The Battle of Caen on 26 July 1346 was an assault on the French-held town by a force of archers and men-at-arms, part of an invading English army under King Edward III during the Hundred Years' War. This force, nominally commanded by the Earls of Warwick and Northampton, was eager for plunder, and attacked against orders, before the rest of their army was in position. Caen was garrisoned by 1,000–1,500 soldiers and a large number of armed townsmen, commanded by Grand Constable of France Raoul, the Count of Eu. The town was captured in the first assault; over 5,000 of the ordinary soldiers and townspeople were killed and a small number of nobles were taken prisoner. After sacking the town for five days, the army marched to the River Seine, and by 12 August they were 20 miles (32 kilometres) from Paris. After turning north they heavily defeated the French at the Battle of Crécy two weeks later, and commenced the successful siege of Calais the following week. (This article is part of a featured topic: Crécy campaign.).

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_topics/Cr%C3%A9cy_campaign

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1887:

L. L. Zamenhof published Unua Libro, the first publication to describe Esperanto, a constructed international language. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unua_Libro

1936:

The Canadian National Vimy Memorial, dedicated to the Canadian Expeditionary Force members killed during the First World War, was unveiled near Vimy, Pas-de-Calais, France. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_National_Vimy_Memorial

2007:

After widespread controversy throughout Wales, Shambo, a black Friesian bull that had been adopted by the local Hindu community, was slaughtered due to concerns about bovine tuberculosis. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shambo

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

lexicography: 1. The art or craft of compiling, writing, and editing dictionaries. 2. (linguistics) The scholarly discipline of analysing and describing the semantic, syntagmatic and paradigmatic relationships within the lexicon (vocabulary) of a language and developing theories of dictionary components and structures linking the data in dictionaries. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lexicography

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

The poet is, etymologically, the maker. Like all makers, he requires a stock of raw materials — in his case, experience. Now experience is not a matter of having actually swum the Hellespont, or danced with the dervishes, or slept in a doss-house. It is a matter of sensibility and intuition, of seeing and hearing the significant things, of paying attention at the right moments, of understanding and co- ordinating. Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happens to him. It is a gift for dealing with the accidents of existence, not the accidents themselves. By a happy dispensation of nature, the poet generally possesses the gift of experience in conjunction with that of expression. What he says so well is therefore intrinsically of value.   --Aldous Huxley https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aldous_Huxley