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From today's featured article

The Battle of Crécy, from Froissart's Chronicles

The Crécy campaign was an expedition by an English army from the north of Normandy to the County of Boulogne, devastating the French countryside on a wide front, followed by the successful siege of Calais. It began on 12 July 1346 during the Hundred Years' War. Led by King Edward III, the English stormed and sacked Caen, slaughtering the population. They then devastated the country to the suburbs of Rouen before cutting a swath along the Seine's left bank to Poissy, 20 miles (30 km) from Paris. Turning north, the English became trapped in territory which the French had denuded of food. They escaped by fighting their way across the Somme against a French blocking force. Two days later, on ground of their choosing, the English inflicted a heavy defeat on the French at the Battle of Crécy on 26 August, before moving on to besiege Calais. After an eleven-month siege, which severely stretched both countries' financial and military resources, the town fell. (This article is part of a featured topic: Crécy campaign.)

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On this day

August 26: Heroes' Day and Herero Day in Namibia; Women's Equality Day in the United States

Sigmund Jähn

1071 – Byzantine–Seljuk wars: Seljuk Turks led by Alp Arslan captured Byzantine emperor Romanos IV at the Battle of Manzikert.
1346 – Hundred Years' War: English forces established the military supremacy of the English longbow over the French combination of crossbow and armoured knights at the Battle of Crécy.
1748 – The first Lutheran denomination in North America, the Pennsylvania Ministerium, was founded in Philadelphia.
1978 – Aboard the Soviet Soyuz 31 spacecraft, Sigmund Jähn (pictured) became the first German in space.
2008 – After a ceasefire was reached in the Russo-Georgian War, Russia recognized the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Humilis of Bisignano (b. 1582)
Arnold Fothergill (b. 1854)
Mildred Albert (d. 1991)

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Today's featured picture

Canary Wharf is the secondary central business district of London, on the Isle of Dogs. Along with the City of London, it is one of the main financial centres of the United Kingdom and the world, containing many high-rise buildings including the third-tallest in the UK, One Canada Square, which opened on 26 August 1991.

Photograph credit: Tony Jin

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