1340

A miniature of the battle from Jean Froissart's Chronicles

The Battle of Sluys was fought on 24 June 1340 as one of the opening conflicts of the Hundred Years' War between England and France. The encounter happened during the reigns of Philip VI of France and Edward III of England, in front of the town of Newmarket or Sluis (French Écluse), on the inlet between West Flanders and Zeeland. During the battle Philip's navy was almost completely destroyed, giving the English fleet complete mastery over the channel.
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The French blocked the mouth of the river completely to prevent the English army from landing, chaining the ships together in three long lines across the shallow estuary, about 3 miles wide at its entrance.

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Apparently the most experienced of the French ship commanders advised against remaining in such a confined space, without room to manoeuvre and with the wind blowing into the mouth of the river, but the admirals did not listen.

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The English approached in three lines, with the largest ships to the front, including Edward III’s own flagship, the cog Thomas. Height was an advantage, and the English had the manpower to exploit it to its fullest – a large army of men-at-arms and archers intended for the land army.

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The fighting was intense. Edward III himself was shot through the thigh with a crossbow bolt, and the fighting raged for over 7 hours. But the English seem to have massacred the first French line in fairly quick order, gradually working to the second line, which was so tightly clustered together that the ships could not manoeuvre. A large force of Flemings, mustered on the west bank, then fell on the third line from behind, besides killing any Frenchmen who managed to struggle to the shore. The result was a great English victory. No quarter was given, the English slaughtering the crews of captured ships. Between 16,000 and 18,000 French fighting men died that day. Among the dead were both admirals. Behuchat was killed in the fighting; Quieret was captured to be ransomed, but when it was discovered that he had commanded the French attacks against the southern English ports, Edward III ordered him hanged from the mast of his own ship.
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Not long after the victory, King Edward had his gold coinage

redesigned to show himself enthroned on a ship.

Source: Wikipedia.org • weaponsandwarfare.com

King Edward VIII coin

Photo: PHGCOM/Wikimedia

Placed in the Public Domain

Photo: Jean Froissart's Chronicles (15th Century) • Believed to be in the Public Domain (Age - Copyright expired)