Battle of Caen (1346)
The Battle of Caen was fought on 26 July 1346. It was part of the Chevauchée of Edward III, which had started a month earlier. The English were virtually unopposed and devastated much of Normandy before assaulting Caen. Five days after storming the city the English marched to the River Seine. After turning north they heavily defeated the French at the Battle of Crécy.
About Battle of Caen (1346) in brief
The Battle of Caen was fought on 26 July 1346. It was part of the Chevauchée of Edward III, which had started a month earlier. The English were virtually unopposed and devastated much of Normandy before assaulting Caen. Five days after storming the city the English marched to the River Seine. After turning north they heavily defeated the French at the Battle of Crécy on 26 August. Subsequently, the English commenced the successful siege of Calais. This marked the start of the Hundred Years’ War, which was to last 116 years. Edward III’s main army sailed on 29 June 1345. It anchored off Sluys in Flanders until 22 July, while Edward attended to diplomatic affairs. In 1345, Derby led a whirlwind campaign through Gascony at the head of an Anglo-Gascon army. He smashed two large French armies at the battles of Bergerac and Auberac. Late in the year captured the strategically and logistically important town of Aiguillon. In April 1346 the French announced the formal call to arms for all-bodied males of France. Philip VI, Duke of France, was placed in charge of all forces in south west France, as he had been the previous autumn. In March 1346 a French army numbering between 15,000 and 20,000, vastly superior to any Anglo-Gascons force, marched on the field of battle and defeated it on 1 April. On 2 April, the French declared war on the English, and on 2 April the French army was able to muster a formal call for arms for the first time in more than a century.
The battle was won by the English. The French were able to claim back the Duchy of Aquitaine, effectively Gas Cony, on 24 May 1337 on the grounds that Edward was in breach of his obligations as a vassal. This was the cause of the war, but Edward was able. to spare few resources for it and when an English army had campaigned on the continent it had operated in northern France. Edward determined early in 1345 to attack France on three fronts: a small force would sail for Brittany; a slightly larger force would proceed to GasCony under the command of Henry, Earl of Derby; and the main force would accompany Edward to northern France or Flanders. In early 1345 the French decided to stand on the defensive in the south west. Their intelligence had uncovered the English plan for offensives in the three theatres, but they did not have the money to raise a significant army in each. Thus they directed what resources they had to there, planning to assemble their main army at Arras on 22 July. After more than five weeks on board ship the men and horses had to be disembarked. There was a further week’s delay while the King and his council debated what to do.
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