After the victory at Crècy, Edward III attempts to seize Calais, an important port town on the French side of the English Channel. To prepare for the English siege, the French commander of Calais sent away the poor residents of Calais since they would not have the provisions to last in a siege. Edward III gave the impoverished exiles food and money.

King David II of Scotland attacked England, but he was captured in battle. After David II was imprisoned in the Tower of London, Queen Philippa sailed to France to join her husband at the siege. Meanwhile, the Count of Flanders, who was killed at the Battle of Crècy fighting for Philip VI, is succeeded by his son, who is also pro-French. The pro-English burghers of Flanders imprisoned the count and forced him to marry Edward’s daughter Isabella and side with the English. Edward III accepted the new alliance with the count and swore to him “that he had neither seen nor heard anything of the Count of Flanders during the whole of the battle of Crècy, or the day after” (100). However, while going hawking, the count escaped and went to the court of Philip VI.