Editing Edward III of England (section)

=== Crécy and Poitiers ===
By the early 1340s, it was clear that Edward's policy of alliances was too costly, and yielded too few results. The following years saw more direct involvement by English armies, including in the [[Breton War of Succession]], but these interventions also proved fruitless at first.{{Sfn|Mortimer|2006|p=205}}{{Efn|The main exception was [[Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster|Henry of Lancaster]]'s victory in the [[Battle of Auberoche]] in 1345.{{Sfn|Fowler|1969|pp=58–59}}}} Edward defaulted on [[Florence|Florentine]] loans of 1,365,000 [[florin]]s, resulting in the ruin of the lenders.{{Sfn|Arrighi|2002|p=101}}

A change came in July 1346, when Edward staged a major offensive, sailing for [[Normandy]] with a force of 15,000 men.{{Sfn|McKisack|1959|p=132}} His army [[Battle of Caen (1346)|sacked]] the city of [[Caen]], and marched across northern France, to meet up with [[Flemish people|Flemish forces]] in [[County of Flanders|Flanders]]. It was not Edward's initial intention to engage the French army, but at [[Crécy-en-Ponthieu|Crécy]], just north of the [[Somme (river)|Somme]], he found favourable terrain and decided to fight a pursuing army led by Philip VI.{{Sfn|Prestwich|2005|pp=316–318}} On 26 August, the English army defeated a far larger French army in the [[Battle of Crécy]].{{Sfn|DeVries|1996|pp=155–176}} Shortly after this, on 17 October, an English army defeated and captured King David II of Scotland at the [[Battle of Neville's Cross]].{{Sfn|Waugh|1991|p=17}} With his northern borders secured, Edward felt free to continue his major offensive against France, [[Siege of Calais (1346)|laying siege]] to the town of [[Calais]]. The operation was the greatest English venture of the Hundred Years' War, involving an army of 32,000 men.{{Sfn|Ormrod|2000|p=26}} The siege started on 4 September 1346, and lasted until the town surrendered on 3 August 1347.{{Sfn|Sumption|1999|pp=537, 581}}

[[File:Edward III counting the dead on the battlefield of Crécy.jpg|thumb|Edward III counting the dead on the [[Battle of Crécy|battlefield of Crécy]]]]

After the fall of Calais, factors outside of Edward's control forced him to wind down the war effort. In 1348, the [[Black Death in England|Black Death]] struck England with full force, killing a third or more of the country's population.{{Efn|For more on the debate over mortality rates, see:{{Cite book |last=Hatcher |first=John |title=Plague, Population and the English Economy, 1348–1530 |date=1977 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=0-3332-1293-2 |location=London |pages=11–20}}}} This loss of manpower led to a shortage of farm labour and a corresponding rise in wages. The great landowners struggled with the shortage of manpower and the resulting inflation in labour cost.{{Sfn|Waugh|1991|p=109}} To curb the rise in wages, the King and Parliament responded with the [[Ordinance of Labourers]] in 1349, followed by the [[Statute of Labourers]] in 1351. These attempts to regulate wages could not succeed in the long run, but in the short term they were enforced with great vigour.{{Sfn|Prestwich|2005|pp=547–548}} All in all, the plague did not lead to a full-scale breakdown of government and society, and recovery was remarkably swift.{{Sfn|Prestwich|2005|p=553}} This was to a large extent thanks to the competent leadership of royal administrators such as Treasurer [[William Edington]] and Chief Justice [[William de Shareshull]].{{Sfn|Ormrod|1986|pp=175–188}}

It was not until the mid-1350s that military operations on the Continent were resumed on a large scale.{{Sfn|Prestwich|2005|p=550}} In 1356, Edward's eldest son, [[Edward the Black Prince|Edward, Prince of Wales]], won an important victory in the [[Battle of Poitiers]]. The greatly outnumbered English forces not only routed the French, but captured the French king John II and his youngest son, [[Philip the Bold|Philip]].{{Sfn|McKisack|1959|p=139}} After a succession of victories, the English held great possessions in France, the French king was in English custody, and the French central government had almost totally collapsed.{{Sfn|McKisack|1959|pp=139–140}} There has been a historical debate as to whether Edward's claim to the French crown originally was genuine, or if it was simply a political ploy meant to put pressure on the French government.{{Efn|For a summary of the debate, see {{harvnb|Prestwich|2005|pp=307–310}}}} Regardless of the original intent, the stated claim now seemed to be within reach. Yet a campaign in 1359, meant to complete the undertaking, was inconclusive.{{Sfn|Prestwich|2005|p=326}} In 1360, therefore, Edward accepted the [[Treaty of Brétigny]], whereby he renounced his claims to the French throne, but secured his extended French possessions in full sovereignty.{{Sfn|Ormrod|2000|pp=34–37}} Edward kept his subjects fully informed of political and military developments abroad by a large number of regular reports from himself and his captains to various outlets, including [[convocation]], the [[City of London]] and the archbishops, that, while the scholar A. E. Prince acknowledged that taken singularly, these reports may not represent a cohesive [[public relations]] within government, they do perhaps indicate, as a whole, the existence of a "simple propaganda organization" with which the King boosted domestic morale.{{sfn|Prince|1926|p=417}} These then ended up as part of popular chronicles, either verbatim or in part, whether newsletters or public letters.{{sfn|Curry|2003|p=7}}