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Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class,

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Speaker 1: a show that charts the storms of history every day

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Speaker 1: of the week. I'm Gay Blusier and in this episode,

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Speaker 1: we're talking about the day when a fierce hail storm

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Speaker 1: dashed the hopes and heads of would be British conquerors.

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Speaker 1: The day was April thirteen sixty A sudden storm killed

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Speaker 1: a thousand English soldiers while they were camped outside the

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Speaker 1: gates of Schartra, France. The devastating storm took place the

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Speaker 1: day after Easter, and for that reason, it quickly became

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Speaker 1: known as Black Monday. Because of the timing and the

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Speaker 1: heavy losses the stained the event was interpreted by many

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Speaker 1: as a sign from God that he did not support

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Speaker 1: England's quest to conquer France. In the weeks ahead, that

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Speaker 1: impression proved to have a profound effect on the first

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Speaker 1: phase of the Hundred Years War. The trouble began six

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Speaker 1: months earlier, when King Edward the Third of England launched

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Speaker 1: his third and ultimately final invasion of France. It was

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Speaker 1: the latest in a series of military conflicts between the

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Speaker 1: two countries, now collectively known as the Hundred Years War.

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Speaker 1: In October of thirteen fifty nine, Edward led a massive

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Speaker 1: army of ten thousand men across the English Channel, and

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Speaker 1: amazingly nobody tried to stop him. The French army had

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Speaker 1: taken shelter behind the protective walls of Paris and refused

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Speaker 1: to engage the invaders directly. As the standoff dragged on

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Speaker 1: into the winter, Edward and his forces kept themselves busy

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Speaker 1: by pillaging and burning the surrounding suburb herbs. By spring,

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Speaker 1: they had pretty much ravaged the entire countryside, but were

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Speaker 1: no closer to breaching the walls of the capital city.

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Speaker 1: On April five, Edward led his army back to the

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Speaker 1: gates of Paris. They tried one last ditch effort to

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Speaker 1: provoke the French Dufan later King Charles the Five into

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Speaker 1: open combat, but to no avail. At that point, Edward

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Speaker 1: decided to cut his losses and try conquering the next

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Speaker 1: city on his list instead. This led him southwest to

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Speaker 1: the city of Chartra, but unfortunately for the Brits, it

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Speaker 1: was just as heavily fortified as Paris. By the time

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Speaker 1: they reached the gates, it was nearly easter, since they

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Speaker 1: couldn't breach Chartra's defenses. They decided to make camp and

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Speaker 1: the planes outside the city and try to come up

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Speaker 1: with a new plan. However, due to a drastic change

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Speaker 1: in weather, the soldiers didn't get the peaceful downtime they

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Speaker 1: were expecting. April third, seinh began as any normal day,

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Speaker 1: but as evening approached, the temperature dropped sharply. All at once,

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Speaker 1: a thunderstorm gathered overhead, creating panic in the English camp.

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Speaker 1: The soldiers and their horses were right out in the open,

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Speaker 1: with no shelter to protect them. The winds blew so

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Speaker 1: strongly that their tents collapsed and their wagons tipped over.

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Speaker 1: Lightning streaked down from the sky, killing several people and

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Speaker 1: sending the horses fleeing in all directions. And then there

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Speaker 1: was the hail. These balls of ice can be two

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Speaker 1: inches or larger in diameter and can fall as fast

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Speaker 1: as a hundred miles per hour when driven by high winds.

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Speaker 1: Under the right conditions, large hailstones can cause serious damage

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Speaker 1: and loss of life, and that's exactly what happened in

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Speaker 1: King Edwards camp. A fourteenth century French historian named Jean

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Speaker 1: Fossar described the scene, writing quote, it seemed as if

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Speaker 1: the world was come to an end. The hailstones were

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Speaker 1: so large as to kill men and beasts, and the

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Speaker 1: boldest were frightened. One observer seemingly backed up that account,

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Speaker 1: referring to the storm as quote a foul day full

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Speaker 1: of mist and hail, so that men died on horseback.

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Speaker 1: Some accounts say that near the end of the storm,

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Speaker 1: King Edward dismounted from his horse and fell to his knees,

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Speaker 1: facing the direction of the Shatrak Cathedral. He reportedly made

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Speaker 1: a vow of peace and pleaded to God for mercy.

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Speaker 1: As if in answer to his prayer, the storm ceased

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Speaker 1: and disappeared, just as suddenly as it had formed. It

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Speaker 1: had only lasted about half an hour, but when the

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Speaker 1: skies finally cleared, in estimated one thousand soldiers and some

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Speaker 1: six thousand horses were dead. That one brief storm produced

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Speaker 1: more casualties than any previous battle in the Hundred Years War,

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Speaker 1: which by that point had already been raging for over

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Speaker 1: two decades. The prevailing view among the English forces was

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Speaker 1: that God had sided against them and it was time

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Speaker 1: to throw in the towel. Remarkably, King Edward agreed. He

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Speaker 1: entered into peace negotiations with France, and on May eighth,

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Speaker 1: thirteen sixty, the Treaty of britten He marked the end

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Speaker 1: of the first phase of the Hundred Years War. By

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Speaker 1: the terms of the treaty, Edward agreed to renounce all

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Speaker 1: claims to the throne of France in exchange for control

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Speaker 1: of land in the north of the country, about a

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Speaker 1: quarter of France's total area. In addition, the French agreed

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Speaker 1: to pay a ransom for the release of their King,

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Speaker 1: John the Second, who was being held prisoner in England.

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Speaker 1: So France managed to end the conflict without doing much

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Speaker 1: actual fighting, and it got its king back, but in

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Speaker 1: the process it lost a large chunk of territory and

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Speaker 1: a lot of money. As for King Edward, he returned

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Speaker 1: to England tried to put the harrowing storm behind him,

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Speaker 1: focusing more on domestic affairs than international conquest. The treaty

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Speaker 1: he signed did keep the peace for a while, but

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Speaker 1: after about nine years, the war with France started up again.

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Speaker 1: It continued well after Edward's reign, as well as that

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Speaker 1: of several other kings and nobles. All told, the fighting

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Speaker 1: would last a hundred and sixteen years and wouldn't conclude

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Speaker 1: until fourteen fifty three. It was a long and bloody

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Speaker 1: dispute that eventually left the people of both countries pining

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Speaker 1: for the days of the Treaty of Britten He that

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Speaker 1: brief period of calm between the end of one storm

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Speaker 1: and the start of another. I'm Gay, Bluesier and hopefully

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Speaker 1: you now know a little more about history today than

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Speaker 1: you did yesterday. If you enjoyed today's show, consider following

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Speaker 1: us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at t d I

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Speaker 1: HC Show, and if you have any comments or suggestions,

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Speaker 1: you can always send them my way at this day

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Speaker 1: at I heart media dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays

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Speaker 1: for producing the show, and thank you for listening. I'll

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Speaker 1: see you back here again tomorrow for another day in

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Speaker 1: History Class