Dictionary of Battles / From the Earliest Date to the Present Time

by Thomas Benfield Harbottle

Calais (Hundred Years' War).

Siege was laid to this fortress in August 1346 by the English under Edward III. The citizens made a gallant defence, holding out for nearly a year, but at last were forced to surrender August 4, 1347. In the course of the siege, six burgesses offered themselves to the king as ransom for their fellow citizens; but their lives were spared on the intercession of Queen Philippa.