Five days after the battle of Crecy, Edward began to besiege the town of Calais. He did not fight, for the fortifications were so strong that he knew it would be useless. He made his men build a ring of wooden houses round Calais, in which they could live until the people of the town were starved into giving in.
When the Governor of Calais saw what Edward was doing, he gathered all the weak, poor, and old people, who were not able to fight, and sent them out of the town. He did this so that there would be fewer people to feed, and therefore the food they had in the town would last longer. King Edward was surprised to see all these people leave the town, and he asked them what it meant, 'We have no food nor money, and cannot fight,' they replied, 'so the Governor has sent us away.
Then Edward, instead of making them return into the town, gave them a good dinner and some money, and allowed them to go safely through his camp, to the country beyond.
For nearly a year Calais held out bravely. Day after day the people hoped that the King of France would come with his army to help them. But day after day passed and no one came. You will get no more letters from me, but if you do not come, you will hear that the town is lost and all we who are in it also. At last one morning, the watchman on the walls saw the gleam of spears, and heard the drums and trumpet-call of the French army.
When the good news was told, the joy in Calais was great. Pale and thin from want of food, hardly able to walk or stand, the people yet crowded to the walls. Oh, what joy! At last they would be free! The king had not forgotten them. But the day passed. There was no movement in the French camp.
