The Siege of Aiguillon commenced on 1 April 1346 during the Hundred
Years' War, when a French army commanded by John, Duke of Normandy, laid
siege to the Gascon town of Aiguillon. The town, with strategic command
of the rivers Garonne and Lot, was defended by Anglo-Gascon forces under
Ralph, Earl of Stafford. The garrison, some 900 men, sortied repeatedly
to interrupt the French operations, while Henry, Earl of Lancaster,
concentrated the main Anglo-Gascon force at La Réole as a threat. Duke
John, the son and heir of Philip VI, was never able to fully blockade
the town. By August, the seriously harassed French supply lines had
broken down, there was a dysentery epidemic in their camp, desertion was
rife, and Philip was demanding that John's force join up with the main
French army. On 20 August the French abandoned the siege and marched
away. Six days later Philip's army was decisively beaten by the main
English army in the Battle of Crécy, two weeks before John's force
arrived in the north.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Aiguillon>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1865:
American Civil War: The Union Army inflicted over 1,000
casualties on the Confederates led by George Pickett and took between
2,400 and 4,000 prisoners in the Battle of Five Forks.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Five_Forks>
1947:
The main mutiny in a series of mutinies of the Royal New
Zealand Navy began.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1947_Royal_New_Zealand_Navy_mutinies>
1969:
The Hawker Siddeley Harrier, the first operational fighter
aircraft with vertical/short takeoff and landing (V/STOL) capabilities,
entered service with the Royal Air Force.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_Siddeley_Harrier>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
couth:
1. (obsolete) Familiar, known; well-known, renowned.
2. (Scotland) Variant of couthie.
3. Agreeable, friendly, pleasant.
4. Comfortable; cosy, snug. […]
5. Marked by or possessing a high degree of sophistication; cultured,
refined.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/couth>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
There's not a thing on Earth, that I can name, So foolish, and
so false, as common fame. It calls the courtier knave, the plain man
rude, Haughty the grave, and the delightful lewd, Impertinent the
brisk, morose the sad, Mean the familiar, the reserv'd-one mad.
--John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Wilmot,_2nd_Earl_of_Rochester>