The course of the war: Crécy, Calais and Poitiers
England’s Military Advantage
In the first two decades of the Hundred Years’ War, English armies achieved a series of astonishing victories against a larger and wealthier enemy. These victories were not accidents. They reflected specific tactical choices — above all the use of the longbow — and a deliberate strategy of devastating the French countryside to undermine French royal authority and force battle on English terms.
The Chevauchée: Burning France into Submission
The primary English offensive strategy was the chevauchée. English armies would ride through French territory burning villages, destroying crops, looting towns and killing livestock. The aim was not simply plunder — it was political. The French king was expected to protect his subjects. If he could not, his authority and prestige would suffer, potentially encouraging rival French lords or the common people to question his rule.
Chevauchées also had practical military benefits. They forced the French to respond, either accepting the humiliation of doing nothing or risking battle on ground chosen by the English. English commanders understood that their opponents’ heavy cavalry — French knights on horseback — were at a severe disadvantage when forced to charge uphill against massed archers in a prepared defensive position.
The chevauchée was both an economic weapon and a propaganda tool. By burning the French countryside, English armies demonstrated that Philip VI (and later John II) could not protect their subjects — striking at the king’s authority as well as his treasury.
The Battle of Crécy, 1346
The Battle of Crécy, fought on 26 August 1346, was the defining demonstration of English tactical superiority. Edward III positioned his army on a ridge near the village of Crécy in northern France, with his longbowmen on the flanks. When the French cavalry charged, the English archers unleashed a devastating storm of arrows. The French charged approximately fifteen or sixteen times but were repulsed each time with terrible losses.
The longbow proved decisive. Welsh and English archers could fire up to twelve arrows per minute, creating a density of fire that French armour could not withstand at close range. The French also deployed Genoese crossbowmen as allies, but their weapons were slower and less effective, and they were cut down or abandoned when the battle turned against France. Philip VI himself fled the field. The victory was complete.
The English longbow was typically made from a single stave of yew, around six feet long. It required years of training to use effectively — medieval skeletons of archers show distinctive bone deformations caused by drawing the bow repeatedly from boyhood. Its range of over 200 yards and rate of fire of up to twelve arrows per minute made it incomparably more effective in massed use than crossbows or the shorter bows used elsewhere in Europe. English law required free men to practise archery regularly, ensuring a large pool of trained archers available for military service.
The Siege of Calais, 1346–1347
Following Crécy, Edward III besieged the port of Calais. The town held out for almost a year before surrendering in August 1347. Its capture was strategically vital: Calais provided England with a permanent military and commercial bridgehead on the French coast, making future campaigns far easier to supply and reinforce. Edward expelled the French population and resettled the town with English merchants and craftsmen.
The story of the six burghers of Calais — leading citizens who offered themselves to Edward to spare the town — became one of the most famous episodes of the war. According to contemporary accounts, Queen Philippa interceded with Edward to spare their lives, and he relented. England held Calais until 1558.
Calais, captured in 1347 after a year-long siege, gave England a permanent base on the French coast. It was a supply depot, a military staging post, and a commercial centre. England held it for over two hundred years, until 1558.
The Battle of Poitiers, 1356, and the Black Prince
Ten years after Crécy, England won an even more dramatic victory at Poitiers. Edward, the Black Prince, led a chevauchée deep into France in 1356. Caught by a much larger French army under King John II near Poitiers, he chose a strong defensive position. On 19 September 1356, the French cavalry charged uphill against English and Welsh archers and were again devastated.
More dramatically, King John II of France was captured on the battlefield — one of the most valuable prisoners of the medieval era. His ransom was set at three million gold crowns, a sum so enormous that it strained French royal finances for years. The victory at Poitiers, combined with Crécy, demonstrated that English tactics were consistently superior to French heavy cavalry in pitched battle.
The capture of King John II at Poitiers gave Edward III enormous leverage. In 1360, the Treaty of Brétigny was agreed. France ceded full sovereignty over Aquitaine (expanding it significantly beyond its previous extent) and agreed to pay a ransom of three million gold crowns for John II. In return, Edward renounced his formal claim to the French throne — though this proved temporary, and the claim was revived when the treaty terms were not fully honoured. Brétigny marked the high point of English success in the first phase of the war.