Battle of Blanchetaque 1346
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Year | 1346 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Medieval (500–1499) | derived from year |
| Location | France | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Hundred Years' War | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Kingdom of England, Kingdom of France | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 50.1667, 1.6833 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Blanchetaque was fought on 24 August 1346 between an English army under King Edward III and a French force commanded by Godemar du Fay. The battle was part of the Crécy campaign, which took place during the early stages of the Hundred Years' War. After landing in the Cotentin Peninsula on 12 July, the English army had burnt a path of destruction through some of the richest lands in France to within 20 miles (32 km) of Paris, sacking a number of towns on the way. The English then marched north, hoping to link up with an allied Flemish army which had invaded from Flanders. They were outmanoeuvred by the French king, Philip VI, who garrisoned all of the bridges and fords over the River Somme and followed the English with his own field army. The area had previously been stripped of food stocks by the French, and the English were essentially trapped.
Hearing of a ford at Blanchetaque, 10 miles (16 km) from the sea, Edward marched for it and encountered the blocking force under du Fay. Once the ebbing tide had lowered the water level, a force of English longbowmen marched partway across the ford and, standing in the water, engaged a force of mercenary crossbowmen, whose shooting they were able to suppress.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Blanchetaque (revision 1377402886), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
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- Battle of Saucourt-en-Vimeu 881 · 11 km
- Battle of Abbeville 1940 · 13 km
- Battle of Crécy 1346 · 18 km
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Other battles of the Hundred Years' War
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- Battle of Sluys 1340
- Siege of Tournai (1340) 1340
- Battle of Auberoche 1345
- Battle of Bergerac 1345
- Battle of Caen (1346) 1346
- Battle of Crécy 1346
- Battle of Neville's Cross 1346
- Siege of Aiguillon 1346
- Siege of Calais (1346–1347) 1346
All 63 battles of the Hundred Years' War →
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