The Hundred Years War was not 116 years of continuous fighting. Rather, it was more than a century of intervals–fierce battles followed by lulls, even truces and treaties, and then more fighting, followed by more periods of not fighting, and so forth. English troops ranged and ravaged the French countryside for much of this time; the major battles of the war were several but far between.

More common were minor succession struggles and hit-and-run sorties known as chevauchées. One of the former began in 1341, when two French nobles sparred over who would rule the Duchy of Brittany, with England taking a side. The English Army would specialize in the latter in the next few years.

The first major English victory on French soil was the Battle of Crécy, in 1346. Edward, the English Channel now his to command, had invaded with a large force, landing in Cotentin, in Normandy, and capturing the town Caen in quick fashion. He marched on eastward, toward Paris, sacking cities and towns and laying waste to the countryside, eventually crossing the River Somme. Thus were the English forces employing the chevauchée, a medieval version of pillage-and-plunder that avoided pitched battles in favor of attacking unguarded or lightly garrisoned cities and towns and the surrounding countryside, reducing the home country's ability to use its own natural resources in defense. This tactic proved successful enough for the French king to mount an army and head off in pursuit of Edward and his force.