The Norman Conquest in the eleventh century is one of the best-known events in English history, but the French attempts to invade England three hundred years later are largely ignored and misunderstood. In fact, French invaders landed on English soil more than fifty times during the fourteenth century, sometimes accompanied by allies from Castile, Monaco, Genoa and Scotland. Each incursion was part of an overall strategy led by the French monarch of the time, and those participating were well-trained fighters and shipmen. They were certainly not pirates, which is how they have often been described. The incursions were brutal, involving murder of civilians and rapine. Those along the invasion front responded and fought back, often surprisingly effectively. Determined English locals, organised into well-trained posses, sometimes bested the Continental professional fighters; although the economic damage caused by the raids was long-term.In the later years of the century Charles the Wise a
