1 - The siege and capture of the town: Edward III and the burghers of Calais

Summary

The town of Calais might appear at first sight to be an odd choice for the expenditure of so much time, effort and money and so many men on its capture. It was less than two hundred years old, having been founded around 1165 by Matthew of Alsace, count of Boulogne, at much the same time as his brother Philip, count of Flanders, had set up Gravelines some miles to the north east along the coast. Both towns lay sheltered behind the sand dunes that fronted the sea on the flat coastal plain of Flanders. Around Calais the terrain was very marshy, and travel overland was difficult in wet weather or during the winter, while there was also a danger that a storm surge in the North Sea could damage the protecting dunes and undermine the town and its defences. Gravelines, at the mouth of the river Aa, had the advantage of reasonable communications by water with its hinterland, especially the busy town of Saint-Omer, and enough current in the river to prevent the port silting up. Calais had no such river, only two small streams draining into the harbour, which was largely man-made, depending for shelter from gales in the Channel on a sandbank reinforced with faggots and marsh grass known as the Risban (the Flemish word ris means both rushes or faggots). Silting up, caused largely by sand blown off the dunes, was something of a problem, leading to the need to scour the ditches and dredge the harbour at regular intervals.