You cannot have too much of a good thing it seems and I have
been learning this week that this includes great naval victories over the
French. The noble English tradition of trouncing our rivals across the channel
extends back to the Middle Ages and in my delvings into medieval French history
I have come across some early encounters between our great nations which
deserve to be better known alongside the famous battles of Nelson’s age.
In the summer of 1217 England lay exposed to the threat of
French conquest following the disastrous reign of King John. Forces commanded
by the Dauphin Prince Louis had landed in support of English rebels, but now
with John dead and the nine year old Henry III on the throne, the French looked
set to capitalise and overrun the kingdom.
In response, the regent William Marshall had assembled a
fleet at Sandwich, which set out to intercept the larger French fleet bringing
vital reinforcements to Louis. Having manoeuvred up-wind of the French, the
English ships came about and closed with the French fleet. The French ships
were heavily laden with the materials of war and the English ships rode higher
in the water. This gave them a distinct advantage in being able to fire down
into the French ships. In addition to a hail of arrows the French were
bombarded with jars of quicklime.
The capture of the French flagship signalled the end of
resistance and the French commander Eustace the Monk was executed on the spot.
The loss of his fleet effectively doomed Louis’ campaign to failure.
Battle of Sandwich
In 1340 the Hundred Years War was in its early stages. King
Edward III was determined to press his claim to the French throne, but faced
the threat of invasion from a large French fleet massed in the estuary of Sluys
on the Flemish coast. Edward decided to lead his fleet in an offensive action
against the French. Rather than engaging in the open sea the French commanders
elected to stay put in the estuary, forming their ships up in line and even
chaining them together in order to present a formidable floating wall against
the English attack. This tactic was criticised by the commander of the Genoese
contingent who recognised the danger and slipped away before battle was joined.
With the wind behind them the English ships bore down upon
the French and crashed into them with great destruction. The English ships were
arranged in fighting squadrons of three – with two ships filled with archers
supporting one filled with men at arms. In the ensuing battle the murderous
fire of the English longbowmen wrought havoc on the decks of the French, just
as they would on the battlefield of Crecy six years later. At least one of the
French ships carried cannon and these succeeded in sending one English cog to
the bottom in what must be one of the earliest examples of naval gunnery.
Ultimately the battle was won through fierce hand to hand fighting in which the
English men at arms triumphed over their French counterparts with heavy
casualties on both sides. As at Sandwich, with the capture and execution of
their leaders the fight largely went out of the French, although fighting
continued into the night. The following morning found most of the great French
fleet captured, burned or sunk, although a few ships managed to slip away in
the night. With victory at Sluys Edward III gained the upper hand in the war
and would follow up his success with devastating invasions of French territory
culminating in the Crecy campaign.
We’re all friends now of course. But the next time you feel
like jingoistically sticking your fingers up at a Frenchman in the spirit of
friendly rivalry you could invoke the memory of Sandwich or Sluys.
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