In July 1346 the residents of the Normandy coast were treated to theimpressive if ominous spectacle of an English army disembarking at St Vaast. A great heaving, sweating, cursing panoply of men and horses, humble palfreys and jittery, prancing destriers, splashing through the surf. The crowded sails had brought some 15,000 men under the personal command of the king, accompanied by his eldest son, Edward of Woodstock. Grooms struggled to get the beasts ashore and harassed marshals were swiftly swamped in piles of gear and an endless stack of provisions. The peaceful Cotentin became transformed into a sprawling camp of war. If the local populace had foregone the spectacle and sought refuge in flight they would have chosen wisely.