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Near-contemporary image of the Battle of Caen

From 1345 to 1347, the Hundred Years' War between the English and the French flared up. Determined to renew the conflict, King Edward III of England despatched a small force to south-west France where they won victories at Bergerac and Auberoche. In 1346 an English army of 10,000 men landed in northern Normandy, devastated the region, and stormed and sacked Caen (pictured). They then cut a swath to within 20 miles (32 km) of Paris, turned north, and inflicted a heavy defeat on the French army at the Battle of Crécy. They exploited this by laying siege to Calais. The period from the English victory outside Bergerac to the start of the siege of Calais is known as Edward III's annus mirabilis (year of marvels). After an eleven-month siege, which stretched both countries' financial and military resources to the limit, the town fell, and for more than two hundred years it served as an English entrepôt into northern France. (This article is part of a featured topic: Hundred Years' War, 1345–1347.)

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In the news

Tadej Pogačar

In Gaelic football, the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship concludes with Armagh defeating Galway in the final.
Landslides kill at least 257 people in Geze Gofa, Ethiopia.
In cycling, Tadej Pogačar (pictured) wins the Tour de France.
Incumbent U.S. president Joe Biden withdraws from the 2024 presidential election.

On this day

July 30

Portrait of Miguel Hidalgo by Antonio Fabrés

1724 – Bach's chorale cantata Wo Gott der Herr nicht bei uns hält, a paraphrase of Psalm 124 based on a 1524 hymn by Justus Jonas, was first performed in Leipzig.
1811 – Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (depicted), a leader of the Mexican War of Independence, was executed by Spanish forces in Chihuahua City, Mexico.
1871 – The boiler of the Staten Island Ferry Westfield II exploded at South Ferry in New York City, killing at least 45 people.
1990 – British Conservative member of Parliament Ian Gow was killed outside his home in a car bombing by the Provisional Irish Republican Army.
2014 – More than 150 people died after heavy rains triggered a landslide in the village of Malin in Maharashtra, India.

Tatwine (d. 734)
Casey Stengel (b. 1890)
Gerald Moore (b. 1899)
C. T. Vivian (b. 1924)

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Today's featured picture

The Hass avocado is a variety of avocado with dark green, bumpy skin. It was first grown and sold by the American horticulturist Rudolph Hass, who also gave it his name. The Hass is one of the most commercially popular avocado cultivars and accounts for more than 80 percent of the crop in the United States. This is due to its taste, size, shelf-life, high growing yield and in some areas, year-round harvesting. The fruit has a mass of 200 to 300 grams (8 to 10 ounces) and, when ripe, its skin becomes a dark purplish-black that yields to gentle pressure. The centre part of the inner fruit then becomes white-green. This picture shows a whole and a halved Hass avocado, cultivated in Colombia. The photograph was focus-stacked from 12 separate images.

Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus

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