In 1346 he was in the force under Edward III that attacked France, fighting at the Battle of Crécy and the protracted but eventually successful Siege of Calais. In 1352 he was invested as a Knight of the Garter and in 1353 appointed Captain of Calais, a position he held until his death. In 1355 he served under the Edward the Black Prince in Aquitaine, taking part in his march to the Loire and his victory at the Battle of Poitiers, where he was credited by the French historian Jean Froissart with the slaying of the French knight Geoffroi de Charny.