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Lancaster's chevauchée of 1346 was a large-scale mounted raid directed by Henry, Earl of Lancaster, in south western France during the Hundred Years' War. The main English army had defeated the larger French army at the Battle of Crécy in August, and French defences in the south west were left weak and disorganised. Lancaster took advantage by leading a raid between 12 September and 31 October 1346 while sending other forces into Quercy and the Bazadais. All three offensives were successful, with Lancaster's chevauchée, of approximately 2,000 English and Gascon soldiers, meeting no effective resistance from the French, penetrating 160 miles (260 kilometres) north and storming the rich city of Poitiers. His force then razed and looted large areas of Saintonge, Aunis and Poitou, capturing numerous towns, castles and smaller fortified places as they went. The offensives completely disrupted the French defences and shifted the focus of the fighting. (Full article...)

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In the news

ʻAkilisi Pōhiva

Incumbent Tongan prime minister ʻAkilisi Pōhiva (pictured) dies at the age of 78.
A stampede during the observance of Ashura in Karbala, Iraq, kills at least thirty-one people and injures more than a hundred others.
The Indian Space Research Organisation loses contact with Chandrayaan-2's Vikram lunar lander shortly before a hard landing on the Moon's surface.
Former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe dies at the age of 95.
A fire aboard a charter boat near Santa Cruz Island in California leaves at least thirty-three people dead and one other missing.

On this day

September 12

President Kennedy's speech

1309 – Reconquista: Castilian forces captured Gibraltar from the Emirate of Granada, although they lost control of it 24 years later.
1848 – Switzerland became a federal state with the adoption of a new constitution.
1942 – RMS Laconia was sunk by a U-boat off the coast of West Africa, which then attempted to rescue the passengers as it was acting under the old prize rules.
1962 – At Rice Stadium in Houston, U.S. president John F. Kennedy made a speech later known by the line "We choose to go to the Moon" (video featured).
2015 – An explosion involving illegally stored mining detonators in Petlawad, in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, killed 104 people and injured more than 150 others.

Grace Macurdy (b. 1866) · George Reid (d. 1918) · Raymond Burr (d. 1993)

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Today's featured picture

Mae Jemison (born 1956) is an American engineer, physician and former NASA astronaut. She became the first black woman to travel in space when she served as a mission specialist aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour. Jemison joined NASA's astronaut corps in 1987 and was selected to serve for the STS-47 mission, during which she orbited the Earth for nearly eight days on September 12–20, 1992.

Born in Alabama and raised in Chicago, Jemison graduated from Stanford University with degrees in chemical engineering as well as African and African-American studies. She then earned her medical degree from Cornell University. Jemison was a doctor for the Peace Corps in Liberia and Sierra Leone from 1983 until 1985 and worked as a general practitioner. In pursuit of becoming an astronaut, she applied to NASA. Jemison left NASA in 1993 and founded a technology research company. She later formed a non-profit educational foundation and through the foundation is the principal of the 100 Year Starship project funded by DARPA. Jemison has also written several books for children and appeared on television several times, including in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. She holds several honorary doctorates and has been inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame and the International Space Hall of Fame.

This picture is Jemison's official NASA portrait, taken in 1992, prior to her STS-47 spaceflight; she is depicted in her Launch Entry Suit.

Photograph credit: NASA

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