The Battle of Sluys! A battle that Edward won with unbelievable ease!

 ‘So tis to war we must now both go!

You know King Phil, I’d much rather have you as a friend than a foe!’

The war that would last for so long was actually rather slow in coming about. In January 1340, Edward had infuriated Philip by rather cheekily adopting for himself the title, King of France. However, the mutual large scale blood-shedding that would become known as the Hundred Years War, did not actually start until June 1340.

Round one of the conflict was a sea battle off the Flemish port of Sluys.

The Battle of Sluys, June 24th 1349.

What would King Edward have actually been thinking at this juncture in the summer of 1340? A contemporary interview might have gone along the following lines.

My dear King Edward, what lies in your heart today?

‘ Anger! Anger! And a lot of it! That crooked toad, Philip was appointed to be king of France by his French friends when the throne was rightfully mine. I was the nearest living relative to the last king, because he was my uncle, whereas Phil is a distant cousin!’

What, your most gracious majesty, will be your next move?

Well, toad Philip has hired a load of Italian and Spanish pirates to help him attack me and invade England! He has them all holed up along the Flemish coast at a place called Sluys! Not content with getting hold of one throne by thievery, he wants another! I am going to sail down there and flush them out like rats from a hole!

I understand that you have been advised against attacking Sluys!

Yea, By dear old  Archbishop Robbie, Stratford! He says the enemy fleet is too strong and that my attack will fail! He means well, the decent old fellow, but no dice. I am going in for the kill on June 24th!

Thank you your most gracious majesty! 

The Battle of Sluys, 1340.

At Sluys, Philip had assembled a huge fleet with which to attack Edward. In fact, it would be Edward who would start the ball rolling by attacking Philip’s great armada. During the medieval period, both sides would use  grappling hooks  to prevent an enemy ship from sailing away whilst their soldiers  boarded it. Savage hand to hand fighting would inevitably follow.

Close hand to hand fighting at the battle of Sluys.

‘King Philip had a huge armada! There were the French and some Castilians and others were Genoese!

No matter, Edward destroyed the entire large force with unbelievable ease!’

In the melee that followed, Edward defeated the larger French force at minimal cost to himself. One reason for this was the disastrous tactics chosen by the senior French commander, Nicholas Behuchet. He had ordered that his ships be chained together for defensive purposes. Another factor was the devastating effect of the English longbow, which Edward had deployed to great success against the Scots at Halidon Hill in 1333. The king would do so again here at Sluys. Although the French had crossbowmen, they were no match for the archers with their longbow, which was much quicker to use than the crossbow.

In the hours of fighting, tens of thousands lost their lives. The vast majority of these were French. Some were killed outright duelling with their opponents, whilst others having been hauled over the side, drowned due to the weight of their armour.

One of the two senior French commanders, Nicholas Behuchet was captured and hanged from the mast of his own ship.

Nicholas Behuchet

The icing on the cake of this victory was that the English managed to retake one of their vessels, the massive ship, The Christopher, which the French had captured in 1338.

The Christopher.

Although Edward himself was wounded in the battle, no amount of physical pain could temper the sweet taste of victory!

‘I was hit in the leg with a bolt!

But, despite the pain, I will take the time to sit back, relax, smile and gloat!’