King Edward III of England led a campaign in the Duchy of Brittany in 1342 and 1343. England, at war with France since 1337 in the Hundred Years' War, had sided with John of Montfort's faction in the Breton Civil War soon after it broke out in 1341. An English fleet broke the blockade of Brest on 18 August, and on 30 September a numerically inferior English army inflicted a heavy defeat on the French at the battle of Morlaix. After logistical difficulties, Edward abandoned his siege train and landed in Brittany on 26 October after a storm-wracked three-week passage. The English then advanced on the major Breton town of Vannes. The French garrison repelled an immediate assault and the English began a siege. English raiding parties devastated large parts of eastern Brittany, but attempts to reinforce or supply Edward from England failed. Philip VI of France moved his court to Brittany and entered into negotiations with Edward; they rapidly agreed the Truce of Malestroit, which is widely seen as favouring the English. ( Full article... )
January 19 : Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the United States (2026)
| | The Lingnan School was an art movement active in the late Qing dynasty and Republic of China that sought to modernize Chinese painting through borrowing from other artistic traditions. Established by the brothers Gao Jianfu and Gao Qifeng, together with Chen Shuren, the Lingnan School has been considered one of the major art movements of 20th-century Chinese painting. Stylistically, the Lingnan School was marked by a blending of traditional Chinese approaches and Western techniques, as mediated by Japanese understandings. These included matters of lighting and atmosphere, as well as depictions of subjects rarely found in earlier Chinese works. This 1916 work is by Gao Qifeng and is titled The Roar of the Tiger. Painting credit: Gao Qifeng Recently featured: |