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.

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.

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.

Two days after Blanchetaque, the main French army under Philip was defeated at the Battle of Crécy with heavy loss of life.

Edward ended the campaign by laying siege to Calais, which fell after twelve months, securing an English entrepôt into northern France which was held for two hundred years.

[7] By 22 July, although the Flemish situation was unresolved, men and horses could be confined on board ship no longer and the fleet sailed, probably intending to land in Normandy.

There was a further week's delay while the King and his council debated what to do, by which time it proved impossible to do anything major with the main English army before winter.

[11] John, Duke of Normandy, the son and heir of Philip VI, was placed in charge of all French forces in south-west France.

[21] This reliance was misplaced given the difficulty naval forces of the time had in effectively interdicting opposing fleets, and the French were unable to prevent Edward successfully crossing the Channel.

[24] Edward's aim was to conduct a chevauchée, a large-scale raid, across French territory to reduce his opponent's morale and wealth.

The English fleet paralleled the army's route, devastating the country for up to 5 miles (8 km) inland and taking vast amounts of loot; many ships deserted, having filled their holds.

[24] Caen, the cultural, political, religious and financial centre of north-west Normandy, was stormed on 26 July and subsequently looted for five days.

Philip, under pressure from representatives of the Pope, sent envoys offering peace backed by a marriage alliance; Edward replied that he was not prepared to lose marching time to futile discussion and dismissed them.

[32] Edward was determined to break the French blockade of the Somme[33] and probed at several points, vainly attacking Hangest and Pont-Remy before moving west along the river.

Guarding the far side of the crossing were 3,500 soldiers, including 500 men-at-arms and an unknown number of mercenary crossbowmen[38] under Godemar du Fay, an experienced French general.

[41] At about 9 a.m., a force of English longbowmen, led by Hugh, Baron Despenser,[36] started across the ford, 12 abreast on the narrow causeway.

More and more English were fed into the bridgehead and after a short, sharp struggle, the French broke, fleeing for Abbeville, 6 miles (10 km) away.

[47] The French had been so confident that the English could not breach the Somme line that they had not denuded the area, and the countryside was rich in food and loot.

So the English were able to resupply, Noyelles-sur-Mer and Le Crotoy in particular yielding large stores of food, which were looted and the towns then burnt.

[45][48] On 26 August the main French army under Philip was crushingly defeated here at the Battle of Crécy with heavy loss of life.

[49][50] Edward ended the campaign by laying siege to Calais, which fell after twelve months, securing an English entrepôt into northern France which was held for two hundred years.