciplined defence and well-used archery again helped neutralise superior…
3. Agincourt
Henry V’s 1415 invasion of France began with the costly siege of Harfleur and continued with a march toward Calais by an army weakened by sickness and shortage. A French force blocked the English route near Agincourt on 25 October, creating the confrontation that became the…
4. England Expects
The Battle of Sluys in 1340 was one of the first major clashes of the Hundred Years’ War and a decisive struggle for control of the Channel. Edward III sailed against a French fleet concentrated near the Flemish port of Sluys, where the opposing ships were…