ella of England, and her
son Edward III in 1328, when the twelve peers and barons of
France unanimously gave the crown to Isabella's cousin,
Philip of Valois, who ascended the throne as Philip VI of
France.

Edward III ingeniously maintained that though the Salic Law
prevented his mother from filling the throne, it did not
destroy the rights of her male descendants, and he early
entertained the project of enforcing this contention; but it
was not until 1337 that he felt able to assert formally his
claim to the French crown and to assume the title of king of
France.

The following year, with a considerable body of troops to
support his presumed rights, he crossed to the Continent,
and passed the winter at Antwerp among the Flemings who had
taken up his cause, and with whom, as well as with the
Emperor-King of Germany, he effected aggressive alliances.
He made a formal declaration of war in 1339, beginning
hostilities which were prolonged into the Hundred Years'
War, and which as a contest of the English kings for the
sovereignty of France produced a series of important
revolutions in the fortunes of that country.

The first serious action of the war was a naval battle at
Sluys, near the Belgian frontier just northeast of Bruges,
June 23, 1340. King Edward and his entire navy sailed from
the Thames June 22, and made straight for Sluys. Sir Hugh
Quiriel and other French officers, with over one hundred and
twenty large vessels, were lying near Sluys for the purpose
of disputing the English King's passage. Froissart, with his
usual terseness, has graphically recorded the combat which
ensued.

A more important victory was that won in the land battle at
Crecy in 1346, which, however, simply paved the way to the
capture of Calais, for it was not until the battle of
Poitiers, ten years later, that Edward made any progress
toward the conquest of France. In 1346, after landing with a
force of troops at Cape La Hogue, Edward reduced Cherbourg,
Carentan, and Caen, and, with the intention of crossing the
Seine at Rouen, commenced his march on Calais, where he was
to be joined by his Flemish allies. Philip, making a rapid
march from Paris to Amiens, had posted detachments of
soldiers along the right bank of the river Somme, guarding
every ford, breaking down every bridge, and gradually
shutting up the invaders in the narrow space between th