Welcome to a history of Europe. Key Battles, the Battle of Slouse, 1340.

The first major battle of the Hundred Years' War, the Battle of Slouse, which is spelt S-L-U-Y-S, has been described as the greatest naval battle of the European Middle Ages.

Although not widely known about today, this event is important

because it created the opportunity for a later English invasion of France,

and therefore the more well-known battles at Cressee, Poitier and Agincourt,

which I will cover later.

The Hundred Years' War began officially in 1337,

but for the first three years there were no major battles.

By 1340, the rulers of both France and England

were beginning to realise the limitations of the resources available to them.

King Philip IV of France planned the major invasion of England in 1339,

only to have his fleet dispersed by a storm and his Genoese crewmen mutiny.

Edward III of England, meanwhile, nearly bankrupted himself in the first three years of campaigning and was

facing increasing resistance at home to the increased taxes required for his overseas campaigns.

Neither kingdom was able to afford anything like a professional navy, nor possessed the level

of expertise of shipping, as could the great Italian city Italian city states of the time. Both kings

believe that naval warfare was best exercised with galleys, that is, awed vessels that were not

dependent on wind for manoeuvre. At the Battle of Slouse, the subject of today's podcast,

however both sides had to rely on cogs, that is, merchant roundships, propelled by sales, rather than oars.

The French were unfortunate that a revolution took place in Genoa at this crucial moment in time,

as the new Genoese regime were in inclined toclined to hire them galleys or crew.

This left them with only 22 galleys, and 18 of those were burned in an earlier English raid.

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